James 2 bible reading and devotionals.

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MaxLucado.com:Worry is an Option

Some of us have postgraduate degrees from the University of Anxiety.  We got to sleep worried that we won’t wake up.  We wake up worried that we didn’t sleep.  We worry that someone will discover that lettuce was fattening all along.

Wouldn’t you love to stop worrying?  Could you use a strong shelter from life’s harsh elements?  God offers you just that.  The possibility of a worry-free life.  Not just less worry–but no worry.

Philippians 4:7 says “His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”

Worry is an option, not an assignment.  Be quick to pray.  Rather than worry about anything, Scripture says, “pray about everything.”   Focus less on the problem ahead and more on the victories behind.  In everything–let your requests be made known to God!

Do your part, and God will do his.

From Come Thirsty


James 2
New International Version (NIV)
Favoritism Forbidden

2 My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. 2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. 3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?

8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,”[a] you are doing right. 9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 11 For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,”[b] also said, “You shall not murder.”[c] If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

12 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Faith and Deeds

14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”

Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that —and shudder.

20 You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless[d]? 21 Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,”[e] and he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.

25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Read: John 6:42-51

42 They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”

43 “Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. 44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’[a] Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. 46 No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. 47 Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. 50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

Pureed Pursuit

June 25, 2012 — by Anne Cetas

No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him. —John 6:44

James was diagnosed with heart problems, and his wife, Becky, was no longer able to care for him or herself very well. They started looking for an assisted living home. One of Becky’s first questions as she visited each home was, “Do you puree your food?” She was concerned that James have the kind of food he needed for his swallowing difficulty. Several places answered “no,” so she kept searching. Finally she heard “yes” at a Christian assisted living home.

Even though they weren’t believers in Jesus and had often argued with a Christian neighbor about Him, James and Becky chose the Christian home because of the pureed food. They began attending chapel services, heard the gospel, and felt well cared for by the workers there. One day James surrendered his life to Christ. He believes that God was pursuing him (John 6:44), and He used pureed food to bring them to the Christian home where he received the care of God’s people and heard of Christ’s forgiveness.

Conversion is a work of God; in love He draws people to Himself. He uses circumstances, His Word, people, and even pureed food to pursue hearts. Be encouraged in your witness for Him. He will use your words and deeds in His pursuit of those who need Christ.

It is not always words galore
Nor brilliancy of speech
That opens wide the gospel door
Within the sinner’s reach. —Rotz
Love is the magnet that draws believers together and attracts unbelievers to Christ.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
June 25, 2012

Receiving Yourself in the Fires of Sorrow

. . . what shall I say? ’Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. ’Father, glorify Your name’ —John 12:27-28

As a saint of God, my attitude toward sorrow and difficulty should not be to ask that they be prevented, but to ask that God protect me so that I may remain what He created me to be, in spite of all my fires of sorrow. Our Lord received Himself, accepting His position and realizing His purpose, in the midst of the fire of sorrow. He was saved not from the hour, but out of the hour.

We say that there ought to be no sorrow, but there is sorrow, and we have to accept and receive ourselves in its fires. If we try to evade sorrow, refusing to deal with it, we are foolish. Sorrow is one of the biggest facts in life, and there is no use in saying it should not be. Sin, sorrow, and suffering are, and it is not for us to say that God has made a mistake in allowing them.

Sorrow removes a great deal of a person’s shallowness, but it does not always make that person better. Suffering either gives me to myself or it destroys me. You cannot find or receive yourself through success, because you lose your head over pride. And you cannot receive yourself through the monotony of your daily life, because you give in to complaining. The only way to find yourself is in the fires of sorrow. Why it should be this way is immaterial. The fact is that it is true in the Scriptures and in human experience. You can always recognize who has been through the fires of sorrow and received himself, and you know that you can go to him in your moment of trouble and find that he has plenty of time for you. But if a person has not been through the fires of sorrow, he is apt to be contemptuous, having no respect or time for you, only turning you away. If you will receive yourself in the fires of sorrow, God will make you nourishment for other people.


A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

Frequent Calls Home - #6641

Monday, June 25, 2012

My wife hit her 40th birthday without the trauma you're supposed to have; very well-adjusted lady. No big deal - 40th birthday. And then a couple of months later our oldest son, who was then 12 said, "Hey, Mom, you know you've been alive for 14,662 days?" Well, that's a different matter. Actually, life really isn't years; it is days. All the little choices, experiences, hurts, happiness's of each 24-hour period, isn't that what makes the years?

That's really true when it comes to parenting children. Their lives unfold in these 24-hour episodes. They're shaped by their days. I know our own kids lives were filled with daily developments as they were growing up. Academic developments, frustrations, changes in friends, it seemed like there were soap operas that were changing daily. Questions, remarks! If I missed many days, well I'll never catch up with what I missed. See, it was tough when I traveled, so I was thankful for well, like phones and e-mails. When I was away, I would contact home frequently and get those important updates of what happened in that 24-hour period. I got out of step with my wife and children if I didn't stay in frequent contact. You just can't afford to be out of touch very long in any relationship.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Frequent Calls Home."

Now, our word for today from the Word of God comes from Luke 5; I'm going to begin at verse 16. "The news about Jesus spread all the more so that crowds of people came to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed." Underscore these words, "...the crowds came, but Jesus withdrew." See, when you're besieged, when you're pressured, your only hope of staying on course is regular time out to touch God. Jesus knew that. He made frequent calls home.

There's a lot to learn from these simple few words we just read. First it says often. See, you've got to take many time-outs during the day. Not necessarily going in a room all by yourself; not necessarily stopping everything and saying, "Wait a minute, I've got to take an hour off." Just even a momentary, spiritual time-out many times during the day. You make too many choices in a day; there are too many needs.

And then it says, "He withdrew" and I get the feeling you have to tear yourself away from the urgent demands. He had people all around Him at that point and they all needed Him. But you know, the time out might only be brief, but it's a quick moment in the middle of the battle to focus on your Father; to spiritually and mentally withdraw from every voice but one voice. And then it says He often withdrew "alone." We spend a lot of time listening to God's voice in Bible studies, and church, and group settings. But the key is time alone when there's no other voice. And then it says, "He prayed." He didn't get alone to plan, to listen to the radio, or listen to music. It was time to touch God.

Frankly, I've gone too many days where God and I consulted at the beginning and at the end, but not near enough in the heat of the battle. So many times a day we need deployment, or courage, or help with our priorities. We need an answer.

The greater your responsibilities, the more often you need to check with God even when it seems like you have less time than ever to do it. The daily rush? Well, it can quickly push you right out of the mainstream of the will of God. But take it from a Dad who's traveled.

You can't afford to be out of touch for long. So, make frequent calls home.