None of us really want to do foolish things. We want to be wise, or at least see ourselves as wise. James warns us not to be deceived and instead to ask God for wisdom, believing he will give it to us generously.
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In season four we are praying through some of the letters in the Bible. Today we start one of the General Letters which is filled with practical teaching and wisdom, James. The characteristics of a letter are less obvious in James and instead it reads like a set of practical instructions for wise living as Christians.
James 1 reads like an index of topics for the rest of the letter. Words and phrases mentioned only briefly in chapter 1 are further developed later in the letter. A few words that stand out and to watch for later include: faith (ch 2), wisdom (ch 3, 5), rich and poor (ch 2, 4), trials/test/temptation (ch 5), the tongue (ch 3), and speech and action (ch 2, 4).
Where do you need wisdom? Have you asked God for it yet? Trust him to give generously and ask in faith. James makes a distinction between 3 things that we often confuse as one thing: troubles, testing and temptation. In this episode we briefly distinguish those three along the lines that James uses them.
We are using the letters to grow closer to God in season four. We can't exhaust the riches in each part of scripture we cover, but you can go deeper into them on your own using our four step process. You can download the helpsheet that details and demonstrates the four step process we use on First Fifteen using Psalm 1.
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We have a course on Philemon and Colossians for in-depth Bible study called "Christ Supreme". If you are interested in going deeper, check out the links on our website or the Facebook page.
Additional resources at the Word of Prayer website https://word-of-prayer.com
