AWAKE, ARISE, AND TRIUMPH
Saturday – November 6, 2021, Kislev 2, 5782
FROM THE PROPHETS CHAMBER – WEEK FORTY
VAIN RELIGION
Greetings to our friends and partners of this Ministry, brothers and sisters in the Kingdom of God, and welcome back to “From the Prophets Chamber”. Before we dive into this teaching, please take a moment and share these teachings as widely as possible to expand our reach with the good news. The Word of God is the very best news anyone can receive ever, bar none. Let’s carefully and meditatively read the following passage aloud with special focus on the terminal phrase of verse twenty-six, “this man’s religion is vain”.
James 1:25-27 (KJV)
25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
26 If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.
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.
I suspect everyone reading this today is familiar with verse twenty-five especially the phrase “being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work”. The Apostle James by the unction of the Holy Spirit is saying to us that as we hear and keep hearing the Scripture, we must not be a forgetful hearer. We must take what we hear and do the work (yes, work) it commands. When we do the Blessing will be manifest in our lives. Let’s look a little closer at verse twenty-five in a different Bible translation to perhaps bring additional clarity.
James 1:25 (NJB)
25 But anyone who looks steadily at the perfect law of freedom and keeps to it—not listening and forgetting, but putting it into practice—will be blessed in every undertaking.
Putting the Word of God into practice is where the rubber meets the road so to speak. It is one thing to talk about it, even holler about it, sing about it, but what about doing it. We build faith by hearing and the most common way we release faith is by saying. This works on the positive with the Words of God, and on the negative with the words of the world. Remember the Words of Jesus recorded in the following passage.
Luke 6:44-46 (KJV)
44 For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.
45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.
46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
Now let’s tie this into verse twenty-six and the question of having a vain (useless, powerless) religion. In our James and Luke text we see a person who by all outward appearances is religious. However, Jesus tells us in the Luke text to watch the fruit, what is being produced in their life. Producing evil is not referring to robbing banks, raping, and pillaging although those would be included, but anything not aligned with the Word of God. The Holy Spirit goes on to say however that if that person does not control their mouth they are in self-deception, and useless to the Kingdom of God. Looking once again at the Luke 6 passage and examining ourselves can we say that our mouth is bringing forth good or must we say much evil prevails in our life. Evil is anything in our lives that is not of God, but of the curse. Good is the manifestations of the Blessing, the good things of God in our lives. We do not know the heart of another person (sometimes we do not even know our own) but we can see and know the fruit of our lives and others. Did you notice what Jesus said in Luke 6:46. Jesus directly linked the evil in our lives with our not doing the Word. We call Him ‘Lord’ but don’t do as commanded.
To put verse twenty-six in common language, the Apostle James by the leadership of the Holy Spirit says that a person can put on a good show but if the tongue is speaking all sorts of things contrary to the Word of God, he/she has deceived themselves, and their outward demonstrations of worship are useless, without power. Dear little children this is rampant in the body of Christ today. Where is the Power in our individual lives? Jesus said our words were to be with Power just like His words, just like the Father, and be evident in our lives (John 14:12, Matthew 28, Mark 16, and Acts 1)? Why do we see the curse on every side? Seems dear ones that we need some serious renewing of the mind. We cannot hear too much teaching about the importance of our words or think too much about what we are about to say. We must put away the show, and step into demonstrations of Power at our words.
Lord willing, I will have another fresh Word from the Throne next week.
2 Chronicles 20:20 b (KJV)
20 … Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.
Until our next publication, as your Bible Teacher and a Prophetic Voice in your life I speak this blessing over each and every one of you, receive it, believe it, doubt it not, and speak over yourself and your family by faith in Jesus’ name!
Numbers 6:24-26 (AMP)
24 The Lord bless you and watch, guard, and keep you;
25 The Lord make His face to shine upon and enlighten you and be gracious (kind, merciful, and giving favor) to you;
26 The Lord lift up His [approving] countenance upon you and give you peace (tranquility of heart and life continually).
By: Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
PRAYERS AND QUESTIONS – please, anytime you have an issue that you want me, this ministry to pray for you, a person you love or a situation contact me. Accordingly, if you should have a question about the Bible, please do not hesitate to ask it.
PARTNERSHIP AND GIVING – Those of you who are not Partners of this Ministry and you find this ministry to be of value to you and perhaps others with whom you share it, we ask you to consider becoming Partners. A Partner is one who prays for the Ministry on a regular basis and contributes to the Ministry on a regular basis (monthly, quarterly, annually). Thank you and may the Lord be pleased with your decision.
CONTACT E-MAIL: pastordavidwood@gmail.com
BLOG: https://awakeariseandtriumphministries.org
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/awakearisetriumphministries
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/PastorDavidWood
MAILING ADDRESS: 15007 Rock River Street, San Antonio, Texas 78247-3030
MY BOOKS: https://awakeariseandtriumphministries.org/shop/
