Learn from the Farmer

Good morning.

In this instant society we often want to make things happen quicker. If the Lord does not make the church grow quickly enough to our liking, we step in and do things our way – like game nights, church fetes and often compromise on the standards of the Word of God.

However, we read in James 5:7-11: “Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. Don’t grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!

“Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.”

We also hear Paul saying in 1 Corinthians 3:5-9 when the church started to exalt men and ‘worshipped’ them. “What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labour. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.”

The moment we become impatient and want to do the Holy Spirit’s work, we are exalting ourselves or other people and follow our or another person’s agenda. The way a church or any Christian organisation or project grows and succeeds happens through either or all of three Biblical principles.

1.   “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself,” (John 12:32). When we lift Jesus and the price He had paid for our sins up so people could see Him and what He had done and wants to do for them, then their need for salvation will be revealed to them and they would call on Him.

2.   “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another,” (John 13:34-35). Love is an action. We do not need to feel love to be love. If in spite of ourselves or what people do to us we show love in action, both as an organism and as individuals, people of the world, who do not usually see too much love in action, will start wondering why these people are like this and will desire to have the same.

3.   “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Saviour, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth,” (1 Timothy 2:1-4). In 1 John 5:13-15 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20john%205:13-15&version=NIV1984 the Lord promises that He will answer prayers prayed according to His will. If His will is for souls to be saved we can take comfort in the fact that these prayers will be answered.

So instead of doing all kinds of worldly entertainment and compromise to try and draw the world to the church, we simply need to lift Jesus up through worship, testimony and evangelism, love one another through deed and action and pray intensely for souls, since “the earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working],” (James 5:16b, Amplified Bible).

Once we have sown these seeds, we simply wait for the Lord to make it grow whilst we continue sowing more seeds and worship Him.

Thank you, Lord of the harvest for sending me as a sower, a water sprinkler and a harvester into the harvest field (Luke 10:2) until your second coming.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.

How To Get Rich

Good morning.

James did not spare his words, which is something that is actually needed more among preachers in the last days. We should call a spade a spade and tell it as it is. As listeners we should take the word of the Lord, that is revealed to us, seriously for the Lord takes it seriously and is one day going to ask us what we have done about the revelation we have received and the warnings that He has sent us through His prophets.

One issue that the Holy Spirit prompts me to write about quite often, and is addressed many times in the Bible, is the matter of a materialistic lifestyle. In James 5:1-6 he touched on it once again. If this issue is raised so many times in the Bible, should we not start yielding to it? Remember that with all these messages it is a matter of ‘if the cap fits, wear it’.

“Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you.”

This is written from the perspective of where these rich people will find them at the day of judgement – a prophetic approach. It is like a before-and-after picture. Before the end everything went well with them and they made use of every opportunity to enrich themselves at the cost of the poor and lived comfortable lifestyles. But the judgement on them will be severe, since everything they hoarded will have no value and their abuse of innocent people will testify against them.

I am often amazed when companies declare their annual profits in terms of billions and then ask myself whether they rather could have had a little less profit and paid their workers more. What do they want with all that money? I am also amazed at the annual bonus figures of directors that are revealed on the news. How many houses could have been built for the homeless all over the world with these moneys?

However, this is the world we are talking about, but what about rich Christians? Was James only prophesying to the very rich people? How about the not so rich, but well-off Christians that pay their employees, which include gardeners and house cleaners, less than they are worth? How about those who have the money to pay the asking price, but are bargaining with the poor street vendor who tries his best to have a little food on the table that evening, to make ends meet and keep his house for another month.

1 Timothy 6:10 states: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” We often exclude ourselves from this passage, claiming we do not love money, but what is love of money? What was Jesus’ standard when He told the rich young man in Matthew 19:21: “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me,” and when He concluded with these words after He had told the parable of the rich man building more barns to store his excess in Luke 12:16-21: “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”

Is keeping money, in case we need it, not also love of money – relying on it? Should we not look at our assets and determine how many of them we really need? Being rich towards God means being rich in faith, so if we trust the Lord to care for us we will not hold on to Mammon to do it, but bless others.

Lord, I need to be free from money’s power over me.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.

Live As If God Exists

Good morning.

Today we are concluding the fourth chapter of the book of James.

How many of us live our lives planning every day and even our whole life ahead without even considering the Lord’s plans for our lives? How often do we tell the Lord what we are going to do, asking His blessing on it? How many of us have made stupid mistakes because we hurriedly or impulsively made a decision that could have been avoided had we been waiting on the Lord, or even simply applied Godly principles in our decision-making such as Solomon suggested in Proverbs 15:22: “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.” How many of us actually wait for days on end in anticipation of an answer to prayer or some direction so we could know what the Lord’s next step for us is?

Therefore we read in James 4:13-16: “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.”

The point in this passage is that our life here on earth is a dot in time in comparison to eternity. Why would we then live as if this is all we have and make decisions that only apply to this life? We plan for old age and retirement; we make sure we have enough money to sustain our lifestyle until the day we die and even leave enough for our children to do the same until they die. But what about the afterlife, how have we prepared for it?

We need to acknowledge the Lord’s will in everything we do. The boasting and bragging that James mentioned (even if it is hidden in our heart) comes from pride that we have accomplished what we have decided. The Lord’s will is without exemption aimed at eternity. We know our treasures should not be on earth but in heaven (Matthew 6:19), that we should choose the narrow way that leads to eternal life (Matthew 7:13-14) and that we should first seek the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33) to name only a few. As James put it; we are in this life “a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”

James concluded the chapter with: “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins,” (James 4:17). The word ‘then’ refers to the previous passage. The will of the Lord is not for us to live for ourselves and become comfortable and rich in this life, but it is for us to become rich in good works.

“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do,” (Ephesians 2:10).”

Jesus said: “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father,” (John 14:12). What things did Jesus do? “You know what has happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached—how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him,” (Acts 10:37-38).

If we therefore focus on our own wellbeing, planning our lives as to meet our needs according to our own will, we sin. Even if we do good works of our own choice to look impressive or to have our consciences soothed, we still plan and do according to our own will and still sin. However, if we have heard from God the good works He has planned for us to do to His glory; we have a treasure in heaven.

Lord, let your will be done in and through my life.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.

How To React!

Good morning.

In the last few messages we have discussed James 4. Our next passage should also be read in context with the previous passages we have already discussed.

“Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbour?” (James 4:11-12)

One can imagine that when the people received this letter from James and read about friendship with the world that is hatred toward God, and the command to wash their hands and purify their hearts (James 4:1-9), that their first reaction could be to first see and judge the sin of their neighbour, like the sinful nature tends to do. Through the Holy Spirit James obviously realised this and prepared them not to do it, but to rather look to themselves. Like James put it; we either keep the law or we judge it. If we judge the law, in other words decide whether it is acceptable and actually applicable to our situation or even whether it is fair, we will not keep it until we have decided according to our judgement whether it is acceptable.

James probably meant the law of the Lord, but this could apply to any form of law that governs our lives, which could be social laws or the law of the country we live in, which is supported by God since Romans 13:1 tells us: “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.” If we therefore justify ourselves through judging others, we exalt ourselves above others and the laws that the Lord uses to govern our lives, and thus “whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted,” (Matthew 23:12). Jesus also commanded in Matthew 7:1-2:”Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” All these commands involve self-centred judgement where we as individuals decide whether someone does right or wrong and it affects individual relationships and our eternal destiny.

However, there are situations where we have to judge whether someone pretends to be godly and are not, or do something they should not do, so we could know how to approach them with the gospel message or a warning. “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses,’” (Matthew 18:15-16).

We also read in 1 Corinthians 6:1-3: “If any of you has a dispute with another, dare he take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the saints? Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life!”

The judgement the Lord is concerned about is judgement that involves benefitting ourselves at the cost of Kingdom relationships. We need wisdom from above and careful self-assessment to watch our minds and tongues in this respect. When someone sins and we feel judgement in our hearts towards such a person, we need to carefully assess the motive of our reaction towards such judgement of behaviour. Are we prepared to approach such a person to discuss their error with them with the view to help them as the Bible commands us, or are we going into intense prayer for them so the Lord could save them (1 John 5:16 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20John%205:16&version=NIV1984) or do we gossip and criticize to make ourselves feel better?

Lord, please help me to respond wisely according to your commands.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.

How To Be Redeemed?

Good morning.

The next few passages from the Book of James give a certain standard to Christian living. As we have said in the beginning of this series on this book, James did not beat around the bush, but he said it as it is and should be. The next passage follows on from our previous message.

I really hope you would agree that the previous message was quite a strong challenge. If you have not read it, you would benefit from reading it. James is coming over quite strongly in challenging Christians who play games with the Lord. We think we can simply live our selfish, sin-controlled lives as long as nobody else in church would know what is really in our heart. Sin is very diverse and range from obvious sins such as theft and adulterous lust to discreet sins such as pride and a critical mindset. According to James, as recorded in our previous passage, simply living as the world does and not obeying the Lord are considered by God as hatred towards Him.

How much higher could the standard be set? Are you looking a bit into your own life as you read this? Let’s have a look at our next passage.

 

“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you,” (James 4:7-10).

 

Remember this passage refers to the previous passage in verses 4-6, which spoke about friendship towards the world, in other words living selfishly as the world does, which is enmity towards God and then the statement that God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

 

Verses 7-10 give guidance towards restoring this blunder that we have made by living as the world does. We tend to think that, if we have left a foothold for the devil, the way to get rid of him is to quickly tell God that we submit to Him and then expect Him to back us when we resist the devil. However, verses 7-10 need to be read and acted upon in context.

 

The sinners and double-minded James was talking about are those committing the sin mentioned in the previous passage, which is acting and living like the world does as discussed in our previous message. According to this passage submitting to God involves drawing near to the Lord, meaning we need to choose between Him and Mammon (which include self and any idols) in the devotion of our time and energy. It also involves cleaning our hands and purifying our hearts, in other words confessing and stopping doing those things of the world that steals our time that belongs to the Lord.

 

With what attitude should all this be done? “Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.” Does this mean we should not laugh and be happy as Christians? We certainly should not laugh and be happy if our actions depict hatred and disregard towards God. It is so easy to have a form of godliness and live in pretence, whilst in reality our hearts are far from God and that which He really wants to do with and through our lives. Living like the world does cause us to not hear when the Holy Spirit calls on us to do certain things. Ignoring Him is a show of disrespect, does not matter how many times we tell Him during Sunday worship that we love Him.

 

This kind of behaviour calls for regret and mourning, it calls for hearing the conviction of the Holy Spirit and repenting as a result. When my dog has been naughty, it is written all over his demeanour. His tail is between his legs and he literally crawls before me. When I found out what he had done and reprimanded him, he is quick to offer his paw in repentance and once I have pardoned him, he is his old self – all guilt forgiven and forgotten. In many ways we should be the same towards God.

 

Lord, help me to realise in what respects I disregard you.

Who Do We Actually Follow?

Good morning.

The next few passages from the Book of James give a certain standard to Christian living. As we have said in the beginning of this series on this book, James did not beat around the bush, but he said it as it is and should be. The next passage follows on from our previous message.

“⁴You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. ⁵Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? ⁶But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:

‘God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble,’” (James 4:4-6).

In the previous passage James mentioned getting what we want through fighting about or for it and trying to get it from the Lord by asking with selfish motives. This is the way the world would go about getting what they want – using every crafty skill to their availability to get what they want. Jesus mentioned the same in Matthew 6:31-32: “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.” If we are constantly putting our focus on our immediate needs and wants instead of on the Lord’s needs and wants for our lives as Jesus mentioned in Matthew 6:33 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%206:33&version=NKJV, we act just as the world acts and are therefore following their direction.

If your child does not follow your advice, but instead follows their friends’ advice and do a lot of unwise things, messing up their lives, how would you feel - frustrated as if you would like to leave them to their own devices? How do you think God feels if we keep being only religious, and for the remainder do as the world system and Mammon dictate and not what He desires of us? I once went to a church’s men’s meeting where we had a breakfast together, which was followed by a message. One thing I enjoy is to be in company of people talking about Jesus, and was therefore quite shocked when the conversation among these men of the church centred on their shares in the stock market.

James stated quite strongly in verse four above the same that Jesus stated about Mammon in Matthew 6:24: “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” If we follow the world and its monitory systems and just drag God along to be eternally safe, we are actually serving idols and therefore hate God – in other words we treat Him disrespectfully with contempt just as a child would their parents by not following their wise advice.

Do we ever think along these lines? Deception is very subtle. I have mentioned it before and I mention it again. Just listen carefully to the message that goes out from many preachers these days. It’s a ‘bless me’ message that leaves all the responsibility to the Lord to make us what we are supposed to be, whilst we just keep on living as the world determines. The message from the Bible is completely contrary to this idea. Through it the Lord says ‘obey me and do as I tell you so you could become what I want you to be’. “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose,” (Philippians 2:12-13).

If we therefore boast in our own accomplishments, as the world does, we tell the Lord that we don’t need Him and actually hate Him for interfering with our lives and religion, and He then opposes us (verse 6). However, if we humbly rely on Him and work with Him to accomplish His desires for us, He gives us grace.

Lord, help me obey.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.

How and When We Receive From God

Good morning.

The next few passages from the Book of James give a certain standard to Christian living. As we have said in the beginning of this series on this book, James did not beat around the bush, but he said it as it is and should be.

“What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures,” (James 4:1-3).

Maybe we think that we do not quarrel and fight, neither do we kill. Don’t we? James wrote to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations and I don’t know what they were like in those days, but I can imagine that people may have become more civilised since then, or so we think. We may not be physically violent anymore, but we certainly still fight and kill very skilfully with our tongue and in our thought life, and we certainly do covet at times. I think this passage is a case of ‘if the cap fits, wear it’.

The message behind this passage is once again the choice between our desires and the Lord’s desires, or the choice between a lifestyle dictated by our sinful nature and Mammon and one dictated by the Holy Spirit. It cannot be stressed enough – we need to understand that in dedicated living for the Lord we need to get rid of everything that is not of God. James said in this passage that the way we try to accomplish what we want is by employing every crafty skill our sinful nature can come up with, whilst the way we should accomplish what we want is by asking the Lord to provide it.

However, this is where the prosperity preachers miss the point. We cannot bargain with God. To Him everything is about His Kingdom and our righteousness with Him. If we want our material needs met for the sake of our own pleasure, we will have to do it the carnal way and miss out on our heavenly treasure (Matthew 6:19-20). But if we ask the Lord for things that will help us in serving His Kingdom, or if we live dedicated to Him and ask for our daily needs to be met, He will do it. “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him,” (1 John 5:14-15).

When you look at all your needs and wants and have to evaluate them, which of them would you say classify as God’s will and which as your selfish desires asked with wrong motives? Maybe we should all do this prayerfully. We should have a check on ourselves and our motives all the time. Remember “the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want,” (Galatians 5:17). By doing what we want we “store up for ourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal” and by asking and doing according to God’s will we “store up for ourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal,” (Matthew 6:19-20).

I realise we seem to play the same tune a lot, but if you read the Bible this is the tune the Bible plays. A preacher once preached the same message every Sunday and after a while the people started questioning him as to why he didn’t change the subject.

‘Have you started to do what is required of you through the message,’ the preacher asked, ‘for if you haven’t I have to continue until you do?’

Lord, help me to focus on you and your Kingdom and do what is required of me.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.

The Kinds of Wisdom

Good morning.

Dictionary.com defines wisdom as follows: “Knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgement as to action; sagacity, discernment or insight.” Wisdom in short means applying knowledge correctly.

Solomon cautions us in Proverbs 3:7: “Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord and shun evil.”

James put it as follows: ¹³“Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. ¹⁴But if you harbour bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. ¹⁵Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. ¹⁶For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

¹⁷But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. ¹⁸Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness,” (James 3:13-18).

Wisdom is relying on the Lord. If we want to appear wise and understanding in ourselves, if our ambition is to be this great ‘Man/Woman of God’, this great home group leader, elder or pastor, we will end up acting by the sinful nature. We will start competing with our fellow Christians - obviously with the necessary subtlety and tact as to not appear competitive - and in the end we will be in the position of ‘wisdom’ and authority that we desired, but far away from the Lord. This kind of selfish ambition is what James talked about in verses 14-16 above.

If however we rest in the Lord, letting Him do His thing though us as we obey His commands, being still and knowing that He is Lord (Psalm 46:10), letting Him fight for us whilst we look on quietly enjoying the victory (Exodus 14:14), we will be wise and act godly. A humble heart that relies on the Lord results in victory, “producing fruit in keeping with repentance” as Jesus said in Matthew 3:8.

Jesus mentioned false prophets in Matthew 7:15-23: “‘Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

 ‘Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”

When we read this we think of all those with really bad intentions, but Satan masquerades him as an angel of the light: “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light,” (2 Corinthians 11:13-14). We need to watch people carefully, including ourselves, and not simply accept everything, but test them according to the Word of God – are they doing what God expects in His Word? The Holy Spirit is always ready with Words of Wisdom and Knowledge and will show us when we or others have wrong motives.

Do those who preach money and numbers, those who do little to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, those who demand to have titles and position, even if it is ever so subtle, act in the wisdom from above that is “first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere?” (James 3:17).

Motives do not have to be openly ungodly, but can appear very good and holy, yet selfish. If we see this kind of earthly wisdom in Christians we need to pray that the Lord may forgive them and redirect their hearts.

Lord, help me to rely on your wisdom.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.

The Power of Words (Part Two)

Good morning.

In our previous message we started to discuss James 1:1-12 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=james%203:1-12&version=NIV1984 and here we find a few keys.

It is interesting that James addressed the teachers, for those who presume to teach are to be extra careful of what they say for they can mislead people very easily and put them on a wrong course. Opinionated people are essentially also ‘teachers’ and they need to be very careful to ensure that their opinion is founded on reliable sources. James mentioned that “the tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell,” (verse 6). It is interesting that he approached this passage from a negative perspective. The reason he did it is because the nature of man is sin. The sinful nature does not need encouragement to act. Good news will simply never spread as fast as gossip or bad news. How much good news do we actually hear in the news?

Therefore we need to make sure what the intention of our words is, which is why we read in James 1:19 that “everyone should be quick to listen (also to the Holy Spirit) and slow to speak”. Think about what you are going to say. What would the consequences of your words be? What do you want to accomplish by what you say? How would the other person feel when you say it? We can for instance have the most wonderful intentions, but the time and place may be wrong and the person may not be ready to receive it. If someone’s emotions are still raw after the death of a loved one or a break in a relationship, words may bring more damage than good if not well chosen. Satan is very subtle, which is why James mentioned that the tongue is set on fire in hell, for if we do not act very carefully by the Holy Spirit’s wisdom, our words may seem good, but it may bring a lot of damage.

Paul told the Galatians: “Live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature,” (Galatians 5:16). To lose control of our tongue is living by the sinful nature, for an uncontrolled tongue will seek to satisfy self at the cost of others. If we live by the Spirit the Holy Spirit will warn us when we are about to say the wrong thing and will give us the right thing to say when we need it. Saying damaging things comes naturally, whilst avoiding the damage that the tongue would do takes a conscious effort of thinking and listening for wisdom.

James talks in verses three to seven about controlling horses and ships and taming animals and then states in verse eight: “but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.” He is right; no man can tame the tongue - we only need to look at how the world acts in backstabbing one other and smearing each other’s names. The media also is a good example of the power of the tongue. The only way we can control or tame the tongue is by the Spirit. If we grasp what James said in verses nine to twelve and have an understanding of how the Lord feels about our use of the tongue, we will be encouraged to take care to watch our tongue: “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and bitter water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.”

A good standard to set for ourselves can be found in Philippians 4:8: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

Lord, help me to walk by the Spirit in the use of my tongue.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.

The Power of Words (Part One)

Good morning.

Our next passage from the book of James is a well known piece that is very relevant. “Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.

When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and bitter water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water,” (James 3:1-12).

One of the first things James mentioned here is that we all stumble in many ways. The real question is whether we are aware of our stumbling by means of our tongue, or have gossip, criticism and cursing one another become such a natural part of our lives that we do not even notice it anymore. What is the first thing we want to do when we get home after someone has offended us at work? We want to tell our spouse and friends and then tear that person apart, don’t we? If someone offends or humiliates us, what is the first that comes from our mouth? Isn’t it self-defence of a very creative nature, since we need to improve on that person’s verbal skills? Verbal reaction in whichever form is a temptation to sin and like any other temptation should be resisted by the power of God (1 Corinthians 10:13) through living in submission to Him (James 4:7).

There is an idiom saying that ‘sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me’, but we know that this is not true. Jesus said in Matthew 5:21-22:”‘You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ [Aramaic term for contempt] is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.’”

Words hurt and kill. Gossip is destructive for it forms a false opinion of a person in people’s minds. Have you ever been introduced to an individual through gossip and formed an opinion of such a person and then afterwards met them for the first time? I bet the impressions you had on both occasions were completely different. A pastor once was bad-mouthed by a lady all over town, creating a bad impression of him amongst the people. He called her in and gave her a hand full of feathers and told her to place them on certain open air places in town. When she returned he told her to go and collect all the feathers.

‘I will never find them Pastor,’ she said. ‘They will be blown all over.’

‘That’s exactly what happens when you gossip,’ he said. ‘You can’t retrieve what you have said, for gossip spreads like a fire.’

Criticism, contempt, humiliating remarks and so on damages the soul. It causes the victim to feel inferior, rejected and insecure. Gossip damages people’s impressions of others. It is so easy to fall for these and therefore we need to make a decision to submit to God and shut our mouth, resisting the temptation to speak out of turn.

We will look at the ‘how to’ in the next message.

Lord, help me to be aware of what I say.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.

Active Faith (Part Two)

Good morning.

We are discussing James 2:14-25 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=james%202:14-25&version=NIV1984).

If we look at life we see that those who dare are the ones who get somewhere. The Paralympics has been going the past ten days and all of us have been astonished by the ability of these athletes to accomplish what they have and many of us have been shamed by their success. However, where did their success start? It began with a leap of faith. As I watched this wheelchair tennis player, Nick Taylor, from the USA with his twisted body in his electric wheelchair, with the racket attached to his malformed forearm, catching the ball with his twisted feet and then flipping it into the air to serve, playing an excellent game, I thought of where it could have begun.

He probably had this twisted body and perhaps had to be spoon fed when someone asked him whether he would like to play tennis. He might have looked up to the person enquiring whether he was nuts, or he might have thought ‘why not, I can do it’. Whatever prompted him to start playing tennis; he still had to believe that it was possible. Whoever prompted him to play would probably have been prepared to help him and if he had thought of it himself he would have had to seek advice and help. To get there he had to muster the courage to do something about it by making a fool of himself, going through much hardship and relying on others for help, but in the end he would have reaped the reward. What looked to be impossible for this twisted man, without much hope in life, became a rewarding sport.

When it comes to dealing with the spiritual realm we are all paraplegic, in other words in comparison to God and even to the power of the evil forces we are powerless - paraplegics. However, the Lord has called all these paraplegics to believe that He is able to get us where He wants to use us to affect the world around us, through the power of the Holy Spirit. In the process we need to use those gifts that enable us to work hand in hand with the Holy Spirit. In our spiritual paraplegic state our gift is the one limb that will make all the difference. However, we need to believe that we can. “I can do everything through him who gives me strength,” (Philippians 4:13). Like the tennis player we need to rely on the Holy Spirit’s and others’ help.

Getting there means that we have to hear what the Holy Spirit expects of us and then we have to believe it. Once we believe that the Lord wants to use us, we need to believe that we can do it through His power. When we get to this point, we believe, but we do not have faith yet, since faith is doing what we believe. Like that wheelchair tennis player we have to do something about our belief. We need to start doing what the Holy Spirit tells us. Years ago the Lord told me through a company of prophets that I need to get into the Word of God and get to know it, for He will use me in a very special way, which I did. Some years later I started to write these kinds of things publicly and were amazed by what came from my pen, but it was and still is a difficult road to walk because of the resistance from my enemies.

Being obedient and adding action to what we believe the Lord wants to do through us will never be easy and it takes courage. The sinful nature and the devil will make every effort to cause doubt, unbelief, insecurity and so on to make us give up and become complacent. Real faith keeps going, though, in spite of hardship, persecution and setbacks. Real faith will be tested, but if we persevere the rewards will be wonderful.

Each Christian therefore has a choice to either say we believe and live a mediocre, religious life whilst receiving that reward in the end, or act on our faith by exercising our gifts in spite of resistance and reap those rewards.

Lord, I want to act on my faith.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.

A Byte of Encouragement

Good morning.

I will have to write the continuation of our previous message tomorrow. This morning I will therefore give you a few passages from the Word of God to chew on and enrich your soul.

Philippians 4

⁴Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ⁵ Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. ⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

⁸ Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. ⁹ Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Psalm 146

¹ Praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord, O my soul.
² I will praise the Lord all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

³ Do not put your trust in princes,
in mortal men, who cannot save.
⁴ When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing.

⁵ Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord his God,
⁶ the Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them—
the Lord, who remains faithful forever.
⁷ He upholds the cause of the oppressed
and gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets prisoners free,
⁸ the Lord gives sight to the blind,
the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down,
the Lord loves the righteous.
⁹ The Lord watches over the alien
and sustains the fatherless and the widow,
but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.

¹⁰ The Lord reigns forever,
your God, O Zion, for all generations.

Praise the Lord.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.