READ: Psalm 35:1,2 NLT 'O Lord, oppose those who oppose me. Fight those who fight against me. Put on your armour and take up your shield. Prepare for battle and come to my aid.' This is an agonising psalm. David is in a deep hole. He is the victim of...
READ: James 5:19,20 NLT 'My dear brothers and sisters, if someone among you wanders away from the truth and is brought back, you can be sure that whoever brings the sinner back from wandering will save that person from death and bring about the forgi...
READ: James 5:16 NLT 'The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.' Four years ago I contracted whooping cough. To be honest I thought that it was only for children and was amazed when my GP told me that I...
READ: James 5:16 NLT 'Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.' How are you? I wonder how you normally respond to that question. Probably, like most of us, you smile sweetly and summarise your life with the o...
READ: James 5:14,15 NLT 'Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well....
READ: James 5:13 NLT 'Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises.' I remember as a teenager hearing a well-known preacher telling the story of a young woman who had told him that she often didn’...
READ: James 5:12 NLT 'But most of all, my brothers and sisters, never take an oath, by heaven or earth or anything else. Just say a simple yes or no, so that you will not sin and be condemned.' James isn’t talking here about bad language but about th...
READ: James 5:11 NLT 'We give great honour to those who endure under suffering. For instance, you know about Job, a man of great endurance. You can see how the Lord was kind to him at the end, for the Lord is full of tenderness and mercy.' We don’t k...
READ: James 5:9 NLT 'Don’t grumble about each other, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. For look—the Judge is standing at the door!' The bible introduces us to lots of grumbling people. Most famously we hear the People of Israel having a wh...
READ: James 5:7,8 NLT 'Dear brothers and sisters, be patient as you wait for the Lord’s return. Consider the farmers who patiently wait for the rains in the fall and in the spring. They eagerly look for the valuable harvest to ripen. You, too, must b...
READ: James 5:1,2 NLT 'Look here, you rich people: Weep and groan with anguish because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you. Your wealth is rotting away, and your fine clothes are moth-eaten rags.' You can almost see the steam coming out of Jame...
READ: James 4:13,14 NLT Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the mo...
READ: James 4:7,8 NLT 'Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.' Life can often feel like...
READ: James 4:6,7 NLT As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” So humble yourselves before God. Did you know that God is capable of hatred? Or perhaps you think that God is so nice that he couldn’t bring himself t...
READ: James 4:2,3 NLT 'You don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.' Dream for a moment. If you could have anythin...
