Control Yourselves... The Book of James Bible Series

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Hello, friend!  I hope your summer is going well - I can't believe we are already near August! Which may or may not explain why this is technically a few days late! It's fine. We're fine. Everything is fine. (For real.)
We're back with another installment in our Book of James Bible Series and today we dig into the first 5 verses of Chapter 3! 

Let's go! Here is our portion of Scripture for today: James Chapter 3, verses 1-5! We get to focus on one of my favorite subjects: The Power of Your Words!

Let's read it together here, starting with The Passion Translation Bible:

"My dear brothers and sisters, don’t be so eager to become a teacher in the church since you know that we who teach are held to a higher standard of judgment. We all fail in many areas, but especially with our words. Yet if we’re able to bridle the words we say we are powerful enough to control ourselves in every way, and that means our character is mature and fully developed. Horses have bits and bridles in their mouths so that we can control and guide their large body. And the same with mighty ships, though they are massive and driven by fierce winds, yet they are steered by a tiny rudder at the direction of the person at the helm.

And so the tongue is a small part of the body yet it carries great power! Just think of how a small flame can set a huge forest ablaze." (The Passion Translation)

The Full Expression of Your Faith... The Book of James Bible Series

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Hey there!  We are back with another installment in our Book of James Bible Series! I'm like a broken record, but I have every --ok, not 'every' - but many!?-- intentions of writing in between these bi-monthly posts, and yet... I haven't quite found myself sitting in this chair ready to tap out words! It's a strange but blessed and full season and yet I'm confident I will find myself back in this seat again soon! Until then, we will just plan on continuing to meet right here, every two weeks! (Even when I consider not meeting here every two weeks --God is still the boss of me and He has some plans He just won't back off from, I suppose!)

So here we are...ready to dig into James Chapter 2, verses 18-26! 

Let's read it together here, starting with The Passion Translation Bible:

"But someone might object and say, “One person has faith and another person has works.” Go ahead then and prove to me that you have faith without works and I will show you faith by my works as proof that I believe. You can believe all you want that there is one true God, that’s wonderful! But even the demons know this and tremble with fear before him, yet they’re unchanged—they remain demons.

O feeble sons of Adam, do you need further evidence that faith divorced from good works is phony? Wasn’t our ancestor Abraham found righteous before God because of his works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? Can’t you see how his action cooperated with his faith and by his action faith found its full expression? So in this way the Scripture was fulfilled: Because Abraham believed God, his faith was exchanged for God’s righteousness.

So he became known as the lover of God! So now it’s clear that a person is seen as righteous in God’s eyes not merely by faith alone, but by his works.

And the same is true of the prostitute named Rahab who was found righteous in God’s eyes by her works, for she received the spies into her home and helped them escape from the city by another route. For just as a human body without the spirit is a dead corpse, so faith without the expression of good works is dead!" (The Passion Translation)

When Talk is Cheap... The Book of James Bible Series

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Happy Summer, my friends! I hope its official arrival has brought you some of the best of the season! For me? Well - it's brought swimming with Lil' Miss (yay!), visiting family from out of town (yay!),  and triple-digit heat for so many days in a row I stopped counting (not yay!)!  It's also stirred up a renewed love of and gratefulness for our A/C! (Yay -- Yes and Amen!)

Today we are back again with another installment of our James series! We are diving into some more familiar verses, reading through James Chapter 2, verses 14-17! 

Let's read it together here, starting with The Passion Translation Bible:

"My dear brothers and sisters, what good is it if someone claims to have faith but demonstrates no good works to prove it? How could this kind of faith save anyone? For example, if a brother or sister in the faith is poorly clothed and hungry and you leave them saying, “Good-bye. I hope you stay warm and have plenty to eat,” but you don’t provide them with a coat or even a cup of soup, what good is your faith? So then faith that doesn’t involve action is phony." (The Passion Translation)