Have you ever realized, mid-conversation, that the person you’re arguing with is actually right and you are wrong, but you’re already in too deep to turn around so you keep going anyway? Me too. It’s evidence of our pride and our need to be regarded as right, even when we’ve lost confidence about actually being right.

Jesus’ half brother James talked about this.

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

James 4:1-3 NIV

In our age of individualism in which we celebrate personal rights and freedoms, we sometimes forget to consider what is best for the other person, or for the community of people around us. Rather than trusting God with all of our needs and desires, we become impatient consumers who will blur our own ethical lines to get our way.

And when our ethical lines are blurred for selfish motives, people always get hurt. Relationships sometimes fall apart because nobody is able to lay down their own desires for the benefit of the other person.

Jesus modeled selflessness in relationships. While he lived in a healthy rhythm in life, he also gave of his time and his touch to as many people as he could. He eventually laid down his very life as a ransom for all people. Surely we can lay aside our right to be first, right, or best for the benefit of others.

 

Know what really scares me as a pastor? It’s that my words are going to cause people to take action.

People will, based on a sermon, based on a tweet, based on an interaction, or a counseling session decide things about their future based on my advice based on how I explain the wisdom of the scriptures. That is a heavy responsibility.

The fact is, that responsibility weighs on all of us. It weighs more on those who speak up for and represent what they believe the Scriptures to teach. James, in the third chapter of his book, addresses that. He says, “Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers. Because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.” (James 3:1 NIV) And he’s saying that all of us will be judged for our words because our words will make a difference in the people around us. But for those who choose to teach, there is this extra layer of responsibility.

What I want you to understand and what I want you to take away from this is that your words matter. The things that you say matter.

When you are speaking up for someone or against someone, those words matter.

When you are insulting, rude, or mean, those words matter.

When you’re edifying, encouraging, building someone up, those words matter.

When you’re giving advice or counsel of praying over someone, your words matter.

You’ll be held accountable for what your words have said.

In the next few days’ worth of devotionals, I’m going to talk about the power of our tongue and how it is that we can use our words in a positive, powerful way. But for now, I just want you to be thinking about this – your words will matter, perhaps, for eternity, and God is always listening.

That’s what scares me most as a pastor.

 

James’s chapter 2, verse 18 says, “Some of you will say you have I have faith, I have deeds: show me your faith without deeds and I’ll show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Even the demons believe that and shutter.” (NIV)

The forces of Satan believe very strongly in God. They know he exists. In fact, they would like for us to not know that he exists. They would like for us to not know that they exist, because if we don’t believe in the supernatural, then we can’t connect with our Creator. But those demonic powers believe that there is a God. They don’t just believe in their heads either, they also believe in their hearts.

The Bible says they shudder. In other words, they experience fear.

Demons have a faith in God that is intellectually assenting to God’s existence, and because they know who God is and what God is like and how holy and righteous he is, they look at their own sinfulness and they tremble and shudder before God. But they don’t actually repent of sin and commit to works of righteousness. They don’t live for God. They continue to work against him. So they know and they are afraid, but they continue to rebel.

Real, Biblical faith moves beyond fear. It’s more than just believing that God exists. It’s more than just being afraid of God. It’s more than just having an emotional reaction to God.

Real faith actually moves to the place of love and obedience. It’s saying, God, not only do I believe that you are up there, but I commit my life into your hands. I want to have a love-based relationship with my father, with the Creator. I want to know my purposes from Him. I want to know how to walk with him in friendship, in fellowship with God. It moves beyond fear.

When I know God’s will, but I know God’s will is going to cost me, I come right up to the edge of it and I have to count the cost. I have to decide, am I going to do this or not? Is what I am afraid of going to hold me back from stepping forward in faith? But real, Biblical faith steps over the fear.

I’ve always said and believed that your greatest success lies beyond your biggest fear. That’s true in your relationship with God as well. If you want to go deeper and bolder and bigger and stronger spiritually, it means moving past your fear and exercising enough faith to grow in love and in your friendship and relationship with God.

So faith, Biblical, real faith, moves past fear.

 

By: Brandon A. Cox

The apostle James, the half brother of Jesus, has written to us about refusing to show favoritism and racism and classism. He challenges us to refuse to discriminate or carry prejudice in our hearts, but instead to assign infinite value to everyone who is made in the image of God.

James gives us two challenges: speak and act. I talked about the first one in the previous devotional, and it was about speaking up on behalf of those who are oppressed. James says, “Speak and act as those who are going to be judged, because mercy triumphs over judgment.” (James 2:12-13 NIV) So speak, yes. But act as well.

I can see racism in our society. I can see inequality. I can see the oppression of people based on the color of their skin, or their economic status, or their gender. I can see that, but I don’t know what to do.

Here are a couple of ideas. You can communicate with the oppressed and have open, honest conversations with them. You can also vote. You can share the Scriptures. You can donate to causes that are working on equality for all.

There are different things that you can do, but the instruction is that we act in some way. It’s. not enough to say I’m on the side of the oppressed. I must be willing to step in and act on their behalf.

Jesus preached a gospel that was good news for the prisoner. It was good news for the oppressed. It was good news for the blind. It was good news for broken people. So I want our gospel, as we embody it, as we live it out, as we show love to other people, I want it to demonstrate that Jesus is good news to people who are oppressed.

I want to challenge you to today to just ask: how do I live, how do I act in such a way that lines up with the value Jesus has given me in seeing the image of God in every person I meet, loving them as my neighbor, and sharing good news and hope with them?

It’s our responsibility to speak up when we see a problem. Find your boldness. Pray for people. Vote. Reach out. Give. Donate. Help. Serve. Take care of people. Meet needs. Just find ways to do what needs to be done to communicate that Jesus is good news for the broken.

By Brandon Cox: Angie and I talk to a lot of couples about marriage, and one of the most common problems we encounter is the communication conundrum. Spouses really struggle to know how to articulate themselves as well as how to understand each other.

Nearly two thousand years ago, James, the half-brother of Jesus and apostolic leader of the early Jerusalem church, gave us the ultimate plan for better communication and understanding in any context, and it’s made up of three simple phrases.

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,

~ James 1:19 NIV

Take a moment to imagine how your closest relationships would change for the better if you developed these three habits:

1. Listen attentively before thinking of your response.
2. Speak only after fully thinking your words through.
3. Slow down the process of frustration.

Ultimately, what James is challenging us to do is to handle our emotions in a holy, healthy way. You don’t always control your emotions, but you always have a choice in how to respond to your emotions and what actions you choose to take based on your feelings.

You will always communicate more clearly and effectively when you tune in, take it slow, and take it down a notch.

by Brandon Cox: As I confessed in another recent devotional, I sometimes tend to be a know-it-all. In other words, I’m afraid of not having the answers, so I’m tempted to fake it and make something up if I can’t answer the question. What’s even worse that being a know-it-all is actually knowing what to do and not doing it.

The most valuable asset you possess isn’t your house, your retirement account, or a business you own. Your most valuable asset is wisdom.

Wisdom is essentially knowledge put into action. And the Bible tells us it’s incredibly valuable.

Blessed are those who find wisdom,
those who gain understanding,
for she is more profitable than silver
and yields better returns than gold.
She is more precious than rubies;
nothing you desire can compare with her.
Long life is in her right hand;
in her left hand are riches and honor.
Her ways are pleasant ways,
and all her paths are peace.
She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her;
those who hold her fast will be blessed.

~ Proverbs 3:13-18 NIV

In the world of finance, an asset is usually considered anything you own that has monetary value, like your house. But I tend to agree with Robert Kiyosaki that an asset is actually something that produces income. In other words, sometimes what you think is an asset is actually a liability. Your house may not earn you money, but it does carry the cost of a mortgage, maintenance, insurance, and taxes.

In the same way, knowing a lot of things seems like an asset, but if you don’t put your knowledge into practice in life, it’s actually a liability. Notice that the writer of this proverb says wisdom is “more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold.”

In other words, wisdom can be invested by putting it into practice. When you put wisdom to use in your life, you’re creating value and you’ll see a return. That might mean healthier relationships, a longer life, or financial stability.

Don’t just learn facts and study the Bible like it’s a boring textbook. Collect wisdom that you can put to use as you navigate the twists and turns of life.

Life is always better when you’re applying wisdom along the way.

by Brandon Cox: As I’ve said in many other places, I’m a huge believer that Christians should approach the subject of depression and mental health holistically. That is, we must consider the medical, spiritual, physical, psychological, and emotional angles. We should see counselors, talk to our doctors, pray, stay in community, etc.

I’ve made the argument quite strongly that depression is not just a spiritual battle. It can stem from trauma, from chemical imbalances, from hereditary conditions, and it can be the result of our reaction to our circumstances.

And… it can also be demonic.

When it comes to spiritual warfare, in which I’m a devout believer, there are two extremes among believers.

Skeptics don’t see anything as spiritual and believe that everything must have a visible, physical, and logical explanation. But when we rule out the possibility of afflictions being spiritual in nature, we essentially become practical atheists.

Superstitious people, on the other hand, see a demon behind every single problem. This can be dangerous when we tell someone with a legitimate struggle with mental illness that their real problem isn’t medical or physical, but they simply need to have the demons exorcised.

As we treat depression holistically, we absolutely must consider the possibility of demonic influence. It’s biblical. Jesus and the early apostles encountered many people who were thought to be insane, but who were merely afflicted or possessed with a demon.

Thankfully, the Bible gives us a simple battle plan. James wrote it this way…

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

~ James 4:7-10 NIV

If you’re struggling with depression or mental health issues and suspect the problem may be demonic in nature, do this…

1. Surrender your life entirely to God’s authority. Hold nothing back.
2. Take a stand against the enemy, resisting temptation.
3. Stay close to God, pray, read your Bible.
4. Confess every sin and every potential source of demonic influence in your life.
5. Renounce any agreement you’ve ever made with any lie or demonic power.
6. Stay humble, acknowledging your total dependence on God.

If, after all of that, you still feel the same, it’s likely that the source of your depression is not demonic in nature. And now, having done those things, you’ll be far more spiritually mature and wiser as you continue seeking the source.

People are often afraid to consider demonic influence because we’ve seen crazy things on Youtube where a preacher screams and sweats and spits while people convulse on the ground and shriek and faint. Or we have a Hollywood image in our heads with jump scares and spinning heads.

Yes, it’s possible that the rebuking and removal of a demon from someone’s life may seem dramatic, but in nearly every case, it’s simply a matter of submissive prayer and confession, asking for deliverance, and trusting that God has worked powerfully.

And by the way, can a Christian be possessed with a demon? I don’t believe so, at least not in the sense that we often think of possession as some kind of mystical control. It’s more a matter of us leaving the door of our “home” (our soul, our mind) cracked open enough for Satan to influence us and invade our thinking.

You can never go wrong praying, staying close to Jesus, reading his word, and listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit.

God is powerful to deliver you, even from forces you may not understand. So trust him completely.

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By the way, I preached a message series on spiritual warfare called For the Win. If you’d like to study further, check it out!

by Brandon Cox: We’re a pragmatic society. Meaning, we usually don’t invest time into doing something unless we can see the personal benefit of it, the more immediate the better. And pragmatism isn’t all bad. Sometimes the right question to ask is, what will get me the result I’m looking for?

But when it comes to worship and praise in the life of the Christian, pragmatism will cheat us out of one of the richest blessings we could possibly enjoy – greater intimacy with God.

There is no immediate, practical value in praise and worship in terms of producing something of value here on earth. Praising God doesn’t earn us money. It doesn’t create more time. It doesn’t build companies or fix broken things or invent new product ideas. Praise doesn’t pay the bills or balance the checkbook.

So a lot of us skip it, to our detriment. We sometimes go a day, a week, a season, or even a lifetime without ever stopping to give praise and glory to God, but if you’re a follower of Jesus, you don’t offer praise because of any immediate benefit to you. There are two other big reasons we worship and glorify God.

1. We praise God because of who he is.

God is God. He is Lord alone. He created all that exists and sustains it by his power and wisdom. And he is good. He is morally virtuous. He is transcendent, existing completely apart from sin and unable to commit it. He is holy. He is powerful.

God is also kind, loving, merciful, forgiving, and benevolent. He offers peace, restoration, redemption, cleansing, and healing. He is love, and he loves, having demonstrated his love toward us in that, while we were still sinners, God’s Son Jesus Christ died for us.

And God is faithful. He constantly remains committed to his people. He never leaves us, nor forsakes us. He remains unchanged. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He cannot lie and leads us into truth. He guides. He guards. He cares.

I could go on, but you get the picture. We praise God because of who he is. We praise him for is very essence and being, for his character and attributes.

2. We praise God because of what he has done, is doing, and will do.

God has been so good to me. He’s given me life, health, a home, a family, a church, a community to call home, air to breathe, food to eat, and clothing to wear. I’ve seen God heal people, answer my prayers, and draw close to me when I’ve felt all alone.

He has done great things for me – far more than I deserve, far more than I could ask or imagine.

And I will praise him for it. For who he is. For what he has done. For what he is doing right now. For what he will do forever.

We need to understand both of these angles from which to praise God. If we only praise him for the ways in which we benefit from his actions, then when we walk through suffering, our faith will falter. We’ll wonder why he isn’t doing what he did previously.

And if we only praise him for who he is, our faith takes on a cold and impersonal tone. So we remind ourselves that he is good, and that we are the recipients of his goodness.

Even if you don’t have a relationship with him, you’ve still benefitted from the goodness of God. The Bible says,

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

James 1:17 NIV

Everything. The air you breathe. The crops that make their way to your table. The very economy surrounding you which sustains your lifestyle – it’s all a work of God. And he deserves praise.

We don’t merely praise him for what we get out of it. We praise him because he is deserving of praise.

And amazingly, graciously, God does give us an immediate, practical benefit for our praise. He communes with us there in the place where we lay our hearts before him.

He fills us. He empowers us. He warms us. He draws us closer. He draws closer to us.

Maybe it’s been a few hours, a few days, or a few years since you’ve consciously and intentionally offered praise to God for his goodness. Why not pause right now to do so?