Tiffany Kohnen's commentary on James 1:12-27

 In doing my Word study, I felt the Lord speaking to me about this meaty passage and I needed to share this with you. It is James 1:12-27 NASB translation.

12 Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which [the Lord] has promised to those who love Him.

In life, we will face difficult situations. No one is safe from facing hardships. But if you stick it out and come out on top with Christ Jesus, you will find you gain the crown of Life. After that, there will be no more trials, hardships, difficult situations that you will ever face again. Do not forget God’s promise to you if you Love God, stick with Him, and He will stick with you.

 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.

In popular culture, people like to say that God is tempting them to try something amazing, like a bag of gourmet chocolates when you’re on a diet. That’s a phrase you need to stop speaking. God tempting you is a lie given to us by the enemy. God is not evil, and He really does not want you to be tempted. Jesus said to ask God to not lead you into temptation but to deliver you from the evil one (Mathew 6:13a). Yes, it does say God could potentially lead us to be tempted, but in truth, He wants to take you a different direction than the path you were walking on that could lead you to be tempted. God has given humanit over to the rulers of this world. The evil ones has legal rights over us if we allow them through our thoughts and actions. Through this, the demonic forces can then tempt us to try one little thing. One little piece of chocolate, one piece of that apple… All it takes is one action and allows them to be invited for more opportunities to tempt us. From there, everything starts to unravel… very fast. The next two verses in the passage explains what happens when you allow to be tempted and not get away from the situation at hand.

14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. 15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.

That’s why we need to pray to Father God to help lead us to a safer path where we are not tempted to give birth to sin. Lusts are anything that is in your heart’s desires that are not from the Lord. Such as: money, sexual immortality, being high and drunkenness, witchcraft to gain power over your life and others (and any witchcraft in general for that matter), knowledge, status and fame, and so much more. Do not let these desires become a priority over God. Don’t even listen to any words you know is deception, because there’s a good chance that some of it might get hooked into your heart like hook, line, and sinker. The enemy is a patient fisher for as long as you are still living on this Earth to bring about your destruction. If you hear deceptions, always pray, “I do not receive that. That is not the Spirit of Truth. I cancel your assignment of lies over me. Jesus, cover me with your blood.”

How do you know if something is a deception, and which is the Spirit of Truth? Let’s take a look at the next few verses.

17 Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. 18 In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.

All that is good in this world is a gift from God. Water is from God, which is why Jesus mentions being thirsty in the rich man in the parable of The Rich man and the poor and crippled Lazarus. The rich man asked Abraham to give him just one drop of water on his tongue but is refused. For your reference, this story begins in Luke 16:19.

Everything good you see, feel, taste, hear, and smell on this planet is a gift. Every blessing like a newborn babe is a gift. The ultimate gift is each other, the first fruits of God’s creation. We are an intelligent social species capable of complext communication for a reason.

All of these gifts and blessings will disappear after you die in your sins without receiving the grace of God’s ultimate gift: the blood of Christ to cover your sins. In death, you will be entirely alone, something God never intended for us to experience. The loneliness in death will be excruciating.

19 [This] you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak [..]

Always remember the gifts are from God, and the temptation leading to sin is not from Him but from the enemy. That said, ensure that your heart is humbled to receive words of truth and take in what you are learning and listening before speaking. However, there are no stupid questions, so please ask them of a good believer in Christ who might know the answers. Don’t

19b [and] slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.

When we get angry, our thoughts can slowly or quickly become muddled. When they get to that point, it gets easier to rely on your flesh to react to a situation at hand. Our flesh is something we have lived inside of our whole lives, and we are used to relying on our instincts when we “need” to react to something quickly. However, as followers of Christ, we must not give in to those old instincts. They will very easily cause us to forget our identity in Christ and lead us to sin. You must always keep your eyes on God, and use methods to help you keep your head cool. Such as taking a few deep breaths, count to ten, walk away, or all three of them. And maybe recite some relevant verses the Spirit brings to your remembrance. If you don’t know any, step away and do a quick google search such as: Verses about anger.

21a Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and [all] that remains of wickedness, [..]

When you give up your life to Jesus, you are making the decision to never intentionally sin again. Repent means you turn away from doing those things. When you make that decision, God gives you a new spirit that is free of old desires. It is amazing when that happens! I used to like drinking wine every other week, writing and reading worldly books, and desiring other depraved things. After I gave up those desires and didn’t want to do those anymore though I didn’t know how that was possible. I’m not sure when this happened, but it was both gradual and sudden when those desires were taken from me. So, I’m telling you, yes, it is absolutely possible to wake up one day to find your old desires gone. You just have to make the decision to give them up to Jesus without holding them back.

21b in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.

How you receive the word of truth determines whether or not you are saved. In the parable of the Seed as found in Matthew, Luke, and Mark illustrates the type of soil our heart condition is in. Humility allows the seed which is planted and is allowed to grow. As long as we humble ourselves before God, living carefully by letting God change us through sanctification. If we forget to humble ourselves before God and let the worries and desires of this world invade our thoughts, then our new plant will be dried up and tangled in weeds. Keep your eyes on Jesus, and you will grow stronger in the Holy Spirit.

22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.

It is meaningless if we don’t walk the talk and is the definition of hypocrisy. The major thing that we need to focus on is the commandments Jesus gave us, which is to love God with everything we have, and the second is like it which is to love one another as ourselves. If the things we are doing is not done from a place of love, then we are a clanging cymbal. Read chapter 13 in 1 Corinthians. Don’t pretend to do things out of fake love. Check your motives!

23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; 24 for [once] he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.

If the word of God is not planted correctly in your heart bringing you to repentance—which is to say stop doing old things like drinking too much or prone to outburst of anger—then you do not remember what you are supposed to do. You might know what you are supposed to do, but your flesh doesn’t agree with your thoughts, and you let your flesh lead you astray anyway because you figure it couldn’t hurt anyone. You forget the holiness of God, why He sent Jesus to save us. The reason He sent Jesus is to show us we are dead in our sins, and we are far and away from any definition of holiness. We forget who we are in Christ and let our worries and desires trample all over God’s word in our hearts.

25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the [law] of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.

The law of liberty is what set us free from our sins. God loved us first, and we can love Him back and for one another (1 John 4:19). Jesus said to do things onto others what you want them to do onto you (Matthew 7:12). For that reason, God loves us, and we can’t help but love Him back when we accept His love and grace through His Son’s blood. When we do that—giving up our selfish nature for loving nature—we become doers of the Word and not hearers only and fake a Christian life while still doing things of your worldly desires.

26 If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his [own] heart, this man's religion is worthless.

There is a good rule of thumb to check your heart: if a Christian is living a holy life that—in some way—offends you, you have a religious spirit. Religious spirit is not a good one because it makes you focus on the works and not love. Make sure your actions are from a place of love without any ulterior motives. Those can be things like getting ahead in something like financial gain, status, recognition, get better gifts than others, etc. Make sure you are not deceiving yourself with a works-based religion to get favors from other people and God. You do not need to work for your salvation besides the fact that you gave up your life for God to use you.

27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of [our] God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, [and] to keep oneself unstained by the world.

When your heart is coming from a place of love, you naturally want to reach out to others who are hurting and broken. You give them what they need without expecting anything in return. Not even recognition. You do those actions out of love. If there’s no love in your action, then—again—you will be like a clanging cymbal. To keep loving others through your actions, you have to make sure your heart is sanctified and holy. Resist any evil intruding thoughts by focusing on a memorized verse or a worship song. Give thanks to God, praise Him. That’s how we do warfare!

I hope this meaty passage with my commentary helped you know what you must do and to see yourself more clearly in God. I bless you for reading through this whole thing and preservered to the end. God will work on you when you sit down with God in your secret place. Give anything and everything in your life up to God, and say, “Here I am, God, have your way with me. Take everything! I forgive people who hurt me, and I forgive myself.”

God bless and peace be with you. I love you.