James 1:13-18

For Reading and Meditation:     James 1:12-20

Yesterday we saw that the first step the psalmist took, the step which helped to save him from spiritual disaster, was most surprising. In the midst of overwhelming temptation, he says to himself: "If I give expression to my doubts and speak out of my envious, discouraged heart, I will put a stumbling-block in someone...

For Reading and Meditation:     James 1:1-18

The Bible is replete with instances of God's wisdom moving men and women through the most difficult times to the most wonderful ends. Take Abraham for example. Although he is known in Scripture as the "the friend of God," he was capable of some shabby behavior. On one occasion he actually compromised his wife's chastity ...

For Reading and Meditation:     Hebrews 10:19-31

The Bible is a veritable mine of information on the fact of God's faithfulness. More than 4,000 years ago He said: "As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease" (Genesis 8:22). Every year furnishes...

For Reading and Meditation: 1 Corinthians 9:15-27

We continue meditating on the idea that everything we do represents a goal. In fact, most of the frustration we experience in life comes from wrong goals and blocks to those goals. Let me illustrate. Cast your mind back to the last time you were angry. If you can identify your goal and what blocked your goal, then you have the clue to...

For Reading and Meditation:     Psalm 149:1-9

We come now to Christ's third prescription for happiness: "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5). How we have shied away from that word "meek". We have thought of meekness as weakness and thus have a totally wrong concept of what Jesus meant....

A. P. Gibbs used to say, "You are not what you think you are, but what you think - this is what you are." This means that the mind is the spring from which behavior flows. Control the source and you control the stream that flows from it.

Therefore control of the thought-life is basic. That is why Solomon said, "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life" (Proverbs 4:23) Here the heart is used as a synonym for the...

When we speak of the holiness of God, we mean that He is spiritually and morally perfect in His thoughts, deeds, motives and in every other way. He is absolutely free from sin and defilement. He cannot be anything but pure.

The Scriptural testimony to His holiness is abundant. Here are a few examples. "I the Lord your God am holy" (Leviticus 19:2). "There is none holy as the Lord" (1 Samuel 2:2)....

The attribute of God which describes Him as changeless is called His immutability. He does not change in His essential being. He does not change in His attributes. He does not change in the principles by which He operates.

The psalmist contrasted the changing destiny of the heavens and earth with God's changelessness: "They shall be changed, but thou art the same" (Psalms 102:26-27). James describes the Lord as "the Father of lights,...

Temptation is not of God. What constitutes a thing tempting is something in the man or woman that looks upon it, namely, a disposition more or less active to transgress, and take what is forbidden. The fruit is suspended on the tree for an admirable purpose; namely that men may have an opportunity of evincing their fidelity towards God, and thus may obtain a crown of life. The same thing is to one man a temptation, to another a good gift of God, by means of which his walk of righteousness is...

Become complete. Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.By grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. § Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in...