Today’s Verse: Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. ~James 1:27 When shopping in a foreign country, you always want to be careful that the brand you are considering is real and not a knock-off brand. A knock-off brand has the appearance of being real, but beneath the surface, it is fake. This is like the difference between a real Christian and a hypo

Today’s Verse: A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. ~James 1:8 Are you able to make good decisions? Or are you someone who vacillates between decisions? The children of Israel were guilty of worshipping the Lord and worshipping Baal. Elijah confronted them by asking, “How long halt ye between two opinions?” This morning, let us examine the doubleminded man. There is the description. A doubleminded man is someone trying to derive the best of two worlds. On one hand

Today’s Verse: But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. ~James 1:22 One cliché that most of us have grown up hearing over and over again is “practice makes perfect.” The best way to be good at anything is to keep practicing at what we do. Michael Jordan, who attained fame as one of the greatest basketball players of all time, said that he missed 9,000 shots during his basketball career. However, he realized that practicing his shots would

Today’s Verse: Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; ~Genesis 49:4a A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. ~James 1:8 I enjoy looking at the ocean water from the shoreline. When the water is placid, it tends to be calm and predictable, and it appears safe. However, ocean water moves about according to the tides. Ocean water can be safe-looking at one moment, and then, it can become turbulent and treacherous. Jacob described his eldest son, Reuben, as being as uns

Today’s Verse: Whereas ye know not whatshall be on the morrow. For whatis your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. ~James 4:14 The transition from fall to winter is a wonderful time of the year. The other day, I walked outside just as the sun was rising. The morning mist brought a much-needed dew and moisture to the surrounding grass and plants. That cloudy mist eventually disappeared as the sun rose and as the weather became

Today’s Verse: Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. ~James 5:7-8 I have read of someone who once prayed, “Dear God, help me to have patience… and do it quick!” There are many things that we encounter that require patience. We must

Today’s Verse: A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. ~James 1:8 Are you able to make good decisions? Or are you someone who vacillates between decisions? The children of Israel were guilty of worshiping the Lord and worshiping Baal. Elijah confronted them by asking, “How long halt ye between two opinions?” This morning, we are looking at the double minded man. There is the description of a double minded man. A double minded man is someone trying to derive the best

Today’s Verse: A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. ~James 1:8 Are you someone who has a hard time making a decision? Do you find yourself in turmoil because you have divided interests? James said that "a double minded man is unstable in all his ways." The idea of being double-minded means to be “two-souled.” Let us see the importance of being able to make solid decisions and being concretely stable about our belief. There is the characteristic of a double-minded

Today’s Verse: Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. ~James 3:13 Wisdom is the ability of making good decisions. It is asking the questions that are necessary to arrive at the decision that is best. Wisdom comes from experience and, sometimes, from making mistakes. It comes from the counsel of people who have gone through life experiences and have insight on what to do and not to do. I

Today’s Verse: My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; ~James 1:2 Joy is the inner disposition of utmost happiness, contentment, and satisfaction. It is a fruit of the Spirit. Jesus said, “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” Nehemiah said, “The joy of the LORD is your strength.” David said, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” We think of joy when the go

Today’s Verse: Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. ~James 5:7-8 Of the many virtues that I need improvement in, patience is at the top of the list! Our impulsive disposition desires immediate outcomes when, many times, patience i

Today’s Verse: And straightway he called them: and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, and went after him. ~Mark 1:20 Those who oversee successful, growing businesses know that making good business decisions is key to ongoing success. A good business decision results in good employees, profitability, greater market share, greater loyalty, and increased brand acceptance. This morning, we see two businessmen who were given a business choice that

Today’s Verse: But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. ~James 1:22 Sometimes, we can get to the place in our Christian life where we can sit under preaching and teaching but find ourselves not applying what we learn. We agree with what we hear, but we do not put it into practice. The Greek word for doers is also translated “poets” in Acts 17:28. It is a word that the Greeks used to describe a maker, producer, or author. In its basic meani

Today’s Verse: Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. ~James 1:27 Religion, as used in the Bible, speaks of a man’s reverence and worship of God. In our general terminology, it refers to a man’s faith belief. Being religious implies that a man has a relationship with God, worships Him, and lives out his religion in accordance with the doctrines of his

Today’s Verse Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. ~James 5:1 Is it wrong or a sin to be rich? Does God despise rich people? When we read James’ epistle, we see that he had to address many things that were wrong about those who were rich. These rich people were being warned so that they would repent of their behavior. James gave them a stern warning about coming judgment if they did not repent. In effect, he told them that they wou

Today’s Verse But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. ~James 4:6 The Book of James teaches us about the gifts of God. God’s gifts are good, perfect, heavenly, and Father-sent. In our devotion this morning, James encourages us about the gift of grace. We typically think of grace as it relates to salvation. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, l

Today’s Verse: Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. ~James 4:2 Yesterday, we considered one of the greatest commands given for us to pray. God wants us to pray to Him. He commands us to pray to Him. However, perhaps the greatest sin of every Christian is the sin of prayerlessness. Tell me about your prayer life and praying, and I will tell you what kind of Christian you are. In the early

Today’s Verse: But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. ~James 3:17 Of the many virtues one should have in his possession, wisdom would most likely rank near the top. Wisdom is more than just education and knowledge. Wisdom is the ability to discern, prepare, and decide. Wisdom is to be loved (Proverbs 8:17). Wisdom is a gift from God (James 1:5)

Today’s Verse: If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: ~James 2:8 What does it mean to love thy neighbor as thyself? We live in an age when people have the extreme of being narcissistic or having very low self-esteem. Our culture is strongly characterized by apathy and indifference to the needs of others. I think of the indifference Christians have to surrendering their lives for the proclamation of the gosp

Today’s Verse: Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. ~James 1:27 The word “religion” has the connotation of worship and the practice of a belief. This word is used to describe all belief systems. Biblically, it is used to describe the worship and service of God by those who have a personal and saving faith in Christ. I prefer to use the word “spiritua