GENESIS
Heaven and Earth
CHAPTER 1First this: God created the Heavens and Earth—all you see, all you don't see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God's Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss.
God spoke: "Light!"
CHAPTER 22And light appeared. God saw that light was good and separated light from dark. God named the light Day, he named the dark Night. It was evening, it was morning— Day One. God spoke: "Sky! In the middle of the waters; separate water from water!" God made sky. He separated the water under sky from the water above sky. And there it was: he named sky the Heavens; It was evening, it was morning— Day Two. God spoke: "Separate! Water-beneath-Heaven, gather into one place; Land, appear!" And there it was. God named the land Earth. He named the pooled water Ocean. God saw that it was good. God spoke: "Earth, green up! Grow all varieties of seed-bearing plants, Every sort of fruit-bearing tree." And there it was. Earth produced green seed-bearing plants, all varieties, And fruit-bearing trees of all sorts. God saw that it was good. It was evening, it was morning— Day Three. God spoke: "Lights! Come out! Shine in Heaven's sky! Separate Day from Night. Mark seasons and days and years, Lights in Heaven's sky to give light to Earth." And there it was. God made two big lights, the larger to take charge of Day, The smaller to be in charge of Night; and he made the stars. God placed them in the heavenly sky to light up Earth And oversee Day and Night, to separate light and dark. God saw that it was good. It was evening, it was morning— Day Four. God spoke: "Swarm, Ocean, with fish and all sea life! Birds, fly through the sky over Earth!" God created the huge whales, all the swarm of life in the waters, And every kind and species of flying birds. God saw that it was good. God blessed them: "Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Ocean! Birds, reproduce on Earth!" It was evening, it was morning— Day Five. God spoke: "Earth, generate life! Every sort and kind: cattle and reptiles and wild animals—all kinds." And there it was: wild animals of every kind, Cattle of all kinds, every sort of reptile and bug. God saw that it was good. God spoke: "Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, And, yes, Earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth." God created human beings; he created them godlike, Reflecting God's nature. He created them male and female. God blessed them: "Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge! Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air, for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth." Then God said, "I've given you every sort of seed-bearing plant on Earth And every kind of fruit-bearing tree, given them to you for food. To all animals and all birds, everything that moves and breathes, I give whatever grows out of the ground for food." And there it was. God looked over everything he had made; it was so good, so very good! It was evening, it was morning— Day Six. After all this, God tested Abraham. God said, "Abraham!" "Yes?" answered Abraham. "I'm listening." He said, "Take your dear son Isaac whom you love and go to the land of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I'll point out to you." Abraham got up early in the morning and saddled his donkey. He took two of his young servants and his son Isaac. He had split wood for the burnt offering. He set out for the place God had directed him. On the third day he looked up and saw the place in the distance. Abraham told his two young servants, "Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I are going over there to worship; then we'll come back to you." Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and gave it to Isaac his son to carry. He carried the flint and the knife. The two of them went off together. Isaac said to Abraham his father, "Father?" "Yes, my son." "We have flint and wood, but where's the sheep for the burnt offering?" Abraham said, "Son, God will see to it that there's a sheep for the burnt offering." And they kept on walking together. They arrived at the place to which God had directed him. Abraham built an altar. He laid out the wood. Then he tied up Isaac and laid him on the wood. Abraham reached out and took the knife to kill his son. Just then an angel of GOD called to him out of Heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!" "Yes, I'm listening." "Don't lay a hand on that boy! Don't touch him! Now I know how fearlessly you fear God; you didn't hesitate to place your son, your dear son, on the altar for me." Abraham looked up. He saw a ram caught by its horns in the thicket. Abraham took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. Abraham named that place, GOD-Yireh (GOD-Sees-to-It). That's where we get the saying, "On the mountain of GOD, he sees to it." The angel of GOD spoke from Heaven a second time to Abraham: "I swear-GOD's sure word!-because you have gone through with this, and have not refused to give me your son, your dear, dear son, I'll bless you-oh, how I'll bless you! And I'll make sure that your children flourish-like stars in the sky! Like sand on the beaches! And your descendants will defeat their enemies. All nations on Earth will find themselves blessed through your descendants because you obeyed me." Then Abraham went back to his young servants. They got things together and returned to Beersheba. Abraham settled down in Beersheba. ***
After all this, Abraham got the news: "Your brother Nahor is a father! Milcah has given him children: Uz, his firstborn, his brother Buz, Kemuel (he was the father of Aram), Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel." (Bethuel was the father of Rebekah.) Milcah gave these eight sons to Nahor, Abraham's brother. INTRODUCTION EPHESIANS
What we know about God and what we do for God have a way of
getting broken apart in our lives. The moment the organic unity of belief and
behavior is damaged in any way, we are incapable of living out the full humanity
for which we were created.
Paul's letter to the Ephesians joins together what has been
torn apart in our sin-wrecked world. He begins with an exuberant exploration of
what Christians believe about God, and then, like a surgeon skillfully setting a
compound fracture, "sets" this belief in God into our behavior before God so
that the bones-belief and behavior-knit together and heal.
Once our attention is called to it, we notice these fractures
all over the place. There is hardly a bone in our bodies that has escaped
injury, hardly a relationship in city or job, school or church, family or
country, that isn’t out of joint or limping in pain. There is much work to be
done.
And so Paul goes to work. He ranges widely, from heaven to
earth and back again, showing how Jesus, the Messiah, is eternally and
tirelessly bringing everything and everyone together. He also shows us that in
addition to having this work done in and for us, we are participants in this
most urgent work. Now that we know what is going on, that the energy of
reconciliation is the dynamo at the heart of the universe, it is imperative that
we join in vigorously and perseveringly, convinced that every detail in our
lives contributes (or not) to what Paul describes as God’s plan worked out by
Christ, "a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and
summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet
earth."
EPHESIANS CHAPTER 1 I, Paul, am under God’s plan as an apostle, a special agent of
Christ Jesus, writing to you faithful Christians in Ephesus. I greet you with
the grace and peace poured into our lives by God our Father and our Master,
Jesus Christ. The God of Glory
How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He’s the Father
of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him.
Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on
us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long
ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure
he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his
lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.
Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out
on the altar of the Cross, we’re a free people–free of penalties and punishments
chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly
free! He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need,
letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out
before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought
together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on
planet earth.
It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are
living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had
his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall
purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.
It’s in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed
it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free–signed, sealed,
and delivered by the Holy Spirit. This signet from God is the first installment
on what’s coming, a reminder that we’ll get everything God has planned for us, a
praising and glorious life.
That’s why, when I heard of the solid trust you have in the
Master Jesus and your outpouring of love to all the Christians, I couldn’t stop
thanking God for you–every time I prayed, I’d think of you and give thanks. But
I do more than thank. I ask–ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of
glory–to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your
eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you
to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for Christians,
oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him–endless energy,
boundless strength!
All this energy issues from Christ: God raised him from death
and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe,
everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his
rule. And not just for the time being, but forever. He is in charge of it all,
has the final word on everything. At the center of all this, Christ rules the
church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is
peripheral to the church. The church is Christ’s body, in which he speaks and
acts, by which he fills everything with his presence. He Tore Down the Wall
It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant
life of sin. You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living,
tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then
exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing,
when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t
lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy
and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made
us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he
picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our
Messiah.
Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this
world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving
is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do
it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we
did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we
neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates
each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has
gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.
But don’t take any of this for granted. It was only yesterday
that you outsiders to God’s ways had no idea of any of this, didn’t know the
first thing about the way God works, hadn’t the faintest idea of Christ. You
knew nothing of that rich history of God’s covenants and promises in Israel,
hadn’t a clue about what God was doing in the world at large. Now because of
Christ–dying that death, shedding that blood–you who were once out of it
altogether are in on everything.
The Messiah has made things up between us so that we’re now
together on this, both non-Jewish outsiders and Jewish insiders. He tore down
the wall we used to keep each other at a distance. He repealed the law code that
had become so clogged with fine print and footnotes that it hindered more than
it helped. Then he started over. Instead of continuing with two groups of people
separated by centuries of animosity and suspicion, he created a new kind of
human being, a fresh start for everybody.
Christ brought us together through his death on the Cross. The
Cross got us to embrace, and that was the end of the hostility. Christ came and
preached peace to you outsiders and peace to us insiders. He treated us as
equals, and so made us equals. Through him we both share the same Spirit and
have equal access to the Father.
That’s plain enough, isn’t it? You’re no longer wandering
exiles. This kingdom of faith is now your home country. You’re no longer
strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name
Christian as anyone. God is building a home. He’s using us all–irrespective of
how we got here–in what he is building. He used the apostles and prophets for
the foundation. Now he’s using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by
stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone that holds all the parts together.
We see it taking shape day after day–a holy temple built by God, all of us built
into it, a temple in which God is quite at home. The Secret Plan of God
This is why I, Paul, am in jail for Christ, having taken up the
cause of you outsiders, so-called. I take it that you’re familiar with the part
I was given in God’s plan for including everybody. I got the inside story on
this from God himself, as I just wrote you in brief.
As you read over what I have written to you, you’ll be able to
see for yourselves into the mystery of Christ. None of our ancestors understood
this. Only in our time has it been made clear by God’s Spirit through his holy
apostles and prophets of this new order. The mystery is that people who have
never heard of God and those who have heard of him all their lives (what I’ve
been calling outsiders and insiders) stand on the same ground before God. They
get the same offer, same help, same promises in Christ Jesus. The Message® is
accessible and welcoming to everyone, across the board.
This is my life work: helping people understand and respond to
this Message. It came as a sheer gift to me, a real surprise, God handling all
the details. When it came to presenting the Message to people who had no
background in God’s way, I was the least qualified of any of the available
Christians. God saw to it that I was equipped, but you can be sure that it had
nothing to do with my natural abilities.
And so here I am, preaching and writing about things that are
way over my head, the inexhaustible riches and generosity of Christ. My task is
to bring out in the open and make plain what God, who created all this in the
first place, has been doing in secret and behind the scenes all along. Through
Christians like yourselves gathered in churches, this extraordinary plan of God
is becoming known and talked about even among the angels!
All this is proceeding along lines planned all along by God and
then executed in Christ Jesus. When we trust in him, we’re free to say whatever
needs to be said, bold to go wherever we need to go. So don’t let my present
trouble on your behalf get you down. Be proud!
My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this
magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. I ask him to strengthen
you by his Spirit–not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength–that Christ
will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with
both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all Christians
the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the
breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full
lives, full in the fullness of God.
God can do anything, you know–far more than you could ever
imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us
around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.
Glory to God in the church!
Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus! Glory down all the generations! Glory through all millennia! Oh, yes! To Be Mature
In light of all this, here’s what I want you to do. While I’m
locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and
walk–better yet, run!–on the road God called you to travel. I don’t want any of
you sitting around on your hands. I don’t want anyone strolling off, down some
path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and
discipline–not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each
other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending
fences.
You were all called to travel on the same road and in the same
direction, so stay together, both outwardly and inwardly. You have one Master,
one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who rules over all, works
through all, and is present in all. Everything you are and think and do is
permeated with Oneness.
But that doesn’t mean you should all look and speak and act the
same. Out of the generosity of Christ, each of us is given his own gift. The
text for this is,
"He climbed the high mountain,
He captured the enemy and seized the booty, He handed it all out in gifts to the people." It’s true, is it not, that the One who climbed up also climbed
down, down to the valley of earth? And the One who climbed down is the One who
climbed back up, up to highest heaven. He handed out gifts above and below,
filled heaven with his gifts, filled earth with his gifts. He handed out gifts
of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher to train Christians in
skilled servant work, working within Christ’s body, the church, until we’re all
moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in
response to God’s Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without,
fully alive like Christ.
No prolonged infancies among us, please. We’ll not tolerate
babes in the woods, small children who are an easy mark for impostors. God wants
us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love–like Christ in
everything. We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do.
He keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through us,
nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love. The Old Way Has to Go
And so I insist–and God backs me up on this–that there be no
going along with the crowd, the empty-headed, mindless crowd. They’ve refused
for so long to deal with God that they’ve lost touch not only with God but with
reality itself. They can’t think straight anymore. Feeling no pain, they let
themselves go in sexual obsession, addicted to every sort of perversion.
But that’s no life for you. You learned Christ! My assumption
is that you have paid careful attention to him, been well instructed in the
truth precisely as we have it in Jesus. Since, then, we do not have the excuse
of ignorance, everything–and I do mean everything–connected with that old way of
life has to go. It’s rotten through and through. Get rid of it! And then take on
an entirely new way of life–a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside
and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character
in you.
What this adds up to, then, is this: no more lies, no more
pretense. Tell your neighbor the truth. In Christ’s body we’re all connected to
each other, after all. When you lie to others, you end up lying to yourself.
Go ahead and be angry. You do well to be angry–but don’t use
your anger as fuel for revenge. And don’t stay angry. Don’t go to bed angry.
Don’t give the Devil that kind of foothold in your life.
Did you used to make ends meet by stealing? Well, no more! Get
an honest job so that you can help others who can’t work.
Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of
your mouth. Say only what helps, each word a gift.
Don’t grieve God. Don’t break his heart. His Holy Spirit,
moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you
fit for himself. Don’t take such a gift for granted.
Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk.
Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and
thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you. Wake Up From Your Sleep
CHAPTER 5 Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who
learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep
company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love
was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from
us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.
Don’t allow love to turn into lust, setting off a downhill
slide into sexual promiscuity, filthy practices, or bullying greed. Though some
tongues just love the taste of gossip, Christians have better uses for language
than that. Don’t talk dirty or silly. That kind of talk doesn’t fit our style.
Thanksgiving is our dialect.
You can be sure that using people or religion or things just
for what you can get out of them–the usual variations on idolatry–will get you
nowhere, and certainly nowhere near the kingdom of Christ, the kingdom of
God.
Don’t let yourselves get taken in by religious smooth talk. God
gets furious with people who are full of religious sales talk but want nothing
to do with him. Don’t even hang around people like that.
You groped your way through that murk once, but no longer.
You’re out in the open now. The bright light of Christ makes your way plain. So
no more stumbling around. Get on with it! The good, the right, the true–these
are the actions appropriate for daylight hours. Figure out what will please
Christ, and then do it.
Don’t waste your time on useless work, mere busywork, the
barren pursuits of darkness. Expose these things for the sham they are. It’s a
scandal when people waste their lives on things they must do in the darkness
where no one will see. Rip the cover off those frauds and see how attractive
they look in the light of Christ.
"Wake up from your sleep,
Climb out of your coffins; Christ will show you the light!" So watch your step. Use your head. Make the most of every
chance you get. These are desperate times!
Don’t live carelessly, unthinkingly. Make sure you understand
what the Master wants.
Don’t drink too much wine. That cheapens your life. Drink the
Spirit of God, huge draughts of him. Sing hymns instead of drinking songs! Sing
songs from your heart to Christ. Sing praises over everything, any excuse for a
song to God the Father in the name of our Master, Jesus Christ. Relationships
Out of respect for Christ, be courteously reverent to one
another.
Wives, understand and support your husbands in ways that show
your support for Christ. The husband provides leadership to his wife the way
Christ does to his church, not by domineering but by cherishing. So just as the
church submits to Christ as he exercises such leadership, wives should likewise
submit to their husbands.
Husbands, go all out in your love for your wives, exactly as
Christ did for the church–a love marked by giving, not getting. Christ’s love
makes the church whole. His words evoke her beauty. Everything he does and says
is designed to bring the best out of her, dressing her in dazzling white silk,
radiant with holiness. And that is how husbands ought to love their wives.
They’re really doing themselves a favor–since they’re already "one" in
marriage.
No one abuses his own body, does he? No, he feeds and pampers
it. That’s how Christ treats us, the church, since we are part of his body. And
this is why a man leaves father and mother and cherishes his wife. No longer
two, they become "one flesh." This is a huge mystery, and I don’t pretend to
understand it all. What is clearest to me is the way Christ treats the church.
And this provides a good picture of how each husband is to treat his wife,
loving himself in loving her, and how each wife is to honor her husband.
CHAPTER 6 Children, do what your parents tell you. This is only right.
"Honor your father and mother" is the first commandment that has a promise
attached to it, namely, "so you will live well and have a long life."
Fathers, don’t exasperate your children by coming down hard on
them. Take them by the hand and lead them in the way of the Master.
Servants, respectfully obey your earthly masters but always
with an eye to obeying the real master, Christ. Don’t just do what you have to
do to get by, but work heartily, as Christ’s servants doing what God wants you
to do. And work with a smile on your face, always keeping in mind that no matter
who happens to be giving the orders, you’re really serving God. Good work will
get you good pay from the Master, regardless of whether you are slave or
free.
Masters, it’s the same with you. No abuse, please, and no
threats. You and your servants are both under the same Master in heaven. He
makes no distinction between you and them. A Fight to the Finish
And that about wraps it up. God is strong, and he wants you
strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of
the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to
everything the Devil throws your way. This is no afternoon athletic contest that
we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a
life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.
Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on
your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that
when it’s all over but the shouting you’ll still be on your feet. Truth,
righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to
apply them. You’ll need them throughout your life. God’s Word is an
indispensable weapon. In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing
warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes
open. Keep each other’s spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out.
And don’t forget to pray for me. Pray that I’ll know what to
say and have the courage to say it at the right time, telling the mystery to one
and all, the Message that I, jailbird preacher that I am, am responsible for
getting out.
Tychicus, my good friend here, will tell you what I’m doing and
how things are going with me. He is certainly a dependable servant of the
Master! I’ve sent him not only to tell you about us but to cheer you on in your
faith.
Goodbye, friends. Love mixed with faith be yours from God the
Father and from the Master, Jesus Christ. Pure grace and nothing but grace be
with all who love our Master, Jesus Christ.
INTRODUCTION: PHILIPPIANS This is Paul’s happiest letter. And the happiness is
infectious. Before we’ve read a dozen lines, we begin to feel the joy
ourselves–the dance of words and the exclamations of delight have a way of
getting inside us. But happiness is not a word we can understand by looking
it up in the dictionary. In fact, none of the qualities of the Christian life
can be learned out of a book. Something more like apprenticeship is required,
being around someone who out of years of devoted discipline shows us, by his or
her entire behavior, what it is. Moments of verbal instruction will certainly
occur, but mostly an apprentice acquires skill by daily and intimate association
with a "master," picking up subtle but absolutely essential things, such as
timing and rhythm and "touch." When we read what Paul wrote to the Christian believers
in the city of Philippi, we find ourselves in the company of just such a master.
Paul doesn’t tell us that we can be happy, or how to be happy. He simply and
unmistakably is happy. None of his circumstances contribute to his joy: He wrote
from a jail cell, his work was under attack by competitors, and after twenty
years or so of hard traveling in the service of Jesus, he was tired and would
have welcomed some relief. But circumstances are incidental compared to the life of
Jesus, the Messiah, that Paul experiences from the inside. For it is a life that
not only happened at a certain point in history, but continues to happen,
spilling out into the lives of those who receive him, and then continues to
spill out all over the place. Christ is, among much else, the revelation that
God cannot be contained or hoarded. It is this "spilling out" quality of
Christ’s life that accounts for the happiness of Christians, for joy is life in
excess, the overflow of what cannot be contained within any one person. PHILIPPIANS
Paul and Timothy, both of us committed servants of Christ
Jesus, write this letter to all the Christians in Philippi, pastors and
ministers included. We greet you with the grace and peace that comes from God
our Father and our Master, Jesus Christ. A Love That Will Grow
Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of
thanks to God. Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer. I find myself praying
for you with a glad heart. I am so pleased that you have continued on in this
with us, believing and proclaiming God’s Message, from the day you heard it
right up to the present. There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind
that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to
a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.
It’s not at all fanciful for me to think this way about you. My
prayers and hopes have deep roots in reality. You have, after all, stuck with me
all the way from the time I was thrown in jail, put on trial, and came out of it
in one piece. All along you have experienced with me the most generous help from
God. He knows how much I love and miss you these days. Sometimes I think I feel
as strongly about you as Christ does!
So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you
will not only love much but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use
your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent,
not sentimental gush. Live a lover’s life, circumspect and exemplary, a life
Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ
attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God. They Can’t Imprison the Message
I want to report to you, friends, that my imprisonment here has
had the opposite of its intended effect. Instead of being squelched, the Message
has actually prospered. All the soldiers here, and everyone else too, found out
that I’m in jail because of this Messiah. That piqued their curiosity, and now
they’ve learned all about him. Not only that, but most of the Christians here
have become far more sure of themselves in the faith than ever, speaking out
fearlessly about God, about the Messiah.
It’s true that some here preach Christ because with me out of
the way, they think they’ll step right into the spotlight. But the others do it
with the best heart in the world. One group is motivated by pure love, knowing
that I am here defending the Message, wanting to help. The others, now that I’m
out of the picture, are merely greedy, hoping to get something out of it for
themselves. Their motives are bad. They see me as their competition, and so the
worse it goes for me, the better–they think–for them.
So how am I to respond? I’ve decided that I really don’t care
about their motives, whether mixed, bad, or indifferent. Every time one of them
opens his mouth, Christ is proclaimed, so I just cheer them on!
And I’m going to keep that celebration going because I know how
it’s going to turn out. Through your faithful prayers and the generous response
of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, everything he wants to do in and through me will
be done. I can hardly wait to continue on my course. I don’t expect to be
embarrassed in the least. On the contrary, everything happening to me in this
jail only serves to make Christ more accurately known, regardless of whether I
live or die. They didn’t shut me up; they gave me a pulpit! Alive, I’m Christ’s
messenger; dead, I’m his bounty. Life versus even more life! I can’t lose.
As long as I’m alive in this body, there is good work for me to
do. If I had to choose right now, I hardly know which I’d choose. Hard choice!
The desire to break camp here and be with Christ is powerful. Some days I can
think of nothing better. But most days, because of what you are going through, I
am sure that it’s better for me to stick it out here. So I plan to be around
awhile, companion to you as your growth and joy in this life of trusting God
continues. You can start looking forward to a great reunion when I come visit
you again. We’ll be praising Christ, enjoying each other.
Meanwhile, live in such a way that you are a credit to the
Message of Christ. Let nothing in your conduct hang on whether I come or not.
Your conduct must be the same whether I show up to see things for myself or hear
of it from a distance. Stand united, singular in vision, contending for people’s
trust in the Message, the good news, not flinching or dodging in the slightest
before the opposition. Your courage and unity will show them what they’re up
against: defeat for them, victory for you–and both because of God. There’s far
more to this life than trusting in Christ. There’s also suffering for him. And
the suffering is as much a gift as the trusting. You’re involved in the same
kind of struggle you saw me go through, on which you are now getting an updated
report in this letter. He Took On the Status of a Slave CHAPTER 2 If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if
his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the
Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care–then do me a
favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t
push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself
aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own
advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.
Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He
had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to
cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time
came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave,
became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly
humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a
selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death–and the worst
kind of death at that: a crucifixion.
Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him
far beyond anyone or anything, ever, so that all created beings in heaven and on
earth–even those long ago dead and buried–will bow in worship before this Jesus
Christ, and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious
honor of God the Father. Rejoicing Together
What I’m getting at, friends, is that you should simply keep on
doing what you’ve done from the beginning. When I was living among you, you
lived in responsive obedience. Now that I’m separated from you, keep it up.
Better yet, redouble your efforts. Be energetic in your life of salvation,
reverent and sensitive before God. That energy is God’s energy, an energy deep
within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most
pleasure.
Do everything readily and cheerfully–no bickering, no
second-guessing allowed! Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh
air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good
living and of the living God. Carry the light-giving Message into the night so
I’ll have good cause to be proud of you on the day that Christ returns. You’ll
be living proof that I didn’t go to all this work for nothing.
Even if I am executed here and now, I’ll rejoice in being an
element in the offering of your faith that you make on Christ’s altar, a part of
your rejoicing. But turnabout’s fair play–you must join me in my rejoicing.
Whatever you do, don’t feel sorry for me.
I plan (according to Jesus’ plan) to send Timothy to you very
soon so he can bring back all the news of you he can gather. Oh, how that will
do my heart good! I have no one quite like Timothy. He is loyal, and genuinely
concerned for you. Most people around here are looking out for themselves, with
little concern for the things of Jesus. But you know yourselves that Timothy’s
the real thing. He’s been a devoted son to me as together we’ve delivered the
Message. As soon as I see how things are going to fall out for me here, I plan
to send him off. And then I’m hoping and praying to be right on his heels.
But for right now, I’m dispatching Epaphroditus, my good friend
and companion in my work. You sent him to help me out; now I’m sending him to
help you out. He has been wanting in the worst way to get back with you.
Especially since recovering from the illness you heard about, he’s been wanting
to get back and reassure you that he is just fine. He nearly died, as you know,
but God had mercy on him. And not only on him–he had mercy on me, too. His death
would have been one huge grief piled on top of all the others.
So you can see why I’m so delighted to send him on to you. When
you see him again, hale and hearty, how you’ll rejoice and how relieved I’ll be.
Give him a grand welcome, a joyful embrace! People like him deserve the best you
can give. Remember the ministry to me that you started but weren’t able to
complete? Well, in the process of finishing up that work, he put his life on the
line and nearly died doing it. To Know Him Personally
And that’s about it, friends. Be glad in God!
I don’t mind repeating what I have written in earlier letters,
and I hope you don’t mind hearing it again. Better safe than sorry–so here
goes.
Steer clear of the barking dogs, those religious busybodies,
all bark and no bite. All they’re interested in is appearances–knife-happy
circumcisers, I call them. The real believers are the ones the Spirit of God
leads to work away at this ministry, filling the air with Christ’s praise as we
do it. We couldn’t carry this off by our own efforts, and we know it–even though
we can list what many might think are impressive credentials. You know my
pedigree: a legitimate birth, circumcised on the eighth day; an Israelite from
the elite tribe of Benjamin; a strict and devout adherent to God’s law; a fiery
defender of the purity of my religion, even to the point of persecuting
Christians; a meticulous observer of everything set down in God’s law Book.
The very credentials these people are waving around as
something special, I’m tearing up and throwing out with the trash–along with
everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ. Yes, all
the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to
the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I
once thought I had going for me is insignificant–dog dung. I’ve dumped it all in
the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. I didn’t want
some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of
rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ–God’s
righteousness.
I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ
personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering,
and go all the way with him to death itself. If there was any way to get in on
the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it. Focused on the Goal
I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it
made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously
reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself
an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is
beckoning us onward–to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back.
So let’s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want
everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something
less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision–you’ll see it
yet! Now that we’re on the right track, let’s stay on it.
Stick with me, friends. Keep track of those you see running
this same course, headed for this same goal. There are many out there taking
other paths, choosing other goals, and trying to get you to go along with them.
I’ve warned you of them many times; sadly, I’m having to do it again. All they
want is easy street. They hate Christ’s Cross. But easy street is a dead-end
street. Those who live there make their bellies their gods; belches are their
praise; all they can think of is their appetites.
But there’s far more to life for us. We’re citizens of high
heaven! We’re waiting the arrival of the Savior, the Master, Jesus Christ, who
will transform our earthy bodies into glorious bodies like his own. He’ll make
us beautiful and whole with the same powerful skill by which he is putting
everything as it should be, under and around him.
My dear, dear friends! I love you so much. I do want the very
best for you. You make me feel such joy, fill me with such pride. Don’t waver.
Stay on track, steady in God. Pray About Everything
I urge Euodia and Syntyche to iron out their differences and
make up. God doesn’t want his children holding grudges.
And, oh, yes, Syzygus, since you’re right there to help them
work things out, do your best with them. These women worked for the Message hand
in hand with Clement and me, and with the other veterans–worked as hard as any
of us. Remember, their names are also in the book of life.
Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him! Make it
as clear as you can to all you meet that you’re on their side, working with them
and not against them. Help them see that the Master is about to arrive. He could
show up any minute!
Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions
and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns.
Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for
good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ
displaces worry at the center of your life.
Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling
your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic,
compelling, gracious–the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly;
things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from
me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything
work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies. Content Whatever the Circumstances
I’m glad in God, far happier than you would ever guess–happy
that you’re again showing such strong concern for me. Not that you ever quit
praying and thinking about me. You just had no chance to show it. Actually, I
don’t have a sense of needing anything personally. I’ve learned by now to be
quite content whatever my circumstances. I’m just as happy with little as with
much, with much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether
full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can
make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am. I don’t mean that
your help didn’t mean a lot to me–it did. It was a beautiful thing that you came
alongside me in my troubles.
You Philippians well know, and you can be sure I’ll never
forget it, that when I first left Macedonia province, venturing out with the
Message, not one church helped out in the give-and-take of this work except you.
You were the only one. Even while I was in Thessalonica, you helped out–and not
only once, but twice. Not that I’m looking for handouts, but I do want you to
experience the blessing that issues from generosity.
And now I have it all–and keep getting more! The gifts you sent
with Epaphroditus were more than enough, like a sweet-smelling sacrifice
roasting on the altar, filling the air with fragrance, pleasing God no end. You
can be sure that God will take care of everything you need, his generosity
exceeding even yours in the glory that pours from Jesus. Our God and Father
abounds in glory that just pours out into eternity. Yes.
Give our regards to every Christian you meet. Our friends here
say hello. All the Christians here, especially the believers who work in the
palace of Caesar, want to be remembered to you.
Receive and experience the amazing grace of the Master, Jesus
Christ, deep, deep within yourselves.
INTRODUCTION TO JAMES
When Christian believers gather in churches, everything that
can go wrong sooner or later does. Outsiders, on observing this, conclude that
there is nothing to the religion business except, perhaps, business, and
dishonest business at that. Insiders see it differently. Just as a hospital
collects the sick under one roof and labels them as such, the church collects
sinners. Many of the people outside the hospital are every bit as sick as the
ones inside, but their illnesses are either undiagnosed or disguised. It's
similar with sinners outside the church.
So Christian churches are not, as a rule, model communities of
good behavior. They are, rather, places where human misbehavior is brought out
in the open, faced, and dealt with.
The letter of James shows one of the church's early pastors
skillfully going about his work of confronting, diagnosing, and dealing with
areas of misbelief and misbehavior that had turned up in congregations committed
to his care. Deep and living wisdom is on display here, wisdom both rare and
essential. Wisdom is not primarily knowing the truth, although it certainly
includes that; it is skill in living. For, what good is a truth if we don't know
how to live it? What good is an intention if we can't sustain it?
According to church traditions, James carried the nickname
"Old Camel Knees" because of thick calluses built up on his knees from many
years of determined prayer. The prayer is foundational to the wisdom. Prayer is
always foundational to wisdom.
JAMES
CHAPTER 1 I, James, am a slave of God and the Master Jesus, writing to
the twelve tribes scattered to Kingdom Come: Hello! Faith Under Pressure
Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from
all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith—life is forced into the open
and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let
it do its work so you become mature and well—developed, not deficient in any
way.
If you don't know what you're doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help.
You'll get his help, and won't be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask
boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who "worry their prayers"
are like wind—whipped waves. Don't think you're going to get anything from the
Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open.
When down—and—outers get a break, cheer! And when the arrogant rich are
brought down to size, cheer! Prosperity is as short—lived as a wildflower, so
don't ever count on it. You know that as soon as the sun rises, pouring down its
scorching heat, the flower withers. Its petals wilt and, before you know it,
that beautiful face is a barren stem. Well, that's a picture of the "prosperous
life." At the very moment everyone is looking on in admiration, it fades away to
nothing.
Anyone who meets a testing challenge head—on and manages to stick it out is
mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life
and more life.
Don't let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, "God is trying to
trip me up." God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one's way. The
temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame
but the leering, seducing flare—up of our own lust. Lust gets pregnant, and has
a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer.
So, my very dear friends, don't get thrown off course. Every desirable and
beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading
down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing
two—faced, nothing fickle. He brought us to life using the true Word, showing us
off as the crown of all his creatures. Act on What You Hear
Post this at all the intersections, dear friends: Lead with your ears, follow
up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear. God's
righteousness doesn't grow from human anger. So throw all spoiled virtue and
cancerous evil in the garbage. In simple humility, let our gardener, God,
landscape you with the Word, making a salvation—garden of your life.
Don't fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are
anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you
hear! Those who hear and don't act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk
away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like.
But whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God—the free
life!—even out of the corner of his eye, and sticks with it, is no distracted
scatterbrain but a man or woman of action. That person will find delight and
affirmation in the action.
Anyone who sets himself up as "religious" by talking a good game is
self—deceived. This kind of religion is hot air and only hot air. Real religion,
the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the
homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the
godless world. The Royal Rule of Love CHAPTER 2 My dear friends, don't let public opinion influence how you
live out our glorious, Christ—originated faith. If a man enters your church
wearing an expensive suit, and a street person wearing rags comes in right after
him, and you say to the man in the suit, "Sit here, sir; this is the best seat
in the house!" and either ignore the street person or say, "Better sit here in
the back row," haven't you segregated God's children and proved that you are
judges who can't be trusted?
Listen, dear friends. Isn't it clear by now that God operates quite
differently? He chose the world's down—and—out as the kingdom's first citizens,
with full rights and privileges. This kingdom is promised to anyone who loves
God. And here you are abusing these same citizens! Isn't it the high and mighty
who exploit you, who use the courts to rob you blind? Aren't they the ones who
scorn the new name—"Christian"—used in your baptisms?
You do well when you complete the Royal Rule of the Scriptures: "Love others
as you love yourself." But if you play up to these so—called important people,
you go against the Rule and stand convicted by it. You can't pick and choose in
these things, specializing in keeping one or two things in God's law and
ignoring others. The same God who said, "Don't commit adultery," also said,
"Don't murder." If you don't commit adultery but go ahead and murder, do you
think your non—adultery will cancel out your murder? No, you're a murderer,
period.
Talk and act like a person expecting to be judged by the Rule that sets us
free. For if you refuse to act kindly, you can hardly expect to be treated
kindly. Kind mercy wins over harsh judgment every time. Faith in Action
Dear friends, do you think you'll get anywhere in this if you learn all the
right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that
a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in
rags and half—starved and say, "Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be
filled with the Holy Spirit!" and walk off without providing so much as a coat
or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn't it obvious that God—talk without
God—acts is outrageous nonsense?
I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, "Sounds good. You take care
of the faith department, I'll handle the works department."
Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I
can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit
together hand in glove.
Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe
you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That's
just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them? Use your heads! Do
you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up
with a corpse on your hands?
Wasn't our ancestor Abraham "made right with God by works" when he placed his
son Isaac on the sacrificial altar? Isn't it obvious that faith and works are
yoked partners, that faith expresses itself in works? That the works are "works
of faith"? The full meaning of "believe" in the Scripture sentence, "Abraham
believed God and was set right with God," includes his action. It's that mesh of
believing and acting that got Abraham named "God's friend." Is it not evident
that a person is made right with God not by a barren faith but by faith fruitful
in works?
The same with Rahab, the Jericho harlot. Wasn't her action in hiding God's
spies and helping them escape—that seamless unity of believing and doing—what
counted with God? The very moment you separate body and spirit, you end up with
a corpse. Separate faith and works and you get the same thing: a corpse. When You Open Your Mouth
CHAPTER 3 Don't be in any rush to become a teacher, my friends. Teaching is highly
responsible work. Teachers are held to the strictest standards. And none of us
are perfectly qualified. We get it wrong nearly every time we open our mouths.
If you could find someone whose speech was perfectly true, you'd have a perfect
person, in perfect control of life.
A bit in the mouth of a horse controls the whole horse. A small
rudder on a huge ship in the hands of a skilled captain sets a course in the
face of the strongest winds. A word out of your mouth may seem of no account,
but it can accomplish nearly anything—or destroy it!
It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A
careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we
can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the
whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of
hell.
This is scary: You can tame a tiger, but you can't tame a
tongue—it's never been done. The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer. With our
tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and
women he made in his image. Curses and blessings out of the same mouth!
My friends, this can't go on. A spring doesn't gush fresh water
one day and brackish the next, does it? Apple trees don't bear strawberries, do
they? Raspberry bushes don't bear apples, do they? You're not going to dip into
a polluted mud hole and get a cup of clear, cool water, are you? Live Well, Live Wisely
Do you want to be counted wise, to build a reputation for
wisdom? Here's what you do: Live well, live wisely, live humbly. It's the way
you live, not the way you talk, that counts. Mean—spirited ambition isn't
wisdom. Boasting that you are wise isn't wisdom. Twisting the truth to make
yourselves sound wise isn't wisdom. It's the furthest thing from wisdom—it's
animal cunning, devilish conniving. Whenever you're trying to look better than
others or get the better of others, things fall apart and everyone ends up at
the others' throats.
Real wisdom, God's wisdom, begins with a holy life and is
characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable,
overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not
two—faced. You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God
and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each
other, treating each other with dignity and honor. Get Serious
CHAPTER 4 Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come
from? Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about because you
want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves. You lust for what
you don't have and are willing to kill to get it. You want what isn't yours and
will risk violence to get your hands on it.
You wouldn't think of just asking God for it, would you? And
why not? Because you know you'd be asking for what you have no right to. You're
spoiled children, each wanting your own way.
You're cheating on God. If all you want is your own way,
flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and his
way. And do you suppose God doesn't care? The proverb has it that "he's a
fiercely jealous lover." And what he gives in love is far better than anything
else you'll find. It's common knowledge that "God goes against the willful
proud; God gives grace to the willing humble."
So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil
and watch him scamper. Say a quiet yes to God and he'll be there in no time.
Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field. Hit
bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really
serious. Get down on your knees before the Master; it's the only way you'll get
on your feet.
Don't bad—mouth each other, friends. It's God's Word, his
Message, his Royal Rule, that takes a beating in that kind of talk. You're
supposed to be honoring the Message, not writing graffiti all over it. God is in
charge of deciding human destiny. Who do you think you are to meddle in the
destiny of others? Nothing But a Wisp of Fog
And now I have a word for you who brashly announce, "Today—at
the latest, tomorrow—we're off to such and such a city for the year. We're going
to start a business and make a lot of money." You don't know the first thing
about tomorrow. You're nothing but a wisp of fog, catching a brief bit of sun
before disappearing. Instead, make it a habit to say, "If the Master wills it
and we're still alive, we'll do this or that."
As it is, you are full of your grandiose selves. All such
vaunting self—importance is evil. In fact, if you know the right thing to do and
don't do it, that, for you, is evil. Destroying Your Life from Within
CHAPTER 5 And a final word to you arrogant rich: Take some lessons in
lament. You'll need buckets for the tears when the crash comes upon you. Your
money is corrupt and your fine clothes stink. Your greedy luxuries are a cancer
in your gut, destroying your life from within. You thought you were piling up
wealth. What you've piled up is judgment.
All the workers you've exploited and cheated cry out for
judgment. The groans of the workers you used and abused are a roar in the ears
of the Master Avenger. You've looted the earth and lived it up. But all you'll
have to show for it is a fatter than usual corpse. In fact, what you've done is
condemn and murder perfectly good persons, who stand there and take it.
Meanwhile, friends, wait patiently for the Master's Arrival.
You see farmers do this all the time, waiting for their valuable crops to
mature, patiently letting the rain do its slow but sure work. Be patient like
that. Stay steady and strong. The Master could arrive at any time.
Friends, don't complain about each other. A far greater
complaint could be lodged against you, you know. The Judge is standing just
around the corner.
Take the old prophets as your mentors. They put up with
anything, went through everything, and never once quit, all the time honoring
God. What a gift life is to those who stay the course! You've heard, of course,
of Job's staying power, and you know how God brought it all together for him at
the end. That's because God cares, cares right down to the last detail.
And since you know that he cares, let your language show it.
Don't add words like "I swear to God" to your own words. Don't show your
impatience by concocting oaths to hurry up God. Just say yes or no. Just say
what is true. That way, your language can't be used against you. Prayer to Be Reckoned With
Are you hurting? Pray. Do you feel great? Sing. Are you sick?
Call the church leaders together to pray and anoint you with oil in the name of
the Master. Believing—prayer will heal you, and Jesus will put you on your feet.
And if you've sinned, you'll be forgiven—healed inside and out.
Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other
and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The
prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned
with. Elijah, for instance, human just like us, prayed hard that it wouldn't
rain, and it didn't—not a drop for three and a half years. Then he prayed that
it would rain, and it did. The showers came and everything started growing
again.
My dear friends, if you know people who have wandered off from
God's truth, don't write them off. Go after them. Get them back and you will
have rescued precious lives from destruction and prevented an epidemic of
wandering away from God.
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