From Flab to Fab

Body by James, part two

Weekly Reading: James 1:19-27 

Memory Verse:
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. James 1:22 NIV

DNMLTTW, ASDY. DWIS. James 1:22 NIV

My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. James 1:19-21 NIV

Be SLOW to Anger

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Hebrews 12:1 NIV

Only let us live up to what we have already attained. Philippians 3:16 NIV

Be QUICK to ACT

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it, he will be blessed in what he does. James 1:22-25 NIV

Hearing of a feast will not fill you! Hearing of a brook will not quench your thirst! The information that there is gold in the Bank of England will not enrich you, you need cash in your own pocket. The knowledge that there is a shelter from the storm will not save the ship from the storm. The information that there is a cure for a disease will not make the sick man whole. No, gifts must be grasped, blessings must be appropriated and made use of if they are to be of any value to us. –Charles Spurgeon

Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” John 8:34, 36 NIV

ONE: stay connected to Jesus

Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5 NLT

TWO: when you fall, get back up…

…though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again, but the wicked are brought down by calamity. Proverbs 24:16 NIV

If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:26,27 NIV

A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. Psalm 68:5 NIV

Do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan. Exodus 22:22 NIV

Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the cause of the widow. Isaiah 1:17 NIV

An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity. -Martin Luther King, Jr.