Wednesday, January 19, 2011

James Bible Study- Chapter 1 : 1- 6

1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings.

Trials and Temptations

2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 

Observations on this passage- James Chapter 1, Verses 1-6
In doing some of my background reading, I found out that James is Jesus brother. When he refers to us as brothers it is a phrase often found in James, marking community of nation and of faith.
Pure Joy when facing trials, these trials help to develop our faith in Christ. We must keep going and not give up, even when we are in the middle of a hard time. v 2-4
v 5 God is the giver of wisdom and we need to ask for him to help us understand.
v6 when we ask God and he answers we are to believe what he shows us.

Application of these verses
How can I apply these to my life? I know for me when I am going through a trial, whether it is something physical, emotional or financial, I know my first thoughts are not to stop and think wow this is Joyful or wow I am going to think of this as a Joy, no I usually get upset and question God why he is doing this :) I worry or fret about the situation.
I am learning that our Joy is not to do with our physical circumstances or the things going on around us, but it is related to our relationship with Jesus and  our daily personal relationship with Him. So therefore we should have Joy within us at all times.Not just when things are going well, but our Joy is something permanent within us and also if we have Joy in our lives it won't matter what is going on around us.
When we are tested or going through trials, our response during those times often is a refelction ofour relationship with God and also we respond to what is going on.


 V 5 &6  , when we ask God for wisdom we need to trust Him, if we dont we become like a wave being tossed around. When I think of that I think of confusion and when we are confused we sink deeper into doubt and we fall even further away from God. 
I am so excited about this study, it is perfect for me right now in regards to a particular circumstance in my own life. When this particular thing happened I was panic stricken, it did not cause me joy, but in the weeks that have followed I have really stopped and questioned what I put my trust in and also if my Joy is really grounded in my relationship with Jesus? 
As I dig deeper I am excited to see what God does in my heart over the next 12 weeks!



14 comments:

Christy S. said...

Hi Jayne, I think your Blog is so neat! Wow, Well today in James 1:5-6 I read about asking for Wisdom and having faith enouph to believe God will give it to you. So I prayed that God would give me Wisdom and I believe he can.
Christy

Christy S. said...

Ok today I read James 1:7-8
7.For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the lord.(This verse is refering to the passage in 6 about the unstable man who is like a wave on the sea driven by the wind being tossed about.)
(Oh I use the King James Bible.)
8.A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

Observation:You don't have to second guess the word it is clear.

Application: Try to be a more stable person in life.

My Prayer for today was: Dear Lord, I pray for Wisdom, so I won't be a double minded person. Amen
And that's what I got out of this study today.

Christy S. said...

Ok today's passage made me not want to be rich, not in the worldly way anyway, or be unstable in all my ways.
I want to be rich in the right things that God wants for me and to have a stable mind.
I heard once that when you read something in the bible you become accountable for that knowledge, and that you will be Tested or tried. Have you ever heard of anything like that? Well I hope it's not true, I have enouph problems in my life.lol

Soccer Mom in Giggle Town said...

Happiness comes from happenings, however Joy comes from the Lord!

blessings & giggles
Jeanie

Christy S. said...

I have a lot of catching up to do so I will start with Fridays lesson:
Being Rich or seeking after richness brings sin. Sin is death

Monday's:
Blessed is the man that endureth Temptation.
That's what I want to be the one who can endure temptation and then be blessed.
The bible say's all are tempted. The key I think is not to give into it.
Tues:It is easy to become drawn away and eased into temptations to sin but it is important to remember sin brings death. That should be enouph motivation not to sin.
Short and sweet! I will email you all my further thoughts on the lessons. Have a blessed day!

A Prayer for our little Group:
Dear Lord I pray for your protection love and strength for my friends Jayne and Robin and Tommy and myself during and after our lessons in your wonderful word. Lord I just praise you for bringing us together, I pray for wisdom and understanding and guidence. In Jesus precious name Amen.

Christy S. said...

We have a new member to our group Robyn. WELCOME! I'm are so happy you could join us.

Robyn J. said...

Hi, everyone. Glad to join our little group. I agree with Jayne. When we worry and doubt we are allowing ourselves to pulled in the opposite direction away from God. Like a tight rope walker when their focus drifts off their objective they get wobbly and their position precarious. If we keep our minds/hearts focused solely on God our feet will be on the sure path and not tossed on the waves of our situational sea.

Dear Lord please help everyone stay surefooted on your path and to trust you when the way gets rocky.

Jayne G said...

Hi girls,
I am so blessed that we are doing this study and sharing together what the Lord is showing us.
Hi soccer mom thank you for your encouragement :)

Christy S. said...

This week has been a real learning experience for me. And I guess that's what life is really like. We live we learn.
James has been such a good study. This week I've learned about how once sin takes hold in your life it can bring on much misery and Death. It may not be a physcial death it can be an emotional one too. I learned that I must try to be doers of the word not just a hearer of the word. If we cultivate the fruit of the holy spirit it will grow and bloom in our lives and spread out.OOps I learned that in church today but it's still good to be reminded to practice Love, joy peace, longsuffering, getleness, goodness and faith Meekness, temperance: the Bible say's against such things there is no law. If we live in the spirit let us also walk in the spirit. This is found in Galations 5:22
I truly believe that if we sew such fruits we will reap it also. I have reaped some good friends. Who share their love with me and I'm so greateful.
So my prayer is that we learn to stear clear of temptations and to put into practice the gifts of the holy spirit as well, so we can all become better then we are now and become to be more like Jesus in everyway. I know I'm going to practice tolerence and love this week. May you all go in peace and love this week.

Christy S. said...

Hello friends, Well today I learned a valuable lesson. I was visiting with a friend today and I tend to sometimes use lightly bad language depending on who I'm around I guess it's one of the many flaws I have well I used the Crap word and the s word once each. Anyway it wasn't very christian. I was convicted the minute I said it. And new I should be better then that. Today's lesson was all about being a true blue Christian. Being the doer is also being in control of our mouths and our body's, well just everything. The bible say's to keep himself unspotted from the world. I am covered in spots. Another instance was the other night a fellow member from our church and a friend of Tommy's was having car trouble so we gave him a ride. We were in my car. I had been listening to Lady gaga on my cd player before I picked him up and had a slight thought to turn it off while he was in the car but instead I just turned it up and rocked out. But politely. I don't think he minded but after reading today's scripture I realize how wrong I was. Yea maybe sometime I listen to questionable music but I don't have to subject others to it. Anyway, Wow what a conviction! God is good so is the Holy Spirit when it convicts we should listen then maybe we wouldn't have to regret anything we do. Have a Blessed day. From your former potty mouth friend. Love you!

Jayne G said...

thank you for your honesty Christy, it really made me think about my actions and words and also my thoughts. It is so imp. as believers be aware of how we act, people are always watching us.
I need to write my thoughs today hopefully, I have not been home much this week. Anyway will catch up soon. Again I love your honesty!

Jayne G said...

oh Christy
there is a girl called Beckah Shae, she is a Christian musician but her music has a hip hop/R& B style to it. Here is her website, http://www.beckahshae.com/
you can also listen to some of her stuff on Youtube, just out her name in the search engine. I think you will really like her :)

Christy S. said...

Well, I got a little late start on my reading this week but feel really caught up now.
James 2:1-6
I felt I needed to read all the way to 6 even 7 because I needed full understanding right now.
Because the first verse thru me for a loop until I had Tommy explain it to me.
James 2:1 say's My Bretheren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.
I thought it was telling me (not) to have the same like faith as our Lord. But Tom pointed out to be careful to pay attention to the punctuation. That made all the difference. Now when I read it, basicaly that we don't have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wow what a difference! I went to a Church to help out with a feeding program a long time ago and they had the poor people sit in the Balcony of the Church away from the others. I asked why they said because they were smelly and generally unapealing, I found it very offensive at the time and still do. If your going to have a feeding program feed the mind body and spirit and with that comes compassion. Or should.
Anyway I wish I had read this scripture back then, It really helped me to understand that we should not ever have respect for someone just because we think they have money or have disrespect for someone because they do not have money. But we are to love all equally. Being more like Christ in that way.
Love it!!!! Have a great day!
Coffee this week we have to pick a day.

Christy S. said...

Question, are you behind in your blog or am I not finding your messages on the study this week? It's ok if your not blogging no biggie just wondering what's going on. lol