Two year Bible reading program.

BEGIN WITH PRAYER "Lord open my eyes and my heart." Read slowly so that you take in. And as you do, turn your heart to God, thanking him for the good you discover and praying his will home for you, your family, your church and the world. Wisdom to chew on Proverbs 25:25-26 Understanding to grow in The spiritual wisdom from heaven or the demonic wisdom from earth. What's it going to be? The answer is obvious as to be a friend of the world is to be an enemy of God. It is to commit adultery against him by giving the love that is due him to other things! And so we are told to live in peace and humbly submit to God, mourning our sin. We are to turn from judgmentalism, accept our circumstances are governed by his will, ensure our wealth doesn't come at the expense of others, be patient in suffering and faithful in our commitments. Finally, we are to live a life of prayer for ourselves and one-another, and seek to turn those who wonder back to Christ. With al...

BEGIN WITH PRAYER "Lord open my eyes and my heart." Read slowly so that you take in. And as you do, turn your heart to God, thanking him for the good you discover and praying his will home for you, your family, your church and the world. Wisdom to chew on Proverbs 25:24 Understanding to grow in We're forgiven and accepted by grace. But what we do really matters. It is the proof of whether we've truly believed. As James puts it: "Faith without deeds is dead" (2v26). And so he urges his hearers to act without favouritism by treating rich and poor alike, and caring for the needy. He then moves to speech, stressing that we can't praise God one moment only to curse those made in his image the next. Such things imply that we are not wholly the Lord's. It all resonates with Jesus' example as the one who drew alongside the downtrodden, and his teaching that out of the heart the mouth speaks. As you read note the reasons James gives for wh...

BEGIN WITH PRAYER "Lord open my eyes and my heart." Read slowly so that you take in. And as you do, turn your heart to God, thanking him for the good you discover and praying his will home for you, your family, your church and the world. Wisdom to chew on Proverbs 25:23 Understanding to grow in The James who wrote this letter around 40-50 AD was probably Jesus' brother. It deals with practicalities of the Christian life, beginning with the reality of hostility from others. James encourages the believers to see how suffering can mature their faith, and to ask God for wisdom in how to respond. The church he is writing to clearly has a social mix, so he then notes how the poor can take pride in their high position - presumably because of not being enticed away by things, whilst the rich can take pride in their lower position - in having a particular appreciation of the transience of what they might be tempted to rely on. As for relationships: they are to be f...