Posts from January 2010

James gathers all he has been saying on prayer to declare that prayer has great power, and that this is not the prerogative of a select few believers or ‘super saints’ but for all believers. Of prayer James says that it “avails much”. There are two things we should notice here. Firstly, these…

What does it mean when a person says they are repentant? The word means to turn around and hence to have a change of mind. In particular in the Bible and for Christianity it is a change of mind not about individual plans, intentions, or beliefs, but rather a radical change in one’s attitude about God and is inseparably linked to faith in Christ and obedience to God’s…

So far, as we have been considering prayer, James as stressed the Place of prayer, and has moved on to the Power of prayer using the real life example of illness. Here he gives us another, and more clear cut demonstration of the Power of prayer – that relating to forgiveness. The former dealing…

Last week we saw what God reveals about Himself in this chapter in terms of understanding His ways in evil days. We saw that God sees every detail of all the sinful deeds of people, even those done in the secret places, including the secret places of the heart; that God often permits the triumph of evil over good for a time, but only for a time; and that God is…

‘Few passages in Scripture have been more extensively misinterpreted and misunderstood than these verses’ (Frank E. Gaebelin). We might add, and as a result more neglected by the church throughout the centuries. Yes we must approach cautiously, yet not with a sense of the impossibility of…

As we look at the world with wrong often prevailing over right, where the godly are persecuted and some are even killed, don’t we at times wonder what is happening? Are we not tempted to ask ‘Where is God?’ If God is a righteous God why does He allow sin, why not stop it? The world certainly…

When you come to the concluding words of a speech or an important letter you tend to choose them carefully – wanting to assert the main point, or drive it home in some particular way. Throughout James’ letter he has been continually emphasising the robust nature of the Christian Faith. That it is more than intellectual assent, but life-gripping and life-shaping truth.…

What word describes 2009 which has now gone into the banks of ‘memory past’? What word would you choose to describe 2010 now embarked upon? Of the various possibilities that ought to come to mind to the Christian, I want to draw your attention to one that is twice stated in our OT reading. We see that it is also central to Jesus’ purpose for our lives as highlighted in…

I don’t know who first said ‘Keep on keeping one’. It is certainly used again and again to convey the idea of perseverance, and as such it is a suitable title to this passage. When I watch a marathon race I am particularly struck by the reality that despite there being only one winner and only three ‘medallists’, yet everyone is keen to finish. I can understand this in…