<p><span class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold">For Reading and Meditation:</span><br><span class="italic">     <span class="scriptRef" ref="jas+1:12-20">James 1:12-20</span></span></p><p>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 else's path - hence I will not say anything at all" (paraphrase mine). Now as we said yesterday, many people may find it difficult to accept this as the first step on the road to recovery - but it worked, nevertheless. Listen to what one commentator says about this first step: "Our reaction to the discovery of what his first step was in his process of recovery will be a very good test of our spiritual understanding." What does he mean? He means that if we fail to see that the steps of faith are sometimes very ordinary, then we are not as spiritual as we imagine. It's all right to have your head in the clouds, but make sure your feet are firmly planted on the earth! Keep in mind, then, that the thing which stopped the spiritual slide of the psalmist was very simple and ordinary - he made a decision not to say what was on the tip of his tongue. He stopped to think. Rather than spread his unbelief, he determined to keep his mouth shut; rather than threaten someone else's spiritual understanding, he resolved not to act on impulse. It might not have been a particularly high spiritual motive, but it was the thing that prevented him from falling. </p><p class="center-it italic bold mlr40 mtb20">Gracious and loving Father, help me grasp this point that sometimes t he first step towards spiritual recovery is one that is simple, practical and ordinary. Save me from becoming so super-spiritual that I neglect the commonplace. In Jesus' Name. Amen.</p><div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="1pe+3:8-15">1 Peter 3:8-15</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="pr+13:3">Proverbs 13:3</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="pr+21:23">Proverbs 21:23</span></li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What are we to do with our tongue?</li><li>How are we to give an answer?</li></ul></div></div>

Let a little light into your soul every day with this wonderful devotional from English pastor Selwyn Hughes.

Every Day Light with Selwyn Hughes

" Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry " (v. 19) 

<p><span class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold">For Reading and Meditation:</span><br><span class="italic">     <span class="scriptRef" ref="1co+9:15-27">1 Corinthians 9:15-27</span></span></p><p>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 what produced your anger and frustration. A man once asked me if I could explain what caused his deep-seated anger. It soon became apparent that his anger was due to a blocked goal. His goal in life was to make money. He reasoned: "If I can make plenty of money, then everyone will see that I am a successful and important person." When he encountered blocks to this goal, such as his wife's insistence that he cut down on the amount of time he was spending in his business, he would erupt in anger. I pointed out that the way to deal with the anger was to establish a goal that no-one could block. And what was that? To please the Lord. He resisted that idea at first, but when he came to realize that his goal in life was unbiblical and that his anger resulted from others blocking his unbiblical goal, he made a new commitment to God and found happiness and release From then on his goal was not to make money, but to please the Lord. I hasten to point out that there is nothing wrong with wanting to make money - it is a legitimate human desire - but it must remain a desire and never become a goal.</p><p class="center-it italic bold mlr40 mtb20">O God my gracious Father, help me never to turn what can be a legitimate human desire into a life goal. Save me from pursuing unbiblical objectives, and guide me toward the truth which alone can make me free. In Jesus' Name. Amen.</p><div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="jas+1:9-20">James 1:9-20</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="ps+37:8">Psalm 37:8</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="pr+14:17">Proverbs 14:17</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="pr+16:32">Proverbs 16:32</span></li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What does an impatient man do?</li><li>Who will 'take the city'?</li></ul></div></div>

"Run in such a way as to get the prize." (v. 24) 

<p><span class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold">For Reading and Meditation:</span><br><span class="italic">     <span class="scriptRef" ref="ps+149:1-9">Psalm 149:1-9</span></span></p><p>We come now to Christ's third prescription for happiness: "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth"  (<span class="scriptRef" ref="mt+5:5">Matthew 5:5</span>). 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. The Amplified Bible translates it thus: "Blessed are the meek (the mild, patient, long-suffering), for they shall inherit the earth." The dictionary defines "meek" as "humble, compliant and submissive". Does this mean that Jesus expects the children of the kingdom to be like subdued puppies who crawl into their master's presence and cower at his feet? Or to become the type of people who lack inner fortitude and gumption, who can be easily pushed around and manipulated? The truly meek person - in the Biblical sense of the word - is not timid, shy, hesitant and unassuming, but trusting, confident and secure. The root meaning of the word "meekness" is that of yieldedness or surrender - a characteristic without which no real progress can be made in the Christian life. What happens, for example, to the scientist who approaches the mysteries of the universe in a manner that is aggressive and belligerent? He discovers nothing. But what happens to the scientist who approaches the mysteries of the universe in a spirit of meekness? He finds its richest secrets unfolding themselves to him and he is able to harness the mighty forces around him to advantage. The Christian who approaches life in the same spirit - the spirit of meekness and submission - discovers the true meaning of his existence and the purpose of God in all his affairs. </p><p class="center-it italic bold mlr40 mtb20">Gracious Father, help me to understand clearly the difference between meekness and weakness. And show me how to apply this principle in all I say and in all I do. This I ask in Christ's powerful and precious Name. Amen.</p><div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="jas+1:12-21">James 1:12-21</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="zep+2:3">Zephaniah 2:3</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="ga+5:22-23">Galatians 5:22-23</span></li><li><span class="scriptRef" ref="1pe+3:4">1 Peter 3:4</span></li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What are we to receive with meekness?</li><li>Does the Biblical definition of meekness fit you?</li></ul></div></div>

"For the Lord taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation." (v. 4, AV)

<p>My beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. § He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city. § If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body. § For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned. § Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips.<br><br>Christ… suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: “who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth”; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously. § Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.<br><br>In their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God.</p>

Daily Light on the Daily Path or Daily Light is a Christian daily devotional scripture reading published by Bagster & Sons about 1875. It has been reprinted continually since then. It consists of brief groupings of scripture passages which speak to prominent Biblical themes—two themes (morning and evening) for each day of the year. It appends no commentary, but simply allows scripture to speak for itself.

Morning Daily Light

 In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, but he who restrains his lips is wise. 

<p>Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God. § A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. § No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. § I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever.<br><br>Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 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. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.<br><br>For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.<br><br>Lord, You will establish peace for us, for You have also done all our works in us.</p>

 It is God who works in you. 

<p> <sup class="verse-number">19</sup> Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:</p><p> <sup class="verse-number">20</sup> For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.</p>

Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:

James 1:19

For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

James 1:20

 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

In 1604, King James I of England authorized that a new translation of the Bible into English be started. It was finished in 1611, just 85 years after the first translation of the New Testament into English appeared (Tyndale, 1526). The Authorized Version, or King James Version, quickly became the standard for English-speaking Protestants. Its flowing language and prose rhythm has had a profound influence on the literature of the past 400 years. The King James Version present on the Bible Gateway matches the 1987 printing. The KJV is public domain in the United States.

OT: Masoretic Text, some LXX and Vulgate influence.
NT: Textus Receptus, similar to the Byzantine text-type; some readings derived from the Vulgate.
Apocrypha: Greek Septuagint and Latin Vulgate.

James 1:19-20 KJV

James 1:19-20 KJV

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