James 1:5-6

5 If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God (Who gives) to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or fault finding, and it will be given him.

6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Asking God for Wisdom, but asking IN FAITH without wavering – I was always perplexed by this wondering if ‘I had enough faith’; ‘was I doubting’, ‘did I have enough faith for a solution’; ‘was I wavering’ – all of these sorts of questions. How do I actually ask God for wisdom WITHOUT wavering - until I realised all I had to do was have faith enough IN God, IN Jesus to ask them for wisdom – wisdom only! That’s all this is – a simple request for wisdom – I’m not asking for the plans for a rocket ship or something complicated – it’s a simple request for wisdom. Don’t overthink this - it’s simply a request for wisdom.

Can I possibly believe that an all-knowing, all-wise, all-loving, all-generous God does actually want me wiser? Obviously the answer to that is YES – emphatically YES. Hence, it’s so easy to actually believe that God will answer the request and at some point in time, as I continue in prayer and study of His word, keep going about my daily responsibilities, that solutions find their way to me.

How do you test those possible solutions – that’s a great question and the answer is very simple:

Colossians 3:12-17 – Amplified Bible

12 So, as God’s own chosen people, who are holy [set apart, sanctified for His purpose] and well-beloved [by God Himself], put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience [which has the power to endure whatever injustice or unpleasantness comes, with good temper]; 13 bearing graciously with one another, and willingly forgiving each other if one has a cause for complaint against another; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so should you forgive. 14 Beyond all these things put on and wrap yourselves in [unselfish] love, which is the perfect bond of unity [for everything is bound together in agreement when each one seeks the best for others]. 15 Let the peace of Christ [the inner calm of one who walks daily with Him] be the controlling factor in your hearts [deciding and settling questions that arise]. To this peace indeed you were called as members in one body [of believers]. And be thankful [to God always]. 16 Let the [spoken] word of Christ have its home within you [dwelling in your heart and mind—permeating every aspect of your being] as you teach [spiritual things] and admonish and train one another with all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 Whatever you do [no matter what it is] in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus [and in dependence on Him], giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

We must approach God simply trusting in who He is – look around at Creation itself – the stars in the sky. Remind yourself of who God is. Also remind yourself that what God did in Jesus was so much more powerful than what satan did in Adam. Death entered through that satan/Adam interaction. Read Romans 4, 5 and 6.

Think about death for a moment – may I submit to you that virtually every person has probably killed something, in the course of their life – even if it’s a mosquito or a fly or another insect. Maybe even a larger animal or bird. Those of us with motor vehicles have perhaps hit a bird or a small animal – in Australia there is always a constant amount of wildlife that sadly have been hit by vehicles and are dead on the side of the road. Some people hunt or fish and bring home fish or game they have caught or hunted.

Again, lets look at the context surrounding this verse a little more:

Verse 2

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

– be joyful when you are dealing with, navigating through a vast array of different and difficult problems of ANY sort or you fall into various temptations.

Now what could some of that vast array of trials or temptations be to individuals or families that have been driven from their lands? All of these produce steadfastness, patience and endurance and then in all of this, if the way forward is still not super clear – then ask God for Wisdom. Some of this could be day-day survival matters, food, shelter, clothing, safe places – re-establishing their family in a new area, cropping, starting a business, trading – there’s so much going on in these peoples lives and all of this pressure and uncertainty James says – “ask God to give you wisdom, from your position of endurance and patience and He will give that to you generously and help you to understand your current lot in life”!

WOW! We tend to so look at life often through the eyes of our very safe largely middle class, very well catered for western world. We have running water, sanitation, endless public and private transport, heath facilities – hospitals doctors, medical centres, dentists – all of our western world extravagances and comfort…yet in so many ways, we are facing life completely bogged down with our first world problems!

Hence the incredible wisdom and instruction packed into future verses about widows, orphans, a genuine Christian faith that systematically produces good works, the rich helping create ways to care for those less fortunate, or less wise.

There is so much we can learn from the book of James.

James 1:5

5 If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God (Who gives) to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or fault finding, and it will be given him.

I find this verse remarkable - of course we are deficient in wisdom - we are constantly deficient in wisdom and we offer up our often-feeble view and opinion based on an extremely small piece of the total information - we don't know what was in the other persons heart or mind when they said or did that! So, we have AT BEST very limited information, but the safety net for us is "ask the giving God". This is God's default position – permanently listening, gracious and generous to the teachable - when you reach, God responds.

Because we PERMANENTLY lack wisdom at some degree and at some level in everything we think, do and say we need to stay permanently teachable, we need to stay developing a righteousness consciousness and a God-within-me consciousness, and we need to stay gracious to everyone around us.

This is very important : Colossians 4:6 - Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

This also tells me to look for God in everything - from the very small to the overwhelmingly gigantic. So great is the lack of wisdom in each of us, at every level of life - we need to look for God IN every level of life.

You say Joe, that's very harsh - I am actually smarter than that - I don't disagree with you, however, even the things we KNOW, there are still levels and layer to them that we don't know.

My point being, develop the habit of looking for Jesus, looking for His creative and energising power in everything around you.

For example - the God that created the iron ore we discover in the earth, who released the wisdom to mine the iron ore, and refine the iron ore, is the same God that allowed humankind to develop the scalpel that I have used to remove the hardwood wooden splinters out of my hand on many occasions. The same God created the iron ore and the hardwood tree. Now none of us know every minute component of the earth, the iron ore, mining, forestry, manufacturing, sales, marketing, packaging, surgical processes - you get the idea. We all lack wisdom and are information lacking along the way of the very things that we know and take for granted daily - so look for God in the very tiny and non-obvious places and I believe you'll more easily be able to identify Him in the more obvious daily life situations.

James 1:5

5 If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God (Who gives) to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or fault finding, and it will be given him.

Lets expand this verse a little more:

The overwhelming, vast majority of people would want to make wise decisions, one would hope. I believe that the Lord and our Holy Spirit wants to lead us into decisions that we LOVE to remember. I have been previously plagued with some decisions that I’d love to forget and I suspect most people have some kind of a filing cabinet in their hearts and minds of terrible decisions that they’d rather forget, as well – we’d like to lock that thing up and throw away the key! However, it can be very helpful to unpack some of those decisions at strategic times and especially with genuine help, for example, from a doctor or clinical psychologist or an appropriate professional in that field (which ever field it is) – and really get to the bottom of how that decision happened.

Decisions emanate from a place of options or choices. If there wasn’t a choice or an option or another possible pathway, you wouldn’t need to make that decision.

Confusion comes when there are too many choices or options available to you for consideration. All of these options have to be considered, or thought through – especially so with regard to more important decisions, life altering ones, financial, relational, vocational – these sorts of things...

2 Corinthians 4:18 - Amplified Bible - Since we consider and look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are visible are temporal (brief and fleeting), but the things that are invisible are deathless and everlasting.

Always looking to the spiritual side of life FIRST.

Thinking about Acts 1:8 - a witness of and for Jesus

Thinking about 2 Corinthians 5:20 - being an ambassador for Christ

Thinking about John 1:12 - given power, capacity and ability to become a child of God

All of this means that your life has MEANING - AND BEACUSE YOUR LIFE HAS MEANING, THEN, EVERYTHING MATTERS! EVERYTHING YOU DO, SAY, THINK, BELIEVE - AND BECAUSE YOU MATTER, EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU MATTERS THEN YOUR IMPACT IS ETERNAL FIRST AND WORDLY AND NATURAL SECOND. WHY BECAUSE THE NATURAL WORLD IS FLEETING BUT THE INVISIBLE SPIRIT WORLD IS DEATHLESS AND EVERLASTING.

YOU MATTER, EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU MATTERS AND EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU THAT YOU ARE INVOLVED WITH HAS AN UNSEEN, ETERNAL COMPONENT TO IT.

AND THIS IS WHY THAT GOD'S TAKES TRIALS AND TEMPTATIONS AND TURNS THEM INTO ENDURANCE, STEADFASTNESS AND PATIENCE. WHY, SO YOU CAN GO THE DISTANCE IN JOY WITH FULL KNOWLEDGE OF WHAT YOU ARE DOING.

A TRUE CO-LABOURER TOGETHER WITH THE LORD.

If you have these attributes and can live out these character traits, that's an enormously powerful skillset that you have built into your life. There is no limit to how incredibly stable, and as a consequence, reliable, impactful and probably sought after by others, you would be, in the world around you

Genuine Faith, Good Works Life Key 5 - Choose to become the difference in many other people's lives. At the same time you constantly, exponentially and automatically raise the bar on your own life and that is a powerfully good thing - for everyone!

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.

How does endurance, steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work - by you not avoiding the trials and temptations, but embracing them, managing them, investigating them and converting them from a trail or a temptation to something you have faced and conquered. I think this is why so many of the same situation comes round again and again in peoples lives - because they obviously haven't learned to deal with it last time it came round.

An interesting quote from Dr Mike Murdock - "Patience is the weapon that causes deception to reveal itself".

Genuine Faith, Good Works Life Key 6 - deliberately choose to embrace the process that involves trails and temptations - and choose the pathway and direction of becoming perfectly and fully developed (with no defects), lacking in nothing.

James 1:2

However, there is a remarkable outcome from working through the trials, temptations and the trying of your faith - this is truly an outstanding result, making the entire scenario not only exciting and challenging but a necessary part of growth, development and maturing. This is something that James wants us to be assured in and understand thoroughly:

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

Endurance, steadfastness and patience - three powerful forces, three very powerful attributes to have flowing in your heart, mind, speech and character.

What's Endurance?

The act, quality, or power of withstanding hardship or stress

The state or fact of persevering

**So the trying and proving of your faith through trials and temptations creates for you "a state or condition of persevering"

**So the trying and proving of your faith through trials and temptations creates for you "the act or ability, the quality or the power to withstand hardship of stress".

THAT'S A VERY GOOD CHARACTER TRAIT - THATS A VERY GOOD OUTCOME FROM SOMETHING THAT WAS DESIGNED TO POTENTIALLY WEAR YOU DOWN AND EVEN BREAK YOU.

What's Steadfastness?

Firmness; strength.

Stability and firmness; fixedness in place or position.

Stability of mind or purpose; resolution; constancy; faithfulness; endurance.

**So the trying and proving of your faith through trials and temptations creates for you "firmness, stability and strength".

**So the trying and proving of your faith through trials and temptations creates for you "fixedness in place or position" - in my mind that to me speaks of being rock solid. One of the character traits of being rock solid, I believe, is dependable and dependability.

**So the trying and proving of your faith through trials and temptations creates for you" stability of mind or purpose".

**So the trying and proving of your faith through trials and temptations creates for you "resolution, constancy, faithfulness and endurance".

What's Patience?

the ability to wait or to continue doing something despite difficulties or to suffer without complaining or becoming annoyed.

**So the trying and proving of your faith through trials and temptations creates for you "the ability to wait or to continue to do something despite difficulties".

**So the trying and proving of your faith through trials and temptations creates for you "a capacity to suffer without complaining or becoming annoyed".

These are truly remarkable character traits to build into your life - however they come through So the trying and proving of your faith through trials and temptations.

That tells me that what was intended for bad, God turns around and reworks it, redesigns the outcomes for good. A genuine faith producing good works.

BUT WE MUST REMEMBER TO FOCUS ON THE SPIRITUAL CLIMATE AND POSITIONING OF ALL OF THIS AND NOT JUST ON THE TRIALS AND TEMPTATIONS IN THE NATURAL WORLD AROUND US.

"...to the twelve tribes scattered abroad among the Gentiles in the dispersion".

This tells me that you are always called to some one, some where. Let the Lord direct your steps this way. As you adopt a position of responsibility for your life, ownership of your life, truth in your life, accountability for your life, the correct submission to God the Father as Almighty God, as you submit to the instruction of the Word of God and willingly, selflessly serve others you are positioning yourself for the Lord to expand your influence to others out there amongst the world. Some of these people quite likely, will be in all kind of difficulties or problems - the Dispersion - that came from the historical and traumatic ongoing scattering away from their ancestral homeland, the Land of Israel, to various parts of the world.

These people have faced serious difficulties and problems and James is trying to minister to these people with a letter that's telling them to have faith and work hard at doing good!

Sometimes that which you are called to do may just be hard enough for you let alone the recipient of your message!

Genuine Faith, Good Works Life Key 3 - you are called to serve and assist some one, some where. It may not be easy and they may be facing all kinds of difficulties!**

And then James tells them **Rejoice** ! Why - Nehemiah 8:10b - "And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice - Philippians 4:4.

Joy is not a happy feeling - it may produce a happy feeling but joy is a powerful spiritual force, one of the fruits of the spirit and when exercised and released it strengthens you.

Strength is very important - if you have dedicated yourself to living a responsible, accountable, truthful, compassionate, impactfully serving, called and directed, obedient life that is submitted to the Word of God and the leading of the Holy Spirit. WHY IS STRENGTH SO IMPORTANT....

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

Because trails and temptations are going to be a relatively common occurrence that you will be subject to. Take the revelation from verse 1, where the Jews were scattered through the Gentiles lands. Us Christians are going to be exposed to the full force of the world around us which is a fallen, sinful world. We can be either called to it or attacked by it, or more accurately, a combination of both. Acts 1:8 - But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Take the obvious hint that spiritual warfare is real. It comes straight at you in the forms of trials and temptations. Your flesh, your mind, your marriage, your money, your children, your family, your church or home group, your friend groups - literally spirit, soul, body, financially, socially and multi-generationally are the areas that you can face trials or various temptations.

There has to be a consideration to this. TO CONSIDER - means to think carefully about (something), especially before making a decision.

This means that our interactions with the world around us, ESPECIALLY SO WHEN IT COMES TO TRIALS OR TEMPTATIONS need to be thought through carefully BEFORE we make decisions.

Strategic Planning, regarding spiritual solutions being worked out in a natural world, is a necessary, real and powerful thing. As you travel down this pathway, operating in this thought through way it's going to be tiring and it will test your strength, hence the need to be strong, to stay strong and if you start to weaken, then to regroup and get strong again - how - rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice! The joy of the Lord is your strength!

Genuine Faith, Good Works Life Key 4 - learn to cultivate the joy of the Lord in your life through, praise worship and the study of God's Word.

Theologians and historians tell us that the book of James is one of the earliest books written to the New Church of Jesus Christ, perhaps around AD48. The prevailing thought seems to be - it's written by James who is identified as a brother of Jesus the carpenter, in Mark 6:3 - another of the children of Mary.

James has quite a history - he was in the Upper Room at Pentecost, he took over the leadership of the Jerusalem Church and presided at the Jerusalem Council where the church leaders reached an agreement for the basis of Christian Fellowship. You see that is Acts 15.

In this book of James, whilst the importance of faith is acknowledged, just as importantly is the acknowledgement of, and the need for a genuine faith in God and Jesus Christ to outwardly produce good works!

James discusses, I believe in great detail:

• the basic, real and invariable nature of Christianity;
• many of the significant individual features of Christianity
• the intrinsic and indispensable qualities that characterise Christianity

In short - James provides us with a check list for the living of our Christian lives.

Remember 2 Corinthians 5:10 Amplified Bible - For we believers will be called to account and must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be repaid for what has been done in the body, whether good or bad that is, each will be held responsible for his actions, purposes, goals, motives—the use or misuse of his time, opportunities and abilities.

If we break down, scrutinise and put into practice the information contained in the book of James, I think we will do an enormous amount of good not only for ourselves and those whom we love, but also for those others around us in the world in which we live.

Let's start together in Chapter 1.

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 (rejoice)!

James - self identification - ownership of what comes next in this letter that he is writing...no anonymous comments here. Speak the truth and own it - be responsible and with that comes some accountability.

Genuine Faith, Good Works Life Key 1 - understand and develop ownership, truth, responsibility, accountability. It's important we learn to replace blame and even possibly a victim mentality with responsibility.

A servant - Decide who you are going to serve and why. Be a representative willingly. 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 - Ambassadors for Christ

There is only so much of you to go around and there is only so much productive time that you have. Make a decision to serve and stick to it - through serving others we learn so much: sacrifice, humility, process, compassion, creates greater impact, builds stronger relationships, develops selflessness - the list goes on and on.

A servant of God - so powerful - true acknowledgement of God's existence, power and authority and a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ - to me that means to obey the Word of God. Jesus said in John 14:15 - "If you love me keep my commandments". As we obey the Word we follow Jesus, obey Jesus and serve Jesus.

Genuine Faith, Good Works Life Key 2 - serving, obedience to the Word of God and the service of others is a fundamental Christian requirement.

"He who plants and he who waters are equal, one in aim of the same importance and esteem, yet each shall receive his own reward, his own wages, according to his own labor. For we are fellow workmen, joint promoters, labourers together, with and for God."