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I have been doing a study of James, it is full of wisdom. It is about Christian character. James encourages us to be intentional in our faith walk. He reminds us to be thankful for the gifts we have been given. One verse tells us to not be double minded. Another explains how damaging our words can be if we don’t guard our tongue.

Wisdom is defined as having experience and knowledge about a subject. It is an understanding that comes from knowing and learning from living something. Example: A farmer has farm wisdom; he understands by his experience and instincts how to go about farming.

Christians gain godly wisdom as we walk out our faith. The more we experience in our faith walk the stronger we become and we learn what to do and what to not do.

James 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

Gaining wisdom comes from God. He has shared a lot of wisdom in his word. The book of Proverbs is known as the wisdom book.  It is full of practical wisdom. Today I want to focus on James 3:13-17

James 3:13 Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. If you have true wisdom it comes from God and will be meek. Our words will not harm but bring forth healing. Our understanding of God’s ways and how to live a Christian life is Godly wisdom. We will not be arrogant acting like we know everything. Wisdom is understanding we will never know everything, but we can learn every day.

James 3:14-16 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. 15 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. 16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

There is another type of wisdom that is not from God. This wisdom is the wisdom of the world. It is earthly, sensual and devilish. It doesn’t bring peace and healing but envy and strife. It causes confusion. Verse 14 tells us to lie not against the truth.  In other words, this is a warning to the hypocrite trying to say they are a Christian but are walking in the wisdom of the world. This is why the word of God tells us to come out from among those that are worldly. Because we do not want our wisdom to become the wisdom of the things of the world. The wisdom of the world is sensual or about physical gratification. The wisdom of the world is devilish. Which means that we walk in the ways of evil.

James 3:17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. Wisdom from above will give us traits that make us soul winners. Godly wisdom is pure. It is peaceable, gentle, easy to implore or plead with someone, full of mercy and good fruit. If we have true wisdom, we will walk with the fruit of the spirit being at the forefront of our lives.

God will give us wisdom to be witnesses of his plan for mankind. The word says He that wins souls is wise. We need to lean on God’s leading. He will show us who we need to tell the story of His love. He will lead us to the souls that are ready to receive His wisdom.

James 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Unspotted from the world is a difficult state for some people. It means to not allow ourselves to be tainted by the world. Do not be influenced by sinners or sin. We are supposed to be an influence on them.

When we became a follower of Jesus part of our purpose in life became winning souls. Part of the reason we have been given the Holy Ghost is to go out and make disciples. We are to help those that are spotted by the world to find peace. We do this by being wise and not pushing them but by leading them to Jesus.

Prov11:30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.

We need to use a gentle approach with most people. We cannot put them on the defensive or they will not hear our words. We must be wise and patient. But more than anything else we need to listen to the leading of the Holy Ghost. He will give us what to say. Then we too can be wise and win souls to the kingdom.

Prov 9:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. True wisdom comes from our reverence of the Lord. He is all wise and all knowing. As his children he has promised to lead us into all truth. He will give us wisdom and understanding.

 I Kgs 3:5 In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee. Feeling the weight of responsibility of ruling such a large multitude of people he asked for wisdom. God honored his request and blessed him to build the temple that his father could not build.

Two prostitutes came before Solomon. Each had a newborn baby only a few days apart. One died, so they each argued that the living baby was theirs. Each told Solomon their story and how the baby was their child. Solomon had been given wisdom from God and said, Divide the child in half and give half to each. One spoke and said, No, give her the child do not harm it. The other was ok with dividing it. Solomon knew that the real mother would love the child enough to give it up to save it. He granted the correct mother custody. When word of this story spread throughout the land everyone marveled at the wisdom of Solomon.

We may never have the wisdom of King Solomon, but God can give us wisdom in how to handle things of this life. He will give us godly wisdom to be able to discern the truth in any situation.

Thanks for watching,

Until next time,

Be Bold, Be Brave and Keep Your God Focus

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