PROVING OF YOUR FAITH

James 1Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC)

http://bit.ly/2zE4pyv

1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes scattered abroad [among the Gentiles in the dispersion]: Greetings ([a]rejoice)!

2 Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort or fall into various temptations.

3 Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience.

4 But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing.

5 If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of [b]the giving God [Who gives] to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or faultfinding, and it will be given him.

6 Only it must be in faith that he asks with no wavering (no hesitating, no doubting). For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the billowing surge out at sea that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind.

7 For truly, let not such a person imagine that he will receive anything [he asks for] from the Lord,

8 [For being as he is] a man of two minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute), [he is] unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything [he thinks, feels, decides].

9 Let the brother in humble circumstances glory in his elevation [as a Christian, called to the true riches and to be an heir of God],

10 And the rich [person ought to glory] in being humbled [by being shown his human frailty], because like the flower of the grass he will pass away.

11 For the sun comes up with a scorching heat and parches the grass; its flower falls off and its beauty fades away. Even so will the rich man wither and die in the midst of his pursuits.

12 Blessed (happy, [c]to be envied) is the man who is patient under trial and stands up under temptation, for when he has stood the test and been approved, he will receive [the victor’s] crown of life which God has promised to those who love Him.

13 Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted from God; for God is incapable of being tempted by [what is] evil and He Himself tempts no one.

14 But every person is tempted when he is drawn away, enticed and baited by his own evil desire (lust, passions).

15 Then the evil desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully matured, brings forth death.

16 Do not be misled, my beloved brethren.

17 Every good gift and every perfect ([d]free, large, full) gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of all [that gives] light, in [the shining of] Whom there can be no variation [rising or setting] or shadow cast by His turning [as in an eclipse].

18 And it was of His own [free] will that He gave us birth [as sons] by [His] Word of Truth, so that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures [a sample of what He created to be consecrated to Himself].

19 Understand [this], my beloved brethren. Let every man be quick to hear [a ready listener], slow to speak, slow to take offense and to get angry.

20 For man’s anger does not promote the righteousness God [wishes and requires].

21 So get rid of all uncleanness and the rampant outgrowth of wickedness, and in a humble (gentle, modest) spirit receive and welcome the Word which implanted and rooted [in your hearts] contains the power to save your souls.

22 But be doers of the Word [obey the message], and not merely listeners to it, betraying yourselves [into deception by reasoning contrary to the Truth].

23 For if anyone only listens to the Word without obeying it and being a doer of it, he is like a man who looks carefully at his [own] natural face in a mirror;

24 For he thoughtfully observes himself, and then goes off and promptly forgets what he was like.

25 But he who looks carefully into the faultless law, the [law] of liberty, and is faithful to it and perseveres in looking into it, being not a heedless listener who forgets but an active doer [who obeys], he shall be blessed in his doing (his life of obedience).

26 If anyone thinks himself to be religious (piously observant of the external duties of his faith) and does not bridle his tongue but deludes his own heart, this person’s religious service is worthless (futile, barren).

27 External [e]religious worship [[f]religion as it is expressed in outward acts] that is pure and unblemished in the sight of God the Father is this: to visit and help and care for the orphans and widows in their affliction and need, and to keep oneself unspotted and uncontaminated from the world.

Footnotes:

James 1:1 Literal translation.

James 1:5 Literal translation.

James 1:12 Alexander Souter, Pocket Lexicon of the Greek New Testament.

James 1:17 Marvin Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament.

James 1:27 Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown, A Commentary on the Old and New Testaments: “Religion in its rise interests us about ourselves; in its progress, about our fellow creatures; in its highest stage, about the honor of God.”

James 1:27 G. Abbott-Smith, Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament.

The Mystery Of His Will

Ephesians 1:9-10

He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment - to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.

 

Thoughts on today's verse

 

Jesus is Lord! God's plan was purposed in Christ. It centered on Christ coming at the right time. 

God's plan was to bring unity in Christ by making him Lord of all! What's more, this plan that brings our salvation brings God great pleasure. 

God is the only saving God and Jesus is both our Savior and Lord. So the real issue we face today is this: 

What area of our lives, our hearts, our secrets, our sin, our rebellion, have we not submitted to his lordship?

 

Prayer:

 

O Precious Father, I know my heart can be deceitful. At times I can even fool myself. But when I kneel in your presence and am convicted by your Word, I find myself reminded of the areas I have not yet fully submitted to your control and Jesus' lordship. Please, dear Father, use the Holy Spirit to gently show and convict of my self-deception so that I may be wholly lost in your will. Through Jesus, Lord of lords, I pray. Amen.

Visit heartlight.org for more

The Power of Praying for Your Nation

The Power of Praying for Your Nation

by Debbie Przybylski

“Nothing was more pressing than that the nations and multitudes who are marching to a Christless eternity should be saved. How I saw the agendas of men: so many and varied and all of such vital importance to them, but there was only one paramount agenda to God: The nations. I instantly realized that the entire task of the glorious triune God was completely and utterly devotedto this one supreme purpose for which Jesus had so freely given His life. All else was rather trivial in comparison and we all had majored on the trivial.” - Michael Howard

Dear intercessors,

 

A few days ago most People were fixed on the television as they watched the inauggeration of a new president. It was quite a momentous occasion to say the least - Parades, dinners, ballroom dancing, speeches, prayers, and so much more. So many travelled for miles to watch the transference of power and to possibly get a quick glimpse of the new president as his car drove by. So much is at stake when we think of the nations and as we think of the transference of power on that one day. There were riots and protests with those who were opposed to the new presidency. I was struck afresh in my own heart about the desperate need to diligently pray daily for our nation.

As a young missionary I lived for years on a ship that sailed from nation to nation. Although it was not always easy at sea, it was perhaps one of the greatest privileges of my life. While at sea for days with our ship bobbing up and down in the vast and seemingly limitless ocean, it would be easy to feel low or even seasick. It was during those times that I found it was a prime opportunity to seek to see things from God’s point of view. Undistracted by the busyness of the usual routines, I was able to look at God's world and take time to hear His heart of love for the nations. His heart is full of compassion for the world and the desperation of mankind.

What does this mean to us as intercessors and as a people who want to grow in prayer? Our focus should also include the world, the nations (especially our own), and the cities around us. We are the ones who can impact our nation through our prayers. I've heard it said that history belongs to the intercessors.

 

God is looking to and fro across this whole earth to find those whose hearts are as His heart, those who will intercede for the nations. Will you be one to stand in the gap for your nation? God is looking for intercessors (Isaiah 59:16). Will you let God lay a nation on your heart for the purpose of prayer? God wants to give us His passion for the world. A key to our authority is when our heartbeat aligns with the heartbeat of our Almighty God. He desires to use each one of us in a powerful way to touch our own nation. Let's discipline our lives to include pray for our nation and other nations on a daily basis. But how can we do this?

 

 How to Pray for Your Nation

“The only condition that is to give worldwide power to this Gospel is prayer, and the spread of this Gospel will depend on prayer. The energy that is to give it marvelous momentum and conquering power over all its malignant and powerful foes is the energy of prayer.” - E. M. Bounds

 

I encourage you to pray for your nation every day. As you grow in praying for your nation, let God burden your heart for different parts of the world. Ask Him to lay a burden on your heart for other nations, unreached people groups, and other regions of the world. You may want to pray for troubled areas of the world and people you hear about on the news - the refugees, earthquake victims, war-torn areas, and so on. God wants every one of us to open our eyes, enlarge our vision, and begin to pray for the needy world around us.

There are many ways to effectively pray. Some intercessors like to pray through prayer cards with prayer requests for different nations. Others like to pray over a large map of a country. Some like to use the book Operation World that has detailed requests for every nation. Each way is good, but the main thing is to begin. Adding countries into your prayer life develops your effectiveness in a powerful way. Your burden for the world grows, and you begin to see the world and life in a new way. Our own problems seem smaller when we focus on the needs of whole nations and people groups. 

 

Here are several points of prayer for your nation with Bible verses to help you. During your time of prayer, God may have you focus strongly on one or on a few of these items. Be creative, be led by the Holy Spirit, and use the Scriptures in your prayers. Don’t think you have to pray through the whole list, but let God direct you by His Spirit. Here's how:

Thank God for how He is working in the nations -“How awesome is the Lord most High, the great King is the Lord Most High, the great King over all the earth! God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne” (Psalm 47:2, 8).

 

Pray for unity in the body of Christ -“I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (John 17:23).

 

Pray for revival among God’s people - “Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?” (Psalm 85:6).

 

Pray for your governmental and spiritual leaders -“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” (1 Timothy 2:1-2).

 

Pray that God's people will walk in holiness and obedience -“Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God” (2 Corinthians 7:1).

 

Pray for the fear of the Lord in your land - “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7).

 

Pray for God to send His workers into the harvest field - “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20).

 

Pray that the Church will reach out to the poor, needy and imprisoned -“Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering” (Hebrews 13:3).

 

Pray for the salvation of the lost -“And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Acts 2:21).

 

Pray that God will use children and youth mightily for His glory - “At that time Jesus said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children’” (Matthew 11:25).

 

Pray for just laws and righteous moral standards -“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people” (Proverbs 14:34).

 

Pray that the Word of God will be given its rightful place -“Your statutes are wonderful; therefore I obey them” (Psalm 119:129).

 

Pray that Houses of Prayer and worship will start in every major city in your nation - “These will I bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations” (Isaiah 56:7).

 

Pray that God's people will know how to effectively wage spiritual warfare - “Finally be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes”(Ephesians 6:10-11).

 

Pray the promises of God in His Word over the nations - “The nations will fear the name of the Lord, all the kings of the earth will revere your glory” (Psalm 102:15).

Praying for the nations has rewards that will endure throughout all eternity. This may be one of the most strategic things we ever do. One day we will worship God around the throne in heaven with people from every tribe and tongue and nation (Revelation 5:9). We will then realize the value of every prayer we prayed for a nation while we were on the earth. Are you willing today to pray daily for your nation? Are you willing to invest your time in a task that is so rewarding? 

11 Breakthrough Prayers to Empower Your Life in 2017!

"While I am very excited about what is happening, yet as an intercessor, I can never forget that over half of the world’s population has never heard of Jesus. The task ahead is still enormous. As darkness covers the earth in the last days and darkens the people, the glory of the Lord will shine brighter and brighter in the face of a people who love Him absolutely and uncomprisingly. In this way, the whole world will know that there is a God who reigns in the Heavens and man will be left without excuse on the day of Christ’s appearing. The Spirit is still heralding a call for watchmen to join the great choir of intercessors.” Michael Howard

Together in the Harvest,

 

Debbie Przybylski

Intercessors Arise International

International House of Prayer Kansas City (IHOPKC)

deb@intercessorsarise.org

www.intercessorsarise.org

 Share

 Tweet

 +1

 Forward

 

Send an e-Card >

Watch Online >

 

 

Learn more about RevenueStripe...

 

 

Learn more about RevenueStripe...

 

 

Learn more about RevenueStripe...

ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER

This newsletter is never sent unsolicited. You received this email because your email address, erikevenden050@gmail.com, is signed up to receive email from a Salem Web Network website. We respect and value your time and are committed to protecting your privacy. Use the links below to update your profile and subscriptions, unsubscribe from this email, or find out more about Salem Web Network (SWN). 

 

Manage my Subscriptions | Unsubscribe from this List | Read about SWN 

 

Salem Web Network | Copyright 2017. All rights reserved. | 111 Virginia St., Suite 500, Richmond, VA 23219

THE LEADING OF THE SPIRIT

"Teach me to do Thy Will; for Thou art my God: Thy Spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness." — Psa 143:10.

TEACH ME to do Thy Will, i.e. throw the responsibility of your life back on God. The one important thing for you to be absolutely sure about is that you desire, at all costs, to do God's Will. If you do not so desire, at least you must be willing to be made willing. Cast on God this burden of making you willing, and believe that He undertakes it. His people shall be made willing in the day of His power. When this point is settled, then God by His Holy Spirit will sooner or later teach you what He wants to be done, and enable you to do it. Like Samuel, if you say: Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth, you will hear the Voice behind you saying, This is the way, walk in it; this must be said, say it; this needs to be done, do it; and as you endeavour to obey the gentle promptings of the Spirit, you will discover that adequate strength and grace are being poured into your soul.

"Thy Spirit is good." There is our only hope. If it were not for the infinite goodness, the patient gentleness, the loving forbearance of the Holy Spirit, we could have no chance, for nothing but infinite Goodness could bear with our frailties and backslidings, our lapses into coldness and indifference, our perverseness and obstinacy. But because God's Spirit is good, we may reckon on Him pervading us with His holy influence till our evil nature is overcome by His goodness, and we also in our measure become good. It is said of Barnabas that he was a "good man," because he was full of the Holy Ghost and of faith.

"Lead me." The Psalmist's prayer is—Teach me, lead me, quicken me. Let us make this prayer our own. What better guarantee of being led aright than for us to yield ourselves to our gentle gracious Guide. We are like little children that require to be led, as the mother or nurse takes the child by the hand and leads him to the school-house, and fetches him again. Some of us are blind, and need a kindly hand to guide us as we grope in the dark. Let us walk in the Spirit, be led by the Spirit, and be very sensitive to the Spirit. Then we shall instinctively know God's Will, and do it.

PRAYER

I need a hand to lead me through the darkness,

For I am weak and helpless as a child;

And if alone I have to take my journey,

My feet will stumble on the mountains wild.

AMEN.

JESUS, THE LIFE-GIVING SPIRIT

"The first Adam became a living soul; the last Adam became a Life-Giving Spirit." — 1Co 15:45.

ARE YOU, my friend, in the first Adam or the second? It is a vital question, and it would well repay you to put aside all else in order to give a considered answer to this question. You ask for the fundamental difference between the first Adam and the second. The Apostle states it clearly in this chapter from which our text is taken. The contrast between the two is the soul-life of the first and the Spirit-life of the second. This is the distinction which Jesus made at the beginning of His ministry, and it pervades the New Testament. The sphere of Christianity is the realm of the spirit. Its object is to lift man from the soul-level to the spirit-level.

The soul is the centre of our personality. It is you, or I, or any other person! From it we look on two worlds. To the material world we are related by the organs of touch, sight, smell, taste and hearing. To the eternal world we are related by the organs of the spirit, which are probably identical with the lower. We have the option of descending by the spiral staircase downward to materialism, or of ascending upward to fellowship with God. Alas, that too often we descend to the lure of the savoury pottage, instead of climbing the ladder which reaches to Heaven.

It is clear that we must die to the self-life, to the promptings, suggestions and solicitations of the ego, which is entrenched in the soul. Self is the root of our alienation from the Life of God. All the evils of fallen angels and man have their birth in the pride of self. On the other hand, all the blessedness of the heavenly life is within our reach, when the self-life is nailed to the Cross of Jesus.

How is this self-life to be brought to death? Only by our identification with the Cross on which Jesus died. We were nailed there in the purpose of God, and we must accept that position and extract its help by a living faith. It was by the Eternal Spirit that Jesus offered Himself unto God, and it is by that same Spirit that we, too, may say: "I have been crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." There must be an exchange of lives, from the self-life to the life of the Crucified and Ascended Saviour, communicated by the Holy Spirit.

PRAYER

Behold, O Lord, I am Thy servant, prepared for all things; for I desire not to live unto myself, but unto Thee; and Oh, that I could do it worthily and perfectly! AMEN.

IF! You have Faith (firm relying trust ) on GOD

Matthew 21:21

(Matthew 21:18-22)

Mat 21:18 In the early dawn the next morning, as He was coming back to the city, He was hungry.

Mat 21:19 And as He saw one single leafy fig tree above the roadside, He went to it but He found nothing but leaves on it [seeing that in the fig tree the fruit appears at the same time as the leaves]. And He said to it, Never again shall fruit grow on you! And the fig tree withered up at once.

Mat 21:20 When the disciples saw it, they marveled greatly and asked, How is it that the fig tree has withered away all at once?

Mat 21:21 And Jesus answered them, Truly I say to you, if you have faith (a firm relying trust) and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, Be taken up and cast into the sea, it will be done.

Mat 21:22 And whatever you ask for in prayer, having faith and [really] believing, you will receive.

Jesus answered and said unto them,.... His disciples wondering at his power, in causing the fig tree to wither so suddenly:

verily I say unto you, if ye have faith; that is, in God, in his power, which reaches to all things: the object of faith is expressed in Mark, and by way of exhortation, "have faith in God", that he will enable you to perform whatsoever ye shall desire; which must be understood, not of spiritual faith in the promises of God, and person of Christ, but of, the faith of miracles, or faith in the power of God to perform things that are above the strength of nature:

and doubt not; either of the power, or will of God to do for you, and by you, the thing desired; for this kind of faith would not admit of the least degree of doubting: there must be no hesitation in the mind, no reasoning upon the thing, how it can be performed; the mind must not be divided between the power and will of God, and the difficulties and discouragements which attend the case, but must believe in hope against hope, with a full persuasion of accomplishment: for want of this faith, without doubting, the disciples could not cure the child that was lunatic.

Ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree; cause one to be dried up, and wither away by a word, as Christ had done to this, which, comparatively speaking, was but a lesser sort of miracle;

but also, if ye shall say to this mountain; the Mount of Olives, where Christ and his disciples now were, and were passing over, or, at least, were very near it; or any other mountain wherever they might be, to which they should, upon any occasion, think fit to say,

be thou removed, and cast into the sea; which was many miles off from Mount Olivet, and must he a very surprising performance for a mountain to be rooted up, so large as that was, and be carried several miles from its former situation, and be thrown into the sea; and yet, as difficult and amazing as this may seem,

it shall be done: that is, provided the person doubts not; or, as it is said in Mark, "shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things, which he saith, shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith": for this must not be confined to the particular instances of drying up a fig tree, or removing a mountain, but the doing of any sort of miracle, how great soever. Nor is it our Lord's meaning that they should do these particular things; nor is it certain that they ever did: but his sense is, that, had they faith, they should be able not only to do such lesser miracles, as, comparatively speaking, the withering of the fig tree was, but they should be able to perform things much more difficult and surprising, whenever the good of the souls of men, the propagation of the Gospel, and the glory of God required them.