Women In The Word Wendesday~2/2/11

Oh, what a wonderful study James is! There is sooo much good, good stuff in here! Convicting, yes...I think the best of God's Word is! If we didn't get our toes stepped on, we wouldn't know what to change, or have the desire to change it! Surrender to the Holy Spirit, is one of the best feelings we will ever have here on this earth!

"But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was." James 1: 22-24

Here's that phrase again..."be ye doers of the word!" You know something is pretty important to God when He repeats it in His Word! He wants to make sure we get it, just in case we skimmed over it the first time! :) Oh how true this passage is! If you read a book about how to ride a bike, are you going to be able to ride one perfectly? If you read a book about how to play the piano, will you be ready for a recital? NO! Of course not. It takes practice! Without actually "doing" it, you cannot have success. Not only will you not have success, but you will eventually forget what you even read.

God's word is that way too, only more so. There is an enemy out there who has had thousands of years of practice doing what...? Everything He can to make you forget God's word, disobey God's word, avoid God's word, etc. James tells us that if we only listen to God's word, and don't obey it, and act upon it as well, we will be deceiving our own selves. Worse yet, we will forget what kind of person we ought to be. Have you ever seen someone really living in sin, and you say to yourself, or someone else, "I don't even know who they are anymore." Well, if we aren't doers of God's word, we will be saying that about ourselves one day too.

Listening to God's word is good! Very good! But what profit it is, to know it, if we aren't going to do anything about it?! Hypocrisy is born this way too. The number one reason I hear from people as to why they don't want to go to church, is that they feel the church is filled with hypocrites. Why is this? Because too many Christians are talking the talk, and not walking the walk! Unsaved people, and even saved people, are going to be more affected by our actions, than by our words, and our "knowledge." Actions speak louder than words! If we say we are different, if we say God has changed us, but we aren't living any different lives, that's hypocrisy. Such a stumbling block that is, for non-believers, and ourselves.

I've seen Christians who are definitely deceiving their selves. They've got so much head knowledge of God's word, but aren't living it in their lives. They put off this "I am so godly" attitude, but then turn around and make filthy jokes, or show judgement to another brethren. Doesn't that just hurt your spirit when you see that? I know I have been guilty of it before, and I just pray I didn't hurt anyones spirit. That is NOT the kind of Christian I want to be. I want to be a "doer of the word and not a hearer only!" God help us to strive to be a great doer of His word, and have it all be for His honor, and His glory!

Feel free to read other posts about what God is teaching the Good Morning Girls in this study of James!