James – Trochia

Posts Tagged ‘James’

Sort

The Power of Words to Break or Build

Have you ever experienced painful or damaging words? What about beautiful, truthful and encouraging ones? In this post, Keith references the New Testament book of James and encourages us to use this powerful gift - the gift of our words - in a God-honoring way. How can you use the words from your tongue to build someone up today, rather than breaking them down?

Earthly Wisdom vs. Heavenly Wisdom

When I moved to California from Puerto Rico, I was 16 years old, and I came with a vocabulary of English words. In Puerto Rico, they teach children from kindergarten through high school English, so I came packed with knowledge of the English language.

I had a lot of words, but I did not have the wisdom to apply that into some sort of a conversation. It took me about eight months until I could actually have a conversation with someone and use some of those vocabulary words, because there is a difference between knowledge and wisdom.

Charles Spurgeon said “Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are all the [...]

The Proof of Genuine Faith: What We Do Matters to God

We have bumper stickers and Christian messages everywhere in our culture. Some have email address that are Christianized, like “[email protected]” But what good is it if we display or say those things but don’t show it in our lives? Our faith, for it to make a positive difference in the world, needs to be real. This is why James calls us to have genuine faith.

Let’s read James chapter 2:14-26:

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; [...]

Pray First, Plan Second

It was Jesus’ habit to pray first and plan second. That approach led him to preach, to lead, and to love exactly as the Father directed. And it led him to the cross for you and for me. Our redemption at Calvary happened not because Jesus pursued his own path, but because he prayed to know God’s (Matthew 26:39).

Temptation and Cold Coca-Cola (James 1:12-18)

How do we do it? How do we deal with temptation when it is so strong that it pulls us to do things we know we ought not to do? Obviously, the Word of God says, "Run if you can." If you can, get rid of the Coca-Colas in your refrigerator, and I'm just using that as an example (whatever that thing is)! If you can, run. But there is something more powerful and effective, God's Word.

Who is God’s favorite? What the Bible says about favoritism.

We all have a tendency to show favoritism, don’t we? We have a tendency to treat some people better than we treat others. I am grateful that God is not like us.

The issue of favoritism shows up in the Bible often. In James 2, he connects favoritism to lack of faith. Yikes! According to James, when we show favoritism, we are not demonstrating the character and the nature of God.

Let’s read James 2:1-13.

My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. If you show special [...]

1 2