The book of James is one of my favorite books of the Bible. I think it is my second favorite book of the New Testament second only to the Gospel of John. It is a very practical book, you don't have to dig much to learn something about your own life from it, and it's lesson are timeless. Last year, the book of James was the object of my personal devotion time for much of the year. Even then God had been dealing with me on presenting this series and I hope that you will get as much out of studying this book as I have.

There are four different men in the New Testament by the name of James and keeping them separate is important to understanding the scriptures that we are about to read. James was and is a very common name and in the twelve disciples that Jesus chose, there were two men named James. The first was the brother of John and their parent's names were Zebedee and Salome. Get those fixed in your head: James and John as in "Peter, James, and John" the inner three of Jesus' disciples, were brothers. The second James in the twelve disciples was the son of a man named Alpheus. He is known as James the lesser because we don't know much about him. There were also two men named Judas in the twelve disciples, the famous one, Judas Iscariot, and Judas the son of another man named James. (in Luke 6:16 and Acts 1:13 the KJV incorrectly translates as Judas the "brother of James." Most Greek scholars agree that it should be translated "the son of" and the NKJV corrects this mistake as does the RSV, NIV, and virtually every other English translation.)

So the first James in the Bible was the brother of John as in "Peter, James, and John." Let's call him James the greater because we know quite a bit about him. The second James was the other disciple the son of Alpheus. Let's call him James the lesser, because we don't know very much about him. The third James is the father of the disciple Judas (not Iscariot) so let's call him James the father. Got them straight? James the Greater, James the Lesser, James the Father. (Sounds like a trinity of James)

The fourth James was the half brother of Jesus Christ and the son of Joseph and Mary. Yes, Jesus had brothers and sisters, the scriptures make that very clear. Mary was a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus Christ but did not remain so (Matthew 1:25 "till"). Joseph and Mary had other children together. We say that they were Jesus' half brother and sisters because they had the some mother, but Jesus' daddy was the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35). Jesus family was named in scripture:

So Jesus Christ had at least four brothers: James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon. He also had sisters which are not named in scripture.

John 7:5 tells us that none of Jesus' brothers or sisters believed in Jesus' claim of who He was during the time of his ministry. Jesus was the first born son, and, according to Jewish tradition, Joseph died sometime during Jesus' teenage years. Jesus then became the father figure in his household and worked for 18 years in a carpenter's shop to provide a living for the family.

In I Corinthians 15, we read a list that Paul gave of all of the people that Jesus Christ appeared to after he had died and been resurrected. The last on the list was of course, Paul to whom Jesus appeared on the road to Damascus. But Paul mentions that Jesus appeared unto his brother, James. James the brother was converted after seeing Jesus raised from the dead and became a prominent leader in the early church in Jerusalem (Galations 1:18-19 Acts 21:18-19). In fact I Corinthians 9:5 tells us that ALL of Jesus' brothers and sisters were converted, and we know that all of them were in the upper room on the Day of Pentecost along with Mary when the Holy Ghost was poured out!

There is a tremendous message in all of this: Jesus Christ, Himself, won His family only after dying and having a resurrection in His life! If it took Jesus Christ having to die out to His will to have His family saved, then that tells me that the most important element in reaching your brother and sisters and mother and kids is to die out to your will and flesh! It's going to take dying out to sin and to carnality to reach them! It's going to take having a New Birth experience and a resurrection of that spirit within you in order to reach them! You can't reach them without the Holy Ghost and without crucifying your flesh in obedience to God's Word and plan. When people rebel against God's Word because they don't think part of it is really important, they don't realize that they are hurting their unsaved loved ones worse than themselves! Missionary Bro. Olson was telling me about his life and his kids and all are living for God and in full-time ministry. I asked him what it took to raise kids that loved God, and he replied: "the single most important thing in raising kids that love God is for the parents to be consistent. Parents can't be hot for God for a while and then cold or live different at home than they do at church." Jesus won His family but it took dying, a spiritual resurrection, and consistency!

So we have four James that are possible candidates to have written the Book of James and so you have them fresh in your mind, let's list them once more: James the greater, James the lesser, James the father, and James the brother. Which one wrote the book of James? In verse 1, the writer of the book of James assumes that everyone will know his identity, this means that he was well known. James the father who is only mentioned twice in scripture and never as a believer is then out. So is James the Lesser who is never mentioned in scripture again and, in fact, we don't know a whole lot about. That leaves two possibilities: James the Greater the brother of John, or James the half-brother of Jesus. Luckily, we do not have to guess.

James the Greater, the brother of John was the first martyr. He was killed by Herod in A.D. 44 in the extreme persecution that had begun. That is only 14 years after the death of Jesus Christ and no New Testament books were written that early so James the Greater is out as candidate for author.

The writer of the book of James was none other than Jesus' half-brother who after receiving the Holy Ghost, became one of the top leaders in the church in Jerusalem. He was famous enough that everybody would know who He was! James the brother of Jesus was killed in A.D. 62 (Josephus) and was very involved in the Gentile crisis that happened in A.D. 49-50 (Acts 15). This crisis was over whether or not Gentiles had to be physically circumcised to be saved. There is no mention of this crisis in the Book of James so that means that the book was written before it happened, somewhere around A.D. 48. What this means to you is that the Book of James was the first book of the New Testament to be written, and reveals the struggles of the Early Christians who were enduring persecution.

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With all of this in mind let's go verse by verse through the first 8 verses.

"James." Now we know which one it is, but look at the next words!!!! James didn't brag about his relationship with the Lord, but called himself "a servant!" Seeing Jesus face to face and receiving the Holy Ghost had obviously changed James' attitude toward Jesus! Getting the same relationship with Jesus Christ today still changes a person's attitude! Show me somebody with a bad attitude, and I'll show you somebody that needs a revelation of what it is to be a servant of Jesus Christ! James called himself a servant! We need the attitude of a servant: whatever Jesus wants us to do we are willing to do! Servant here also means slave. James didn't even feel worthy of mentioning his brother relationship with Jesus Christ, but called himself a "slave!"

"of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ" This is significant because James uses the Greek term for Jehovah in relation to Jesus Christ. James considered Jesus the Jehovah God of the Old Testament! James was writing to the "twelve tribes" of Israel, that is Jewish people who believed strongly in only One Jehovah God. When James said "Lord" he was calling Jesus that one, Jehovah God of the Jewish people and they would understand what he was saying. In chapter 2:1, James refers to Jesus Christ as "Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory." To James, Jesus was God!

Notice also that he was writing this letter to the Jewish people spread abroad. This letter was written just as immense persecution had begun in Jerusalem. After Stephen was martyred and Saul/Paul began his campaign against the believers, Christians scattered throughout the world to get away from the persecution. James is writing to Jewish believers who know what it is like to see their families killed because they will not curse the name of Jesus. They are people who have had to leave their homes and jobs and literally run for their lives and live in strange countries with strange customs. We now know that God allowed this tremendous persecution to get the Jewish Christians out of Jerusalem so that the whole world would be able to hear the Gospel! God will go to great extremes to get you to witness and out of your comfort zone of doing nothing! At the time, however, many of the believers did not understand why such horrible things were happening to them. Keep in mind that we as Americans really have never faced the kind of persecution that they were facing. Christians were being killed by the thousands and are literally running for their lives.

With this in mind, read the next verse:

Wait a minute! James told these horribly persecuted Christians to count it all joy?!? Realize that they had been taught all of their lives that for a person to endure hardships was a sign of unrepented sin. James wanted them to know that their trials and persecutions were not necessarily a result of sin but something to be thankful for, because it meant that God was working in their life. Usually when Christians are unhappy it is because they fail to see or accept the bigger picture of what God is wanting to do. If "all things" really work together for the good of the called of God, and we really believe it, then we get happy when we have a horrible situation in our life because we realize that God is going to use it for His perfect will in our life! It's one thing to quote Romans 8:28 and quite another to believe it. The true sign if a person really believes is if they are joyful in times of adversity and can realize that persecution will make them stronger in the long run!

There are several things that God is trying to bring about in your life when you are "going through something." The first and foremost is patience. Job had patience when he said "though he slay me, yet will I trust Him" (Job 13:15). Patience is only possible if you go through the trial with faith in God. Too many people pray for patience and then scream at God when they are going through something and then wonder why they did not develop patience. Just going through something is not necessarily going to bring good results. However, going through something with unwavering faith in God will ALWAYS bring about good results in your life!

What is patience? Patience is "accepting a difficult situation from God without giving Him a deadline to remove it."

When a person allows God to work out the situations in their life and continues in faithfulness to God, then they will develop patience and will become a mature Christian. That is what perfect means when referring to Human Beings, "maturity." You will never be perfect as Jesus Christ is perfect until you get your glorified body. Even the great Apostle Paul at the end of his life did not consider himself to have attained everything in God that he should have (Philippians 3:12). What God wants is maturity, that is a constant growth process of becoming more and more like Jesus Christ. When you realize that you are undergoing a process where God is working to make you more like Him, then you can approach all situations with faith and joy! A complete Christian is not someone who is perfect in every way but one who trusts God completely and is sure of the fact that God's will shall be done!

I use this scripture in prayer quite a bit. The main reason that Christians don't act with Godly wisdom in bad situations is usually from one of two causes: 1. They haven't established a daily prayer life and haven't been following Jesus' example when He taught us to pray daily for God to lead us. In other words they haven't really asked for wisdom. 2. They are praying for their will to be done and are not accepting or receiving the wisdom that God is trying to give them. Wisdom is the ability to apply God's Word and principles to our everyday life. God freely gives it to those who ask, so if you have asked and don't think you got answered, you must be ignoring the advice that He has given you for that situation. In other words, whatever the Word of God, man of God, or voice of God is saying must not fit in with "your will." "Upbraideth not" means that God does not resent giving wisdom. He will give it freely and bountifully to those who ask!

God's promises are always conditional. Verse 5 was the promise and verse 6 is the condition. The person seeking wisdom and patience must "ask in faith" and not waver at all in that faith. One of the things that I've realized since entering the full-time ministry is that most Christians and even Pentecostals don't have a clue as what the definition of faith really is. Some people think faith is some kind of positive thinking or mental imagery. Some think that to really have faith, you must have a denial of reality or a denial of pain. Faith is neither. There is a difference between faith and believing. Faith is trust in God in the face of difficulty. It's trust; that simple and nothing more. That's why you can't separate faith from faithfulness because someone who has faith will be faithful to God through anything. Some Christians are what I call "roller coaster Christians" because one week they are on fire for God and supposedly have "great faith." Then the next week they come to church down and out if they come to church at all because something has happened or they have imagined something has happened and they are no longer are on fire for God. They didn't really have faith in the first place! Faith isn't thinking only happy thoughts or being on "cloud 9" all of the time. Faith is simple trust in God through anything! If you really had faith then you will be "faithful!" You will be able to trust God through the good and bad times. Those times will not affect your worship or your prayer life. James says that someone who wavers day to day is like the waves being tossed around in the sea. If you feel that way, then you need true faith. You need to really take a hard look at how you are approaching situations in your life. True faith is unwavering trust in God and will always result in faithfulness to God.

Remember that Hebrews 11:6 says that without faith it is impossible to please God. James states that someone who does not ask in faith will not receive ANYTHING from the Lord. It's not that God doesn't want to give, for the scriptures teach that He will not withhold any good thing from His children (Psalms 34:10). What dictates us receiving things from God is whether or not we ask with faith and act with faith! We must live completely trusting in God that He will work things out in all areas. True faith brings patience and does not place a deadline on God. It is interesting that in Hebrews chapter 11 which is the "hall of fame of Faith," many great and wonderful men and women of the Bible are listed as having great faith and yet at the very end, it says that they "received not the promise." Many Christians give up when they can't see God working in their situations or an end in sight. But Biblical faith is trust in God despite what your eyes and mind is telling you. God does not expect Christians to deny pain or suffering but He does require you to trust Him completely through it. Remember the words of Job: "though he slay me..." In Exodus chapter 17 we read about the time that Israel was fighting Amalek. Moses stood on the mountain above the battleground and as long as he kept his hands outstretched the Israel army was winning. When, however, Moses' weary arms began to fall, the Amalek army would being to win. Aaron and Hur climbed the mountain and each took an arm of Moses and held it up until the Israeli army had completely won. Verse 12 actually says that they "stayed up" or steadied his arms. That word is the same word used everywhere else for faith and faithfulness. Just as Aaron and Hur held up Moses arms and steadied them, so will God hold up and steady us when we "have faith" by trusting Him completely! When the disciples were all afraid and skittish what did Jesus tell them? "Have faith in God."

A person who wavers from faith to doubt to faith to doubt unfortunately doesn't only affect his relationship with God in that area. James says that double mindedness causes a person to become unstable in every area. If a Christian does not have a consistent walk with God every day of their life, then all areas of their life will suffer. Man does not have the ability to serve two masters. We must become rooted and grounded in what we believe and stick to it. If we are double minded then "all" our ways will be affected: our friendships, our family, our job, our worship, our finances, everything!

Remember that James was teaching this to Christians who were under severe persecution for what they believed. Just renounce that Jesus was God, stop preaching in the name of Jesus and about that "Holy Ghost" stuff, and the government will leave you alone, you don't have to worry about dying or your kids coming to harm, or leaving your home and friends. But James was saying you better know what the Bible says and you better believe it to the point that you do not waver. James is still telling the Christian church of today who get offended over the littlest things and tend to argue away the clearest principles of God's Word, you better know what the Bible says and you better believe it! A double minded man or one who is constantly wavering from faith to doubt and back and forth and back and forth is of no use to the kingdom of God! They are unstable in "all their ways."

Remember that James had seen Jesus be consistent day in and day out even before He ever performed a miracle or had a ministry. James had the most perfect example of consistency that the world has ever known living with him! Remember also that James had been very inconsistent before seeing Jesus resurrected. James knew what it was like to be wavering from listening to the witness of Jesus to listening to the doubt of the home town folks of Nazareth. James also realized that he was of no use to the kingdom of God until he decided to sell out and stop wavering back and forth! Don't be a double minded Christian! Sell out completely to truth and allow it set you free! Approach every situation with faith which is complete trust in God. Don't set deadlines for God and allow the things in your life to make you more like Jesus and draw you closer to Him. Pray for the wisdom of God in every situation. If you do these things, the trial of faith will make you a stronger and more mature Christian!