Profiting from Trials
v02: My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,
v03: knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.
v04: But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
v05: If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
v07: For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;
v08: he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
Loving God Under Trials
v12: Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
v13: Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.
v14: But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.
v15:Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
v17: Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
Qualities Needed in Trials
v19: So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath;
v20: for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
v22: But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
v27: Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
v05: Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?
v10: For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.
v13: For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
v17: Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
v19: You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe--and tremble!
The Tongue Cannot Be Tamed
v01: My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.
v04: Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires.
v05: Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles!
v08: But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
v16: For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.
v17: But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.
v02: You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.
v03: You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.
v04: Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
Humility Cures Worldliness
v07: Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
v08: Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
v10: Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up
Do Not Judge a Brother
v11: Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.
Do Not Boast About Tomorrow
v13: Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit";
v15: Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that."
v16: But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
v17: Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.
Be Patient and Persevering
v07: Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain.
v08: You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
v09: Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door!
v11: Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord--that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.
v12: But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your "Yes" be "Yes," and your "No," "No," lest you fall into judgment.
Meeting Specific Needs
v13: Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.
v14: Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
v15: And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
v16: Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
v17: Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.
v20: let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.