1 Corinthians 1: 18

James 1 vs12

Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

For further study - James 1:1-12

In the passage for our devotional reading today we learn about one of the crowns we shall receive at the “Judgment Seat of Christ”. It is the "crown of life," spoken of in our key verse, verse 12. The promise is that we are qualified to receive this “crown of life” if when we are tempted or tested, we endure the temptation and not yield to it. This is a great promise to each of us because each of us will face temptation in the future.

We could conclude our devotional for today, close the Bible and go away rejoicing over the “crown of life” we have coming to us. But wait, there is much more in our reading for today. Let me mention a few blessings for us in this portion of God's precious Word.

There is a way to have “joy”, not happiness based upon happenings, but joy based upon Him. He says count it all joy when we are tested; we must know that this testing is for the development of our “patience”. Oh how I need patience, and I want it right now!

Remember, the testing, which works out patience is for developing us into mature and complete Christians, verse 4. In addition to becoming a mature, complete Christian through testing and patience, we can receive from Him, “wisdom”. All we have to do is ask Him for wisdom. He will give it to us who ask Him for it.

Have you noticed how we are prepared to receive that “crown of life” for enduring and not yielding to temptation? We start by first being confronted by temptation, which makes us patient, mature and complete in Christ.

After He has provided for us to be prepared to face and stand up to temptation, He gives us a crown for doing what He has prepared for us to do. Our Lord is preparing and providing all we will need when we face Him at the Judgment Seat of Christ. What a wonderful Lord He is to us.

PRAYER THOT: Thank you Lord for providing a way to endure temptation and testing and the promise that I will receive a “crown of life” as I utilize what you have provided .

James 1:22

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

For further study - James 1:13-27

Have you ever noticed how practical the Bible is? What a foolish question, of course you have noticed that it is very practical if you have spent any time at all reading through it's pages. I must say that our extended reading for today fits the description of being "practical".

Remember the last reading we had in devotions from James was the first twelve verses of James One, ending with the promise of the prize, the "Crown of Life" given to those of us who endure temptation. Enduring temptation, in other words, is not yielding to temptation. That "Crown of Life" is given at the Judgment Seat of Christ.

Now as we read this "practical passage" for our devotional today, we see how to stand against temptation, to be able to endure temptation. Our key verse, verse 22, is a great starting point for being able to endure temptation.

Remember what the Psalmist wrote in 119:11, "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee."

The first step to not yielding to temptation is to hide the Word of God in our hearts. But then we must be "doers" of that Word and not "hearers" only. If we only "hear" and we are not "doers", we have deceived ourselves.

This is very practical. Verse 14 tells us that our "lust" draws us away from the right lifestyle that we must live to be able to receive that "Crown of Life". "Lust" is a craving, a longing, a desire for that which is forbidden by the Lord.

The Apostle John wrote, I John 2:15-16, that a "love for the world" and the "things of the world" causes us to enter into temptation, through the "lust of our eyes" and the "lust of our flesh". Lust starts with the eyes, we must guard our eyes because the Word tells us to do so. Remember, to be a "doer" of the Word, not a "hearer" only.

Every time I select a passage of scripture for our devotional reading I am amazed how much there is contained within that passage for us to be able to appropriate and live out in our lives.

I've barely shared all that is contained in our reading for today. Please spend more time in this passage. As you do you will see how we can prepare so that we will receive the "Crown of Life" for not yielding to temptation at the Judgment Seat of Christ which takes place right after the rapture as we stand face to face with Jesus.

By the way, the rapture could happen today, keep looking up!

PRAYER THOT: Thank you Lord, for your practical Word given to me. Please help me to be a "doer" of this Word and not a "hearer" only.

James 2 vs22 

Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?

For further study - James 2:1-26

The second chapter of James is a very interesting chapter in the little book of James. Remember, James was the half-brother of Jesus Christ and also the leader of the first Church in Jerusalem.

In essence, the entire book of James has as its theme, "faith without works is dead". This second chapter of James' letter is really focused on "faith" and "works". The word "faith" is used 12 times and the word "works", 11 times.

The phrase connecting "faith" and "works" is used 5 times. You might remember that Paul, when he wrote Galatians, lifted up "faith" as the vehicle through which we come to salvation.

That, of course, is true which Paul reveals to us in another of his letters that he wrote to the Ephesians. Ephesians 2:8-9 is the foundation for salvation, "we are saved by grace... through faith, it's a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast."

Paul in both Galatians and Ephesians draws attention to "faith"; however, please notice Paul's statement about works in Ephesians 2:10. Those who are saved by grace through faith are then "created in Jesus Christ unto good works."

This is where James comes into focus, especially in the second chapter. James believes that it's "faith" but he says that "true faith" will result in works "which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them," Ephesians 2:10b.

God defines "faith" as "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen", Hebrews 11:1. Paul, in the book of Romans, chapter ten, verse seventeen says that "faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the Word of God." God, through His Word, gives us the faith by which we come to salvation.

James believes that everybody can talk a great case and say that they have "faith", in fact, a "saving faith". James tells us that type of "faith", "real faith" will always result in works.

Please don't misunderstand, in this passage of scripture James does not put "works" before "faith" but "faith" that produces "works".

James 2 is a great chapter to be used as a "check" on our "faith". By the way, James does mention that at the Judgment Seat of Christ, right after the Rapture, the Lord will judge us on our "works", not our salvation.

The conclusion of the Judgment Seat is to determine the crowns we will receive, and also the "righteous acts", Revelation 19:8, that make up our "wedding garment" at the marriage ceremony that will join us, the "bride of Christ" into a eternal relationship with Jesus Christ, the "Bridegroom".

The exhortation from James for us today is, "Lets get to work."

PRAYER THOT: Thank you Lord for the "faith" I receive from Your Word, help me to turn that "faith" into "works" for Your glory.

James 4 vs7

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

For further study - James 4:1-17

This fourth chapter of James is a "manual" on how to live in the last days. Please join with me in this devotional reading to learn how to apply the directives for living in light of the sure "promise" that Jesus is coming to call us up to be with Him, and the sure "prospect" that the Rapture will happen real soon, at any moment.

Jesus said, one of the indications that His Second Coming is close is that there will be a time when you see "wars and rumors of wars", Matthew 24:6. James, the half brother of Jesus states that these wars come from the "lust that war in our members", within the soul of each of us, lost and saved.

The “lusts” within each of us must be kept under control lest they take control of us. How wonderful that God gives us the "grace" to have a victory over these lusts. And please notice, God gives more "grace" to those of us who humble ourselves before the Lord and our fellow man, verses 6 & 10.

Many scriptures, and especially in the book of Revelation, speak of the Devil in the last days. The Devil will do everything he can to destroy the Jewish people, he knows if he can get rid of the Jews, the Lord can't keep His promises to them and Satan becomes the "god".

The Devil, also in the last days, will go after Christians, the true born-again believer, in the days before Jesus calls up to be with Him at the Rapture. James gives us the "how-to's" of what we must do to have victory over Satan, in verse 7.

Notice we are not told to command the Devil to do anything. We are to "submit ourselves to God and resist the devil." Then, on the promise and the authority of God's Word, the devil will flee from us.

To submit is to offer ourselves in full surrender to the Lord. This devotional reading for today is indeed an excellent "manual" for living in the last days.

PRAYER THOT: Lord help me to submit myself totally to You so that the lust of the flesh don't control me and so that the Devil will have to flee from me.


James 5 vs8 - Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
For further study - James 5:1-11
There is so much in this fifth chapter of James that we can benefit from as we study the exhortation from James. The reason, of course, is that James, the half-brother of Jesus, was the pastor of the

church in Jerusalem and the author of this book which is most likely

the first epistle to Christians.
It is a very practical book in that it reveals those who have true and real faith. They are the ones who do works, Godly works, which will be proof that their faith is real.
Please join me to look at several verses in this fifth chapter that I really need. You may need these verses as well to instruct you in view of the coming of the Lord. Verses 7-11 call for each of us to be patient. I can tell you one thing for sure - patience is not one of my virtues.
James gives us an example of the farmer who must be patient as he awaits the "precious fruit of the earth." Then James tells us as we are patient we must establish our heart as we await the Lord's coming. Be sure to notice that a patient, established heart is possible through acknowledging that the time of the coming of the Lord is very close. Remember, the judge is standing at the door waiting to come unto us.
There is comfort also in the fact that the ancient Jewish prophets are victims of suffering and affliction and patience. You know, I find it very hard to be patient awaiting the coming of the Lord. I can understand the exhortation of James but I can not wait for the Lord's return. However, I am positive I will have to wait even though I do not want to do so.
In my life, and maybe in yours also, there is indeed a pleasant conflict that may well be going on, even right now. That conflict is between eagerly awaiting the Lord to come and being patient until He does come. Even so come, Lord Jesus.
PRAYER THOT: Even so come, Lord Jesus, and please do it today.

Jeremiah 1 vs.5 - Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

For further study - Jeremiah 1:1-21
I love this first chapter of Jeremiah. It is the record of Jeremiah's call to be a prophet to the nations of the world. It is God assuring Jeremiah that He can take one who is not a public speaker and give him the words to say. The Lord encourages Jeremiah to not be afraid, that He, the Lord, will deliver him and give him what to speak.
In fact, God set Jeremiah as a prophet among the nations, and a prophet to the nations. The truth is that God did this for Jeremiah before he was born. But wait, verse 5 says God set Jeremiah aside, not only before he was born but before he was even formed in his mother's womb. Jeremiah was chosen in the mind of God in eternity past, verse 5.
Jeremiah 1:5 not only gives us background in the forming of the prophet but also is the evidence of when "life" begins, the big question today as it relates to abortion. Life does not begin at birth or even at conception. Life begins in the mind of God in eternity past. Now that settles the question.
In a later devotional we will look at other prophetic texts in this awesome book. We will learn of judgments pronounced against the Jewish people and the enemies of the Jewish people. We will find out what will happen to the Jewish people in the last days, just prior to the Lord's return.
If you would like to read ahead, read Jeremiah 31 and 50-51 where you will read about the nation of Israel in the last days and the fate of the country of Iraq. More on those prophetic passages at a later time (See my audio cd series on Jeremiah).
By the way, Daniel read Jeremiah and was able to determine where he was in God's time by the word of God, Daniel 9:2. You can read the word of God to know the times we're living in today.
PRAYER THOT: Allow the word of God to teach me in these last days

Jeremiah 3 vs17 

At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart.

For further study - Jeremiah 3:6-18

Jeremiah, the “weeping prophet”, the one chosen by God in eternity past to be a prophet, Jeremiah 1:5, is selected to call a backsliding Judah to repentance. As you read our extended reading today it will remind you of Hosea who the Lord had to take a “wife of whoredom”.

Hosea's wife Gomer would continue in her adulterous ways and Hosea would go find her in the street, bring her back home and clean her up to be his wife.

The Lord is addressing the Jews, through Jeremiah, as His wife, Jeremiah 3:14, and calling them to repent, turn from their backsliding and return to service. That message given then, for the backsliding Jews, is appropriate for all of us today.

In the passage of our devotional reading for today there are three profound prophetic passages that I want you to notice.

Jeremiah 3:16 speaks of a time when there will be no need for the Ark of the Covenant and in fact the Jews will even forget the Ark. The Ark was the piece of Temple furniture in the Holy of holies. The Ark was where the “mercy seat” was located. It was where once a year on Yom Kippur the High Priest would enter to make atonement for the Jewish people for one year.

As is the case with all implements of the Temple and every activity of the Temple they were a prototype of Jesus to come. The Ark was the model of Him to come. Of course when you have the "real thing," Jesus Christ seated on His throne in the Holy of holies of the Temple you no longer need the model.

Jeremiah 3:17 reminds us that the throne of our Lord will be in Jerusalem. One day the Jews will turn to the Messiah Jesus Christ who will sit on that throne. He will be their God and they will be His people, in Jerusalem.

The last verse I want you to look at is Jeremiah 3:18 which speaks of the time when there will be no longer “two houses for the Jewish people”, Judah and Israel, but only one. I must remind you that there today is only one Jewish state, Israel. There are members of all twelve tribes in today's Israel. This has been the case since they returned to the land as recorded in Ezra 1, 2 and 6.

The ancient prophet Ezekiel foretold of a day in the future when there would be again two Jewish states in the Middle East, that's Ezekiel 37:15-23 (See my audio study "Ezekiel: Retribution or Restoration," which is available at www.prophecybookstore.com). This passage in Jeremiah speaks to the unification of these two Jewish states at a time in the future.

I suggest that in the near future, in all three cases, no more Ark, Jesus on His throne in Jerusalem and one Jewish state from two Jewish States, all of these prophecies will be fulfilled. The stage is set for Bible prophecy to be fulfilled. The next event in prophecy is when the Lord will call us to meet Him in the air. It could be today.

PRAYER THOT: Help me to stay in your Word Lord and close to You, so I won't backslide. 
Jeremiah 7 vs16 

Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee.

For further study - Jeremiah 7:1-20

The time of the writing of this passage is around 600 years before the birth of Jesus Christ during the days of King Josiah, King of Judah. Daniel and his three Hebrew companions had already been taken into Babylon to be trained as "counselors" in the court of King Nebuchadnezzar.
Jeremiah, the prophet, receives a message from the Lord, verse 1, a warning to pass along to the Jewish people. The Prophet was to stand at the gate of the Temple complex and to warn all that came up to the Temple to worship.
God's spokesman, Jeremiah, was to tell the Jewish people to amend their ways, in other words, to “get their hearts right with God or else face judgment”. The judgment from the Lord was to start at the "house of the Lord", the Temple. The Lord had Jeremiah remind the people of Israel of the judgment that took place at Shiloh, some 500 years earlier, I Samuel 3 & 4.
You might remember that Shiloh was the headquarters for the children of Israel when they came into the Promise Land under the leadership of Joshua. It is also where they erected the Tabernacle, to house the Ark of the Covenant.
Shiloh was the political and spiritual capital of the Jewish people for the first 350 years they were in the Promised Land, Joshua 18:1. The account of God's judgment on the Jewish people at Shiloh in I Samuel 3 & 4 indicates that the "Glory of the Lord departed from Shiloh".
God told Jeremiah to warn the Jews that it could happen again if they didn't get right with Him. Our extended reading for today details the “sins of the people” against the Lord in Shiloh and in the days of Jeremiah's ministry. This was the lifestyle of those coming to the Temple, to supposedly worship the Lord.
This is a similar scenario at many churches in our present world. It was a very sinful time as indicated by the Lord's words to Jeremiah to pray not for these people, verse 16. Verse 17 gives us the information of the worship the Jews were offering up to the "Queen of Heaven".
Let me give you some background on the "Queen of Heaven" from extra-Biblical material. The "Queen of Heaven" was the title of the wife of Nimrod, Semiramis, Genesis 11. Nimrod, who built a city, Babylon, Genesis 11:4, also established a religion. This religion was a "mother-son cult" where the mother, Semiramis, and the son, Tammuz, were co-equal recipients of worship.
That worship consisted of serving "cakes" in honor of this false religion established in Babylon. It also involved the parents painting hard-boiled eggs and hiding them for the children to find on their special "holy day" for the "Queen of Heaven" called "Ishtar".
Remember, God told Jeremiah not to pray for those who worship like this. The “mother-son cult”, with worship of the "Queen of Heaven", was headquartered in Babylon until the fall of the Babylonian Empire in 539 BC.
The false Babylonian religion moved it's headquarters then to Pergamus in Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey, until the fall of the Roman Empire when it moved to the "seven-hilled city" of Rome, Italy, where it is today and where it will continue to be during the first half of the Tribulation Period, Revelation 17.
God's judgment will come even to those who supposedly worship Him. As we look at our world today we see a similar scenario, as was described for the last days. Judgment must begin at the "house of the Lord." We are living in the "last days".

PRAYER THOT: Thank you Lord for the warning of judgment for sin. Help me to be pure before you in these last days.

Jeremiah 25 vs11

And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

For further study - Jeremiah 25:1-14

You must remember that God chose Jeremiah to be a "prophet to the nations" before he was born, before he was conceived, in fact the prophet was chosen by God in the Lord's mind in eternity past, Jeremiah 1:5.

As a "prophet to the nations" Jeremiah was a prophet first to his own people, the Jewish nation. In the passage from our devotional reading for today we see that the prophecy of the "seventy years" was mentioned in Daniel. Daniel 9:2 reveals when Daniel in his own quiet time, his devotional reading, read about the “seventy years” that Jerusalem would be desolate.

I’ll have more on that in a moment.

This passage is a record of the prophetic ministry of Jeremiah before the Jews would be taken into the Babylonian Captivity. Jeremiah forewarns the Jews that the King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, verse 9, would be the "servant of the Lord."

The Babylonian King would be used by God to make the Jewish people give the land that He had given them the “sabbatical” that He called for in Leviticus 25:1-7.

Every seventh year the Jews were to rest the land, plant no crops on the land, give the land a “Sabbath”. The Jews had not obeyed the Lord for 490 years so He would use "His servant" Nebuchadnezzar, to take the Jews out of the land for that “70 Sabbaths” that the land should have been given.

What a practical lesson we can learn from this event in the lives of the Jewish people. When God tells us to do something He means for us to obey. Sometimes when we disobey He will force the issue and we learn the hard way to be obedient.

Now back to Daniel and his quiet time, his reading in Jeremiah, actually he read the same passage as we are today and he learned that Jerusalem would be desolate for 70 years, verses 11-12.

When Daniel read Jeremiah he was 85 years old, 70 years after he was taken captive by King Nebuchadnezzar, when he was 15 years old. Daniel was able to understand where he was in God's prophetic time and plan by reading the prophetic Word of God.

We also can understand the times we are living in and how close we may be to the Lord's return by reading the prophetic scenario for the "end times" found in Bible prophecy.

By the way, when you do read Bible prophecy you will realize we are very close to the Lord's "shout" at the Rapture, to call us up to be with Him.