To receive the gift of salvation, we must come to God with empty hands of faith. This means recognizing our complete inability to save ourselves by good works or religious deeds. It means confessing we have nothing to offer the Lord that could earn His favor. Faith is laying aside…
James 5:17-18 upholds Elijah “a man with a nature like ours” whose prayers unleashed drought and rainfall over Israel. James spotlights him to dispel our doubts in prayer’s potency. We sometimes excuse powerless prayers based on perceived personal inadequacy or disbelief in God’s power. Yet the Bible shows ordinary people…
In sickness and adversity, Scripture charges us to “confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed” (James 5:16). Yet tragically, many people lack meaningful friendships within the Body of Christ where candid confession and intercessory prayer occur. We often try going it…
James 5:14-15 instructs church elders to anoint the sick with oil and pray over them for their healing, exhibiting bold faith that “the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up.” Too often we doubt God’s power and fail to earnestly…
James sums up his teaching: “For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead” (James 2:26). Just as a body without the spirit is dead, faith without works is dead. True, saving faith motivates us to honor God in how we…
To explain that faith without works is dead, James gives the examples of Abraham and Rahab who were “justified by works” (James 2:21, 25). This does not contradict justification by faith alone. Rather, it shows that genuine faith will demonstrate itself through righteous actions. The faith that justifies us before…
James writes, “You see that faith was active along with [Abraham’s] works, and faith was completed by his works” (James 2:22). He does not separate faith and works but shows how genuine faith results in action. We don’t earn salvation through good deeds, but true faith transforms us to live…
James challenges us to examine whether our faith is alive or dead – whether it’s just an abstract idea or something that shows itself through action. He writes “faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (James 2:17). Is your faith visible through works of love and…