From the Kitchen Table

Kitchen Table Devotional

James

Day 10

For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; ²⁴ for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. James 1:23-24

Never forget that washing your face is pleasant but it’s not permanent.  The only way to make it through life’s challenges and make it to God’s promises is to make it real in your heart.  The natural man looks at his natural face and cleans it up, but the spiritual man looks at his spirit and God changes it up from the heart.  We all have a spirit that is given directly from God (Zach 12:1), and the only what to see our spirit is through His Scriptures.  There’s no victory in comparison or compromise with man,  only a change from God’s Scriptures by God’s Spirit can make it happen  You’ve just got to love Him for loving you.

Kitchen Table Devotional

James

Day 9

But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.              James 1:22

Live out what you believe in.  You and I can’t live in filthiness and wickedness and live the life that Jesus has for us.  It doesn’t work.  It’s conflicted.  And there is probably no greater deception than the deception of self; it makes for a fool.  Self-deception leads to demonization.  Our enemy loves the conflicted soul.  Jesus came full of grace and truth (John 1:14) showing us the way to live and love.  In fact, we cannot walk in love and not operate in the truth.  Love is truth and truth is love.  Live out what you believe in.  Be truthful, it settles the conflict in the human soul.  Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6).  Want to get the devil out of your life?  Walk in the truth.  Any time we’re living in obedience to God’s word we’re living victoriously over the enemy.  Be a doer of the word.

Kitchen Table Devotional

James

Day 8

Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. James 1:21

This work of God in our lives is quite amazing.  The moment we surrender our pride, believing in Jesus rather than ourselves, our spirit it saved.  Our spirit was saved at that moment but our souls is being saved in the following moments as we trust in the Father rather than the flesh.  When our spirit and our soul don’t agree, we don’t do well in life or with life.  We must be willing to receive the word of God into our lives for all our lives.  Filthiness and wickedness must be rooted out and they will go as God’s word comes in.  Until that begins to happen, this Christian life will remain chaotic and it’s in the chaos that our enemy lives and rules.   Confidence replaces chaos as the word replaces wickedness.  Where there is agreement, there is authority.

Kitchen Table Devotional

James

Day 7

This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; ²⁰ for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.               James 1:19-20

Faith comes by hearing (Romans 10:17).  We are complicated people, and we take in information from what we read, hear, feel, and remember but only God is true.  His words will help us to read and respond in the truth, not to the trouble.  The word of God and the work of God by the Spirit of God will walk us to and in the truth.  Hearing involves honoring, we can hear God and not honor Him by doing what our friends, feelings, and the photos in our mind tell us.  Learn to listen and lean on the word of God and you’ll know what’s right.  Let your faith command your feelings, friendships, and former memories today, and know the God of good gifts.

Kitchen Table Devotional

James

Day 6

Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. ¹⁷ Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. ¹⁸ In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.                    James 1:16-18

We have a good, good Father in heaven and every good and perfect gift comes from Him.  And He is always the same, we can trust on Him and in Him.  Eternal life is knowing God (John 17:3).  Don’t let anyone steal the truth from you.  His truth is in His word, He brought forth the truth in His word and we live in the truth by living in and from His word.  There are a lot of words out there, but only His words are the highest truth.  Those who live in His truth and by His truth and for His truth are truly His in this world.  They know that He is good!

Kitchen Table Devotional

James

Day 5

Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him

James 1:12

Don’t give up!  God won’t.  What’s happening in you is more important than what’s happening to you.  Those who hold on and hold out with God receive a crown of life.  That’s the authority to live life as God designed it.  Those who give in and give up are always looking to live from a distance.  Those who give up can only blame the Lord and burn with lust and both result in death.  Find the truth and hold on, God is the room and He never gives up.  I know you and I are tempted to the human thing, but let’s tie ourselves to the heaven thing and see God work in and through our lives.

Kitchen Table Devotional

James

Day 4

But the brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position; ¹⁰ and the rich man is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away. ¹¹ For the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers the grass; and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away.

James 1:9-11

Don’t let your outside determine your inside.  Your place is determined by God, not poverty or position.  Glory, rejoice, celebrate, where God has put you, seated next to Him in the heavenly realms (Eph 2:6)  We don’t have to accept poverty, pain, or peril as our place in this life, but we can’t let poverty, pain, or peril determine our place in life either.  Paul said that “in Him, we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).  So don’t let your outside determine who you are on the inside, rich or poor.  Let your inside determine your outside.  You are who God says you are.  God loves you, don’t settle for any other opinion.

Kitchen Table Devotional

James

Day 3

But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. ⁶ But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. ⁷ For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, ⁸ being a  double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.                                                    James 1:5-8

Look to the One who loves you.  Can you hear James saying that to you?  I’m talking from experience, look to the One who loves you.  He will give you the wisdom (intelligence) you need but you’re going to have to trust Him and trust that He loves you.  If you don’t you’ll find yourself beaten up in this life, tossed about by the things in this life.  Who else loves you more than God does?  This is where the rubber meets the road, don’t just believe in God, believe God.  Believe Him because of what He has said and what He has done for you already.  Hold on believing that He is holding on to you.  He loves you!

Kitchen Table Devotions

James

Day 2

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, ³ knowing that the testing of your faith produces  endurance. ⁴ And let  endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be  perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.                  James 1:2-4

Learn to always look for God in all things.  God is working in us and through us continually.   Paul also wrote, “for we know that in all things God works together for the good of those who love God” (Rom 8:28)  There’s also the Joseph principle which says, “It’s no what is happening to you, but what is happening in you, that matters”.  Hold on, something bigger than you is happening.  Believe it!  God is creating the character of Jesus in us.  Always entertain and expect the word of God, not the world’s worries.  To think and trust like Jesus, we must learn to love and look for God at all times in all things.

Kitchen Table Devotions

James

Day 1

 James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,  To the twelve tribes who are  dispersed abroad: Greetings.                  James 1:1

This is your life.  It is God-given (1 John 5:11) and you will be accountable for what you did with it (Romans 14:12).  Life doesn’t have to be complicated, but it does need to be contemplative.  So, think about who and what you listen to.  Find someone who has a life that works and is working it.  James was one of those guys.  He was a bondservant of God, sold out, committed to, and living for God.  Here’s another thing, James was compassionate, he was writing people in need, desperate and dispersed from the homeland.  Real confidence and courage come with compassion.  It has good in mind and heart.  Know who you’re listening to, where they’re coming from, and what they’re aiming for before you turn your life over to their advice.