Rich men weep

Jas 5:1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
Jas 5:2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
Jas 5:3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
Jas 5:4 Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.
Jas 5:5 Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.
Jas 5:6 Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.


Remember this…


Mat 19:23 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 19:24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.


What is it about riches that corrupt us? Can a person be rich and be uncorrupt? I believe they can but it's a very rare thing. Helping others, doing for others what you would like done to you, all but demands that the riches be shared- yes? Helping those in need, tending to the needs of the poor. Jesus would rather we put our treasures in heaven- not here on earth. When we become rich we tend to accumulate 'things', and those 'things' become our treasures don't they? If your home caught fire (God forbid) but if it did and everything inside it was destroyed, how long would you mourn the loss of the things you possessed- beyond the things of what we call necessities?

I've been cleaning out our garage where we store a lot of things and in the process of cleaning I've been able to go through what I call- baby boxes- my children's and my own. Inside those boxes are the things of memories. I'd take out a little bank statue of Mickey Mouse I bought when I went to Disney World in 1976 with my family and I was only 13 years old, and the memories would come flooding back. Or I'd pick up a little ABC Ceramic child's bank belonging to my son and I'd smile with the memories of him being a baby. I'd open notebooks and read some of the things my children wrote when they were little and the smiles they would bring to my face were too numerous to count. Things that provoke memories- things that would be irreplaceable if lost but things that will NEVER have the same thought-provoking moments for another person. After I'm gone and my children inherit my things they'll hold up the stuff monkey I was given when I was six months old for my first Christmas and it will mean nothing to them, maybe that's a little harsh, it will mean very little to them. And once they have children and those children inherit things- if my things are even kept by my children- those things will have even less meaning, finally other than being really, really old things worthless to anyone but me, those possessions those treasures will be completely meaningless. If I lost all my possessions I'd lose a lot of memory provoking things, and yes, a few things of monetary value but not much. Yet a rich man who possesses much-has a lot of money tied up in the things he possesses and in affect he loses money if he loses his possessions. If we tie our affections to the things of this earth we are NOT tying our affections to heavenly things.

How real is heaven to us? How real is life everlasting to us?

Is there any wonder we are told rich men will suffer?

Jas 5:1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
Jas 5:2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
Jas 5:3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
Jas 5:4 Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.
Jas 5:5 Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.
Jas 5:6 Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.

The earthly riches mean nothing as they are selfishly bought and selfishly held fast to. NO one can take their riches with them into heaven when our Savior comes. No one who is blessed enough to receive the miracle of salvation will want to bring any earthly riches to heaven.

So while we long to have riches enough to live in what we call a comfortable manner without having to worry about paying bills and such, we have to comprehend that we are truly blessed in being able to understand that things are just things and life is more than mere riches.

We are blessed in not being rich, we really, really are but it's so incredibly hard to believe as we struggle with our finances.

Please Lord, help us to trust in You in all things, including in the riches we do possess and if they are mostly spiritual riches help us to know that heavenly treasures are those that really matter most. Please Lord, help us.

In Your Love LORD, Your LOVE!

Amen.

To know good and not do good is sin

Jas 4:16 But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.
Jas 4:17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

We boast that we have tomorrow when the truth is, it is in God's hands. We boast, not saying God's will be done, but ours and this is evil. When we are surrounded by news of vile murderers, thieves, rapist, child molesters, we tend to lose sight of evil in what we consider the 'small' things. Boasting is evil though, it really is. Our boasts are filled with self-centeredness, self-exultation, and so often we don't even realize it. We make assumptions and that is the last thing we should be doing, assuming. Yes, we must live our lives planning for our futures here and now but we have to do that with God's will in mind. We have to understand fully that any plans we make are subject to His acceptance, His approval, and out of LOVE He will guide our lives in ways we cannot begin to understand. We need to desire God's will for us in all things. Do I want to go out to the garage tomorrow and continue cleaning? Yes. And if it's God's will that's exactly what I'll be doing. Do I want my children to continue their education? Yes. And if it's God's will that's exactly what will happen. Do I want my husband to continue to heal and his back surgery be completely successful so that he's able to walk without his legs buckling? Yes. And if it's God's will this will happen. We do NOT stop desire things, we do NOT stop our arranging and planning, but we have to stop boasting about a tomorrow we might not even have. We have to stop living our lives outside of full acceptance of God's will.

We know to do good.
If we do not do good then we sin.

Choosing not to do good, choosing to abstain from doing good, excusing ourselves from doing good is SIN.

Remember sin is the transgression of the law and it is the law that we love God and love one another.

When we do good it is for a purpose. When we are presented with numerous situations throughout our life we have a choice to either do good or evil. We have to believe this is real, our reality. Those choices we make and some of them everyday, are made for good or evil. If we KNOW to do good and don't do that which is good then we are choosing to do evil. If we choose to do evil it is sin.

We need to repent of our sins. We need to repent when we choose not to do good.

By the grace of God may we choose good over evil, may we choose God over Satan, may we choose life over death. Please Lord, help us to know good and to do good in Your name, by Your grace, through Your mercy and love, all by Your righteousness. On our own we are nothing, nothing at all.

Help us Lord.
Save us.

If the Lord wills

Jas 4:13 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:
Jas 4:14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
Jas 4:15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.

If the Lord wills.

If the Lord wills we will live.

If the Lord wills we will live and do all that we do.

How can we truly believe we have control over our lives? We believe that though, we really do. We make our plans and when they fall through we get upset. When they're successful we boast as if we were truly the force behind that success.

The very breath we breathe is given to us by God and yet we lay claim to that as well don't we? We live because we choose to do so. We live because we choose not to end our lives. We live because we were born- something out of our control but something that was in the control of our parents- beings like us who made the choice to have us. Because we are allowed to make choices we believe we are in control of all things and that's not true. God gave us the breath of life no matter what anyone says. God put the beat in our hearts. Yes, sometimes that breath isn't there for long, and sometimes our hearts only take a few beats and the tragedy of life ending is awful but our God- who knows the beginning and end of all things has reasons for it all that we cannot begin to understand, not in the least. We want to yell and scream that it's not fair and if there is a God He must hate us etcetera but the truth is, we HAVE to admit God knows things of eternity and we haven't a clue. God lives in the realm of the eternal and His understanding isn't our understanding. We have to TRUST, we have to have FAITH, and only then can we truly live in God's will without wanting our own will done all the time, without expecting our own wills to be paramount in all things- good and yes, even bad.

Faith calls for us to live for God's will, not our will.

When we say God's will be done we have to mean it, we have to believe it, we don't have to like it especially if it's something causing us pain, but we must accept it and continue to love the God who knows our eternity.

We ought to say-


If the Lord wills.

Let's make plans, let's make choices, let's make decisions but in ALL we do let us say first- IF THE LORD WILLS.

We must try this, really we must because for far too long we've been totally bent on having our own will done.

We need God's will to be done- we need to desire God's will to be done, not ours. We need to give our lives to God- our lives we live right now and the lives we will live for eternity.

God's will.

Let us accept His will, not fight it, not rebel against it, not hate it, but choose to accept His will in all things.

ALL BY HIS GRACE! All through HIS righteousness! All through HIS power!

ALL IN HIS LOVE!

Amen.

Speak Not evil of one another

Jas 4:11 Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.
Jas 4:12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?


We have to answer only for ourselves, right? I can't answer for anyone else. I can't know the thoughts, the feelings, the ideas, the intricacies, the secrets, the heart of another. Not even the two closest people in the world could know all that, it's just not possible with us. We are limited by our inability to know all there is to know about another person. For many years, probably too numerous to count, people have been trying to find ways to understand each other more completely. Scientists have tried many experiments with the hope of gaining insight into the thoughts of others. In the end of it all the only one we have all the insight to is ourselves. So while we can see what others do and try to base our conclusions of them on what we see, we will never know it all, it's impossible. When we judge we are making assumptions about others. We might witness a person's vile temper first hand and pass judgment on them, when the truth is we do NOT know where their anger comes from, not the real deep down reason. We judge based on what we see, we pass judgment on people and we have to realize we have NO right to do so, no right at all because we cannot know them as God alone can know them.

When we presume to know enough to judge we do put ourselves in great danger, spiritual danger because we are trying to assume the role of God and that is wrong, extremely wrong. We are not God and we will NEVER be God and to try to assume the role of God in judging another we are breaking His law.

God alone is our lawgiver.
God alone is able to save eternally.
God alone is able to destroy eternally.

Who do we really think we are when we judge? Why do we feel we have a right to judge others? Why? Maybe because we feel as if we are judged that we learn to judge. If we feel as if others are judging us we in turn come to believe that judging is a good thing, or rather an acceptable thing. God forgive me for finding it all to natural to judge others based on what I know of them. It's not right and I have to learn that it is not right. I can make judgments on actions committed, I have to do that, but I cannot judge another person, I have no right.

That ol' 'He who is without sin cast the first stone' comes into play, doesn't it? How do we dare to judge others when we are so imperfect and easily judged and found wanting.

May God help us learn to stop judging others, that it is wrong to speak evilly of others no matter how deserving we assume in our finite, and very limited understanding, that they are. We cannot know their hearts! We cannot know their reasoning! We cannot know the walk God has for them to follow. We cannot understand the trials and chastening that God is using upon others, that is for Him and Him alone to determine.

Help us Lord to understand that when we speak evil of others we are speaking wrongly because we are not You and You alone know the end from the beginning, You alone know the heart.

Please Lord help us to do Your will in all things and to know we are not judges, You are judge.

In Your amazing name, in Your amazing love always!

Amen.

He shall lift us up

Jas 4:8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
Jas 4:9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
Jas 4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

Do we draw nigh to God, do we? How are we to draw close to God? Sometimes it seems as if He's completely out of reach, doesn't it? Sometimes it seems as if He's so far away we could never hope to get near to God. We have to approach Him though. We have to seek God. We have to pray, in prayer we are drawing close to God aren't we? We are talking to God and if we are talking to God we are seeking to be in His presence aren't we? We wouldn't be talking to someone if we weren't seeking a closeness, right? When we call someone on the phone, even if they live 3000 miles away we are seeking to make contact with them, we are seeking to get closer to that person mentally, emotionally even if not physically. We have to seek to draw closer to God, to approach God.

We need to cleanse our hands.
We need to purify our hearts.

We are sinners, we are double minded- we want the world and we want God. We have to seek cleansing, we have to seek purifying and we can find this only through Christ and HIS righteousness, only through bowing at the feet of our Savior and begging His forgiveness.

We have to be afflicted.
We have to mourn.
We have to weep.

Why? Because only through recognizing our despondent state can we truly recognize our need of a Savior.

We must humble ourselves before God, we MUST realize our humble state, our need of God. God cannot lift up those who do not recognize they need lifting up.

So even while we are counting our trials joy, we are afflicted with the knowledge we are sinful, we are mourning with the knowledge we are unworthy, we are to weep knowing that we are filthy with the sins we've committed. We might laugh but our laughter is temporary when we understand our vile state. Any joy we have is to turn to heaviness because we know how far our sins separate us from God. Yes, we HAVE to humble ourselves before God so HE can lift us up. We cannot be lifted up by God until we realize are need before Him knowing we cannot lift ourselves up, we have no power to lift ourselves up. God will lift us up though, He will if we seek Him and seek to understand our place before Him as His creatures.

Please Lord help us to submit to You, to seek You, to humble ourselves before You and only YOU!

Please Lord we need you so desperately, so very desperately.

By the grace of God always!

In Your love!

Amen.

Grace to the humble

Jas 4:5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
Jas 4:6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
Jas 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

The spirit that dwells in us lusts to envy. This is the carnal flesh nature in us. It is ONLY by the grace of God we can live as our carnal natures fight to give into the lusts that surround us. We have to surrender to the grace of God, we have to fall at the feet of our Savior understanding that we are NOTHING without Him, nothing. And by nothing I mean nothing good at all whatsoever. Our carnal nature strives against God. We MUST choose to be humble before God, to recognize that He is everything while we are nothing, nothing at all good without Him.

We MUST submit ourselves to God!

Satan does not want us to submit ourselves to God. Satan would have us forever live without being humble in the sight of God. Satan would have us value ourselves- our vain desires, our envying lusts, our self-centeredness all above God. As long as we are focused on ourselves we are NOT focused on God. When we pray for God's will to be done, are we really praying for God to let our will be done? This isn't how it is to be. God's will, not ours must be done and we need to submit ourselves to God. We need to offer our lives to God. We might not see where we are living for God, but we HAVE to continuously submit to God, to give Him our lives to use for His will. Day in and day out those men and women recorded in God's word as being submitted unto Him, lived their lives not in one epic battle after another throughout their lives but they lived as we live. They had a daily existence beyond their glorious moments recorded in the Bible. David did not slay Goliath daily. Moses did not part the Red Sea every single day. Abraham was not called to sacrifice Isaac on a weekly basis. These great men of God had their trials and tribulations, they had their day to day lives that they needed to choose to submit to God even when they faced monumental temptations to give into their carnal natures. Did they never fail? No, in fact they did fail on more than one occasion. It took more than a single day for David to lust after and take a married woman to his bed. It took more than a mere day for David to send that woman's husband off to be killed. Their epic failures produced epic forgiveness. Their epic failures allow us to comprehend that they were mere human beings just like you and I, not special, protected men of God - sinless and perfect. They failed and they sought forgiveness, they repented and submitted themselves to God over and over just like we must do. As these renown men of God lived day after day it wasn't extraordinary, but ordinary in many, many ways. We have to live our day to day lives submitted to God and NOT in the hope of obtaining signs that we are God's, but with FAITH that we are God's in our everyday ordinary lives. If God chooses to use us for a grand purpose that is HIS will, but it's more likely God will choose to use us for His purposes that seem to us to be quite ordinary.

Jas 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Resist.

We resist a lot of things in our lives don't we? We resist the efforts of others to get us to do things they want to do that we have no interest in. We resist the temptation of doing things we know are harmful to us yet desirable- maybe not every time- but we do know what it is like to resist temptation. We resist a lot as we are growing up and being told to do things that are contrary to what we'd rather do. We put up resistance and we know what it's like. Sometimes the resistance is easy because we don't want to do something, other times resistance is extremely difficult because we want to do something and are fighting not to do it. When we are called to resist the devil it's not as if we are being called to resist some ugly, fire breathing monster intent on harming us, we'd find it very easy to resist such a creature. We are being called to resist a cunning deceiver that will exploit every single one of our weaknesses. We are being told to resist the evil one who disguises himself in countless ways and each disguise is fitted to deceive us into believing we are depriving ourselves of something good when we resist. Temptations are ONLY temptations when we are desirous of the thing we are tempted by. You cannot tempt a sweet eater with a coconut cream pie if he detests coconut. You can tempt a sweet eater with chocolate cake if he absolutely loves chocolate. You can't tempt a man with another woman if he is completely satisfied with his wife. You cannot tempt a thief to steal a diamond when all he desires to steal is cars. You understand what I'm saying don't you? We are not being told to resist the devil - the evil angel being invisible to us we are being told to resist the temptations that evil invisible being loves to tease us with. As we submit ourselves to God we are allowing God to have His will in us and we will as a matter of course live as the word of God has told us to live. And when we submit ourselves to God, the devil will become very upset and attack us- not by beating us up with his invisible evil angel fists but by throwing all those temptations at us- tempting us to leave God in favor of living for our own selfish desires of which there are many. Submit to God and resist the devil. When we resist we are in truth reaffirming our submission to God, we are growing closer to God and the closer we are to God the less able the devil is to tempt us to himself. It's a constant submission to God and a constant resistance. Even Christ in the wilderness wasn't tempted once and then left alone, Satan tried again and again.

We can't submit ourselves once and resist once, it has to be on a daily basis- a living basis- on an AS needed basis- which is much more often than we want to believe. This is what it means to be an active Christian- we are in a war and our enemy never sleeps.

By the grace of God we will submit ourselves fully to Him over and over again, resisting the devil always!

In our Savior's amazing love!

Amen.

Friends with the world are enemies of God.

Jas 4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

Read that verse several times if you need to and let it sink in.

Friendship of the world.
Friend of the world.

Jesus said--

Joh 17:6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me OUT OF THE WORLD: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.
Joh 17:7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.
Joh 17:8 For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.
Joh 17:9 I pray for them: I PRAY NOT FOR THE WORLD, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
Joh 17:10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.
Joh 17:11 And now I am no more in the world, BUT THESE ARE IN THE WORLD, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
Joh 17:12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
Joh 17:13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
Joh 17:14 I HAVE GIVEN THEM THY WORD; AND THE WORLD HATH HATETH THEM, BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT OF THE WORLD, EVEN AS I AM NOT OF THE WORLD.
Joh 17:15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
Joh 17:16 THEY ARE NOT OF THE WORLD, EVEN AS I AM NOT OF THE WORLD.
Joh 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
Joh 17:18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I ALSO SENT THEM INTO THE WORLD.

The world.

We generally know that our world is filled with corruption, don't we? That society as a whole seems to be filled with liars and thieves, filled with those who do not love their neighbors as they would be loved. We want to shake our heads and say it isn't so that surely the majority of people are good, but the truth of the matter is the majority of people are self-serving. There can be an amazing number of sweet, kind people but that doesn't make them God's people, people not of the world. What's it mean to not be of this world? How was Jesus not of this world?

Jesus did not conform to the worldly ways surrounding Him. Jesus did follow the laws ceremonial and otherwise as He was raised, but He followed them as God intended and not as man had corrupted them. Jesus loved His Father first and foremost and then Jesus loved others as He desired to be loved. Jesus lived that love.

Jesus saw corruption all around Him- men of the world living for the world and for things of the world and not living for God and the things of God.

Jesus did not live for the approval of the world.
Jesus did not live for the material aspects of the world.
Jesus taught laying up our treasures in heaven, not in this world.
Jesus was humble.
Jesus was self-less.
Jesus was filled with love towards God.
Jesus understood that the heavenly was His goal.
He lived here on earth for 33 years and 3 of those years He spent in His ministry teaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. The gospel of the kingdom- salvation from this sinfilled existence- salvation to live with Him in heaven when He returns for us. The gospel of the kingdom was our Savior's message the message He preached far and wide, the message He sent His disciples to preach. The gospel of the kingdom- salvation from this world- so that we are not OF this world as HE is NOT OF THIS WORLD. The message of the kingdom- salvation THROUGH HIM- salvation from a sin-filled existence- salvation from the world drenched in sin and sinful ways.

Jas 4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

Some will take objection to being called adulterers and adulteresses, but the truth is all of us have gone astray from Christ, all of us have let sin separate us from God while we've let the sin turn our heads, our hearts from God while we go after sinful lusts that are contrary to God's will, God's ways. Only through forgiveness, undeserved forgiveness are we able to be reconciled to God. Only by the grace of God are we able to be forgiven of our adulterous lives.

We all have to realize that we are NOT to seek to be friends with the world. We are NOT to seek to conform to the world. Jesus did NOT seek to conform to the world, Jesus did not seek a friendship with the world. Why do we think we need the acceptance of the world? Why do we believe we need people around us to accept us? Why do we want to fit in? Why do we want to conform? Why do we WANT friendship with the world? WHY?! We have to be NOT OF THIS WORLD. We must live in this world, but we must not be OF this world. Our world is with Jesus! Our world has to be Jesus' world! Jesus was NOT of this world - His words! He said He was not of this world. Jesus knew that to be friends with this world would mean being an enemy of God's and there was no way He was going to be an enemy of God's, no way! Jesus did not seek to be friends with this world. Jesus sought to save us from this world- not to teach us to be friends with the sinfilled world.

We have to read this verse in James and know that we must be estranged from this world because it is contrary to God and His will.

Please Lord, help us to understand this and what it means, help us Lord, help us not to seek friendship with this world but to seek You and Your kingdom, all through Your LOVE!

Amen.