The Devotional - JAS001

The Devotional

Comment:

If you have witnessed a dust storm you know that the dust and sand is ready and willing to take your life. The taste of death in readily in your mouth, breathing can be difficult. Your eyes feel the grit of sandy particles, seeing is nearly impossible and your ears accumulate dirt and become caked, sounds are muffled. The sounds of survival turn inward as you can hear your heart beat rapidly for lack of oxygen. This is not an exaggeration of the dangers surrounding the physical being of any human or animal and for lack of shelter many lives would perish. The writer of Psalm 119 expresses the weight of such a storm in his life with these words; “My soul clings to the dust, revive me according to Your Word. With that statement he acknowledges trial and tribulation in his soul and in his next breath he seeks relief from the LORD. “I have declared my ways and You answered me; teach me Your Statutes” – Psalm 119:25-26.

Challenge: James 1:2-6

I thought we might take a look at the Epistle of James, this James is the half-brother of Jesus Christ. We confidently say half-brother of Jesus Christ because both of the men had the same mother, but not the same father. James the apostle of God was born of Mary whose husband was Joseph. Jesus the Son of God was also born of Mary who conceived Jesus as a virgin before being married to Joseph. She conceived by the Power of God and of the Holy Spirit of God, please take the moment and read Matthew 1:18-25.

Now we could go into this virgin birth deeper and maybe we will a bit later, but for now I wish to break into the text of this epistle for our current day here in the United States of America. Therefore look with me at James 1:3-6, James is writing to Jewish Christians who are scattered throughout Asia Minor after the first persecution of the church of Jesus Christ. The saints of our Savior/Messiah are under Trial and Tribulation similar to the dust storm we looked at earlier. This persecution is why they have moved out of Jerusalem to other parts of the world. 

What would it be for the Church of Jesus Christ in the United States of America to witness such a dust storm of persecution? How would most of us react to such a storm of trials and tribulations? You may be thinking, what would these events be like? Could we be chastised for preaching and teaching the gospel of God? Would we be tormented by the evil minority of folks who are bent on protecting their immoral conduct through government law? Could we be tossed into a jail for raising our children by “Thus says the LORD, vice thus says the government?”

The faith of the average believer of Jesus Christ (Savior/Messiah – the literal translation of the words Jesus and Christ) does not go much further than “believing in Jesus” therefore these folks lack wisdom (biblical wisdom). In other words they, like the world around them have “no patience” (no tolerance) they lack the fullness of the perfect work of God in their daily life. Therefore these saints are vulnerable to spiritual torment as their soul clings to the dust of persecution. Until they cry out to the LORD for Him to teach them His Statutes they will not know the joy that James speaks of when trials hit home.

In the words of James – If any of you lack wisdom, let him or her ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given. The one prerequisite is that those who ask for God to give them wisdom, must ask in faith. This faith is the same faith (a trust without works) we experienced when we first believed in Jesus, we did not wavier or doubt then and we cannot wavier or doubt now, the unstable soul will not receive anything from the LORD. The double-minded about these troubling times today will be unstable to deal with the storm brewing on our horizon.