Did You Really Read It? - In His Word 6-2-2025
We are starting early on a Summer Reading of the best book
there is!
It has been on my heart and mind lately to get back to deeper
study in His Word. It is easy to get into a daily reading and do it by rote, or
in other words just because it’s what we do automatically. Personally, it has been leaving me hungry for
more! I try to dig deeper than the
reading, to try to understand where the people writing the Bible are coming from
in their lives, and why they wrote this portion. The historical studies along
can take a lot! Do you like to find out who these people really are without
watching someone elses rendition of it? I do too!
Thankfully we can reach out to so many Bible apps and web
sites and other informational sources online now. I have a huge Strongs
concordance that I used to have to lug out and page through to get the same information
I can now click and read! One of my favorite phone apps is the Hub Bible, it
has commentaries from the older years and recent year preachers and Bible
scholars alike! There are original language studies as well! I can get lost in
there some days really! So for today I have us looking at a portion of the
first chapter of James. Only a portion because it took us two hours to discuss,
to understand and find the answers as well as pray and encourage one another in
our meet up coffee and tea group. I will post a full chapter of questions
behind this one, well it will be above it on the list on my web/blog sight!
Here we go!
This week we started a study of the book of James from the
New Testament. This is the first portion
of our lesson below. We started out by reading the book of James, at least
once, then we gather together and study the book, chapter by chapter, verse by verse
style.
There will be updated questions and an answer sheet included
each week and if you wish to follow along we are posting a portion of our group
studies on my Youtube channel. It is not professionally done but it is real
study! If you are interested in receiving
the full study go ahead and email at the address below or subscribe to the link
below.
This letter is from James, a slave of God and of the Lord
Jesus Christ. I am writing to the “twelve tribes”—Jewish believers scattered
abroad.
Greetings!
Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come
your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your
faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when
your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing
nothing. If you need wisdom, ask our
generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But
when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a
person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown
and tossed by the wind. Such people
should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided
between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do. James 1:1-8
The Book of James
1. James: Who was the author?
2. Why did he write the letter? Who was it for?
3. Is Chapter 1:1-16 an encouragement or a directive form of
scripture?
4. What are the Blessings and how do you get them?
5. What is the key word for verses 1-18 and would you
consider it a life altering word?
6. Why is it important enough to remember?
7. What are some things that tempt you? How do you deal with
each one?
8. Verse 16 says “don't be deceived", why would this be
something we could be deceived by? Why the warning?
9. What are the ‘IF -THEN’s’ of this chapter?
10. Why, according to James, do we have trials?
Perseverance vs giving up- if we persevere then we receive
the crown of life from Jesus. Think for a moment about this
11. What is the alternative?
We are chosen by God to be born, through His truth in the
Word, that we may be a kind of first fruits of His creation. Explain this? (see
verse 18)
As we continue through this study we should examine our
hearts and minds and see if there is something in us that we need God’s help to
change to be more like the person He intends us to be.
Take a moment to pray at the beginning and end of the study
time you take asking the Holy Spirit to open your eyes to see and ears to hear
what the Spirit is telling you in your study time, in Jesus’ name.
Through this portion of 1-8 I found that looking in my paper
Bible I could find the answers to the first few questions, there are often
Author Identity sections and other history information in the preface of each
chapter in the Bible. Whether you use a
study Bible or Spirit Filled style you should be able to find the answers
without much trouble. The rest is found in the body of the scriptures! I hope
you will follow along with us each week and enjoy this taste of the Walk in the
Word Bible study series.
I pray that each devotional blog I write will bring you
somehow into His Word more deeply than the one before, in His love,
Teresa Wilson