Bible Study- {week 2}

Well, it is time for another weekly Bible Study post! I'm so excited!! I have to apologize if this doesn't make much sense- but I have been so very tired lately (and not feeling so well), so my mind has not been able to function as much. Hopefully this will make some sense!!! haha....

But anyways, I was trying to figure out what to do the Bible study on this week, and I came up with James. I have been studying James in Sunday School at my church, so I thought that might be a good book to choose a chapter from : ) I never realized how much truth and inspiration the book of James had in it.

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 Rules/Info for the linkup:
1. Attach button in your post (or link back to my blog)
2. Answer the questions (if you don't want to answer all of them that is fine- you can just pick a few that stand out to you!)
3. Feel free to write anything that you learned or thought was neat
4. Please link your post up with your answers to the questions
5. Please post these rules on your blog post

So, for this week read James 1 and write down some of your thoughts, things you were touched by, something you learned.....stuff like that. I also will include some questions below, so feel free to answer some of them in your post as well. You don't have to answer all of them (or any of them) but I would love to hear some of your thoughts or things you took out of the chapter!!

Here is some background on the book of James: James was written by James (wow, so surprising...haha). Now if you didn't know James was Jesus's earthly brother. James did have trouble believing in Jesus even though He was his brother, but he later did believe in Jesus and loved the Lord with all his heart and died for his faith in God. Truly such a great role model. So, enough about James, let's get into Chapter 1. Chapter 1 is all about trials and the temptations we as Christians face. It is really a touching chapter with so much truth in it.

I know we all may look at the trials we face and wonder why in the world we are going through them, but as it states in James 1:2-3- "Consider it joy, when you face trials of many kinds, because the testing of your faith develops perseverance."
NOW, you may be wondering what perseverance is beneficial for- well, James goes on to explain that "Preserverence must finish it's work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." This lets us know that when we go through trials it helps us to be more experienced and also allows us to draw closer to God and trust in Him more.

Another part of chapter 1 that really stood out to me was the portion about being tempted (verses 13-14). Sometimes I tend to think to myself that"God is allowing Satan to tempt me into doing something, so I'm not the only one to blame for my sin." That is totally wrong- even if God is allowing Satan to tempt me, I still have a choice to make and determine what I do and I should not let my excuse for sinning be that Satan is tempting me. I have my own free will and Satan cannot make me sin.

And lastly, the last thing that really stood out to me in this chapter is about listening. WOW, boy, how convicting. Verses 19-20 really impacted me when they mentioned about how we should be slow to speak, quick to listen, and slow to becoming angry. It is so easy to become angry and let all our words just fly out of our mouth. But, we should hold our tongue and say what we feel without anger. I often have a hard time too with listening. I tend to talk about how I feel, and don't always listen to the other person. It also goes into a great point in verse 22 about how we shouldn't listen to the Word and not do it. We should DO what the Bible says and not just "listen" to what it is saying. Many people know so much about the Bible and may be very intellectual on facts in the Bible (which is fabulous), but some of those people do not involve the Bible into their life. They KNOW it but they don't put those great "seeds" of knowledge into action in their own lives.

Such a great chapter to delve into. Hopefully you all will enjoy reading it. I could write a bunch more on the chapter, but I will end it here : ) I can't wait to hear some of your answers and what you took out of the chapter. Hopefully I didn't bore you with my writings from the chapter above!!!

Okay, so here are some of the questions......
1. What was one verse that really stood out to you in the chapter?
2. Were you challenged by any of the verses? by that I mean, is there something you feel you need to work on more after reading the chapter?
3. Have you read the book of James much before?
4. What do you think verses 23-24 mean? Don't be afraid to say what you think!! There are lots of ways to take the verse!
5. Have you faced a certain trial that has "tested your faith?" How did you react in the situation?
6.  What is the command in verse 1:21?

well, those are the questions. Feel free to link up with your post below. I can't wait to hear what you took out of this!!! : ) Thanks so much for dropping by! 

By the way, the last day to submit your post with the answers or your thoughts is Tuesday October 23 : )