James Chapter 2 Discussion Page 4

What is fear?

Hi Maree, this website has groupings of Bible verses. At the bottom of this page there's a link for popular Bible verses, and verses by the topic of your choice. I think it's likely you'd find lists of verses already existing that might fit like topics of hope, peace, love, heaven, afterlift, etc. There's also Bible verse pictures that are inspirational. God bless...

Could someone please offer some suggestions for readings that I could use for residents in the end of life stage, please? I work night shift in an aged care facility and I would love to do some readings for those who are soon to go to God.... I was in an induced coma for 16 days in 2014, so I know first hand that your hearing is the last sense to go....and I know that it would be appreciated for those who have had a lifetime of faith

Thank you in advance for your time and patience

And now I say to you, my children, love righteousness and walk in it; for the paths of righteousness are worthy of acceptance, but the paths of iniquity will quickly be destroyed and vanish.

Woe to those who build their houses with sin, for from their whole foundation they will be thrown down, and by the sword they shall fall, and those who acquire gold and silver will quickly be destroyed in the Judgment.

Thus I say, and make known to you, that He who created you will throw you down, and over your fall there will be no mercy, but your Creator will rejoice at your destruction.

Contemplate Heaven, all you sons of Heaven, and all the works of the Most High, and fear him, and do not do evil in front of Him.

Believe, you righteous, that the sinners will become an object of shame and will be destroyed on the Day of Judgment.

And in those days, blessed are those who accept the words of wisdom, and understand them, and follow the paths of the Most High, and walk in the path of righteousness, and do not act impiously with the impious, for they will be saved.

Be it known to you, sinners, that the Most High remembers your destruction and that the Angels rejoice over your destruction.

And do not think in your spirit nor say in your heart, that you do not know, or do not see, every sin is written down every day in Heaven in front of the Most High.

From now on, you know that all your wrongdoing that you do will be written down every day, until the day of your Judgment.

And the words of your iniquity will be read out before the Great and Holy One, and your faces will blush with shame, and every deed which is founded upon iniquity will be rejected.

Because of this they will have neither knowledge nor wisdom. And through this, they will be destroyed, together with their possessions, and with all their glory and their honour. And in shame, and in slaughter, and in great destitution, their spirits will be thrown into the fiery furnace.

James..

Here's an example of what Brother Jesse wrote.

Habakkuk 1:1-17. The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.

O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!

Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention.

Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.

Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you.

For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not their's.

They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves.

Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat.

They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand.

And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take it.

Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god.

Art thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O LORD, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction.

Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?

James,

Whatever your circumstance was that you were praying for when you reached out to the Lord in prayer, did you ask for His will to be done in that circumstance that you were praying for? God answers prayer according to His will. Prayer is when we take our petitions to the Lord and ask for His will to be done, not ours. If you ask according to His will, that prayer will always be answered. Sometimes we don't see anything happen, and sometimes our situation or circumstance might get worse, but God still answers all prayer if we ask according to His will.

Sometimes our problem is not being able to accept the answer. We praise Him when our circumstances get better, but when we see no change or our circumstance gets worse, we tend to think that God did not hear our prayer, and subsequently we do not thank Him.

Prayer is the means by which we express our total submission to God's will in whatever it is we are asking Him for. He answers those prayers. We just need to accept whatever the answer is and that the answer is His will!

Thank you so much Chris, you have helped me a lot, I will look for the NKJV on line.

Hello Isaiah,

As I can only speak of myself and my experiences after the Lord coming to me. Maybe someone else will have a better reply than I can give on this.

First off when we are saved, or receive the Holy Spirit, this does not mean everything is going to be easy. Especially at first. Again from my own experience right after coming to the Lord, satan began to tempt and trick me into thinking it was ok to keep sinning. Not ever hearing voices before I did not know it was satan. Numerous things were said to me that basically broke my heart as I was praying to God.

What truly helped me to learn that what was being said to me was not from God was that I kept reading the Bible and was lead to answers that showed me this. The Holy Bible is truly our food and it is so vast that the Lord can lead you to many answers of questions. It truly is the living Word of God. So if something is in you telling you to read the Bible I would say definitely do it. Satan does not want us in the Bible because this is where we get our food from the Lord which makes us stronger Spiritually and brings us closer to the Lord.

Now of coarse we are not saved by works and by the Grace of God through Jesus Christ. Though good works are what makes God happy and shows our faith and that we are saved. A new creature that lives for God being pleased to do good whenever possible. As in James 2:17. Read the whole book of James as it is not that long.

Some people may think this is in contrary to what Paul wrote but it is not. We must read the Bible as a whole and not just cleave to one verse. As good works does not mean you have to go out and evangelize, or be a preacher, etc. Maybe read Galatians 5:22-23. Just being kind to someone, helping them, stay meek etc. What ever God puts in your path retain the Lord in your thinking and what would make Him happy.

I hope that helps you a little. God Bless you on your journey.

How do I know if God wants me to do something or the devil is trying to decieve me. I being told by what I think is my own thoughts that I have to read a book in the bible so that God will want to hear what I ask in prayer and forgive me of my sins. I think that might go against Ephesians 2:8-9 but I'm not really sure.

i pray too god for help he did not answer me why

what is lamentations 5 teaching us?

May the Lord bless you for your loving prayers & concerns for the salvation of your family. We need to look to our own 'Jerusalem' before we can extend to the uttermost parts of the world.

I'm only too aware of people being compelled to read from Scriptures that they find difficult to read from or comprehend. They either get bored with it or eventually lose interest, or in the case of most Muslims I worked amongst in Pakistan, they were forced to read the Quran in Arabic rather than the language they fully understood. So, they received almost nothing from their readings but found divine merit by reading in (what they believed was) the heavenly language.

I would be extremely sad if that were the case for those with God's precious Word, the Bible, in their hands & received very little. I know it is God's Spirit who helps us & interprets the Word to us but we ought to give diligence to reading from a familiar script.

By the way, you can probably get to read from the NKJV online rather than purchase one (for checking for the differences between the versions). Every blessing.

Thanks Chris, that helps a lot, I think I will get a NKJV and compare it with my KJV. I want my family to really know Jesus and don't want to hinder them from reading the NKJV. There is some people that say KJV only, I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. Thank you again.

Good mornings Sacha, It's Carleton. I am always happy to hear your kind spirit and encouragements. In the 90's I remember as a Christian discussing with my non-Christian friend about this internet. I asked my friend with my Capitalistic mind if maybe the internet could be used make money. He reproved me and said that is not what it is for, it is for good. So...here we are now able to communicate so extremely fast our flesh wants and build on them so very fast. Speaking of which, I think I am going to take no less than a week off here. For you and anyone else the mame at the top along with google mail attached at the end, likely would reach me. It is nice to share the morning with you. I have to return to my work now.

:)

Yes EJL, both versions are essentially the same but the NKJV replaces some of the archaic words with 'newer' words, making it easier to understand. You should check it out: read a chapter you're familiar with, in both Bible versions & see the difference. They should essentially be the same except for the omission of the 'thy, thee, thou', etc.

I've always read from the KJV, indeed using that language in prayer, so am most comfortable with it. But I would always urge someone who finds reading the KJV difficult because of the language style, to read from the NKJV or NASB.

Does the King James Version and the New King James Version have the same meaning? I have always read the King James Version but some in my family say they can understand the New Version better because its more in our language.

Hi Carleton ,the tower of babel all ways reminds me of the internet ,everone working together ,speaking the same language ,Gods reaction is : now nothing will be restrained from them ,thats from my memory so may not be exact , i cant help but feel that the internet is mostly bad for us ,there is an ENORMOUS wealth of pure evil on it and i think out weighs the good on it but thats just my opinion , im sure many others will disagree ,may God bless you Carleton ,you always sound so full of love and joy .

My brother by baptism remembers the Tower of Babel was a time maybe like today. God restrained, Satan gained. What are the limits of the tower men are building again? Have we no fear? If man can be associated with a 6; a number well less than 7; all he can do is build on 6 while the times continue. He can never reach 7 where there is a fullness in God. So man as history moves forward repeats his number in various ways of falseness.

Enough said.

God bless our meditations.

Joe,

First of all, he says my brethren. So these are believing Jews. Have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. So when it says my brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, that's exactly what it says in the Greek text. It is the faith of Jesus Christ. It is His faith. And we have it. We have His faith that He has given to us.

So it says to stop having the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. Now that term "with respect of persons," the Greek word literally means to receive according to the face, or in other words, outward appearance. If the judge recognizes you and wants to let you off the hook, he will. But that's not justice.

So what he is saying here is you actually have, continuously with you the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, but when you discriminate, that does not go together. God does not discriminate. He does not show partiality. And having the faith of Christ and discriminating against people, the writer of Hebrews says later on in Verse 9 of James Chapter 2 that it is a very evil sin.

Joe, may the Spirit grace you with HIS wisdom and HIS knowledge.

This verse can't contradict other scripture. Since he addressing the brethren let see if a pronoun helps.

James 2:1 My brethren, have (you) not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.

Hope this helps. GBU

Hi Joe, I think there are a lot of things that we should not mix or confuse with our faith in the Glory of Christ by our partialities that are so much a part of us as weak vessels. We need to lay these weights aside by the grace of God in our lives.

Carleton

I do not understand verse 1: "My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons."

The part I don't get is "have not the faith" - sounds to me as though James is saying our Lord Jesus Christ has NOT the faith with respect of persons - which is totally opposite to what the rest of the chapter says.

I know from reading the rest of the chapter (and other scripture) that we believers should not have respect of persons based on outward appearance, positions of power, political influence, etc. to the detrement of persons of ordinary stature.

Why the statement of psam 89vs23

Are you wondering about James 2:3? The way I understand it is you shouldn't judge people based on their outer appearance, but by who they are on the inside.

Are you wondering about James 2:2-4? The way I understand that verse is don't look at the outside of a person and treat them based on that. Instead, you should look at the heart of a person.

He's speaking hypothetically - "For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment;" - key words being "For if".

That part of the chapter talks about if a rich and poor man came to your house, and you treat the rich man well and the poor man poorly, then "Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?" I'm not fully sure of the literal meaning of that verse, but it seems to mean if you did that you'd be judging people based on their outer appearance instead of who they are inside, and changing how you treat them based on that, which would be a mistake.

what is he saying in come in And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool:

I dont understand is he saying the poor be under his footstool is the poor less than a man in gay clothing . I think I am missing something .

Just my thoughts: I don't believe there's any prohibition in the Bible to 'celebrating' or even just acknowledging holidays created by men (governments). Even Christmas & Easter, which we know, have their roots in paganism, but has been 'christianized' to remember the Lord in His Birth, Death & Resurrection. Each one has to decide in his/her own heart what they consider as acceptable, proper Christian belief & practise. It's when you get into countries that do not have a Judeo/Christian basis of government or values, then the believers in those countries may get their holidays as time off work as others do, but should not participate in their celebrations. The Hindus & Muslims have their specific holidays which are rooted deeply in their religion & practises, so it won't be correct for the Christian to identify with those; however, many do.

The early Church, as we read in the New Testament, often met together for fellowship, ministry from the Word & the breaking of bread. At this time, as I picture it, they would have found in & during their fellowship meal, the time to quieten their hearts & be led in remembrance of their Lord & Saviour, in what Christendom now celebrates as Christmas & Easter as well. So we can't judge one another in this matter - each has to be convinced in his/her own heart, respecting those who wish to acknowledge or distance themselves from any particular celebration. And I don't believe the Lord would be concerned either, rather how the Christian's heart behaves, not only in this matter, but all that comes before us requiring our thought & decision.

Would like to know what Bible Scriptures support celebrating manmade holidays is not about the most high.

"Once saved always saved? Can a saved person lose his soul?"

That depends on who saved them. If God saved them they can never be lost, if they saved themselves through their choice/free will, it stands to reason that they can then choose or will themselves to be lost.