James 1

1I am James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am writing this letter to the 12 tribes of Israel who are scattered all over the world. I greet you:

2My brothers and sisters, be joyful when different kinds of testing happen.

3You must know that God is testing your faith, and when you suffer like this, you learn to be patient and to keep on believing.

4If you let that patience work in you, the end result will be good. You will be mature and complete. You will be all that God wants you to be.

5Do any of you need wisdom? Ask God for it. God will give it to you freely and will not rebuke us for asking. God will give you wisdom.

6But when you ask God, you must believe. Don’t doubt God Whoever doubts is like a wave in the sea that is blown up and down by the wind.

7A person who doubts must not think that God will give him something.

8Someone who doubts does not know what to decide. He never knows what he must do, because he is not sure.

9Believers who are in humble circumstances should be glad that God considers them so important.

10Believers who are rich should be glad when bad things happen that humble them. Their riches won’t keep them from disappearing as quickly as wildflowers

11When the sun starts to shine and the day gets hot, the wildflowers die and fall off. The beautiful flowers are dead. It is the same with a rich man and the things that he has. They will disappear like a flower James 12 Great blessings belong to the people who are tempted and remain faithful! After they have proved their faith, God will give them the crown of life. God promised this to all people who love him.

13When you are tempted to do things that wrong, you must not say: It is God who wants me to do bad things, because no one can tell God to do things that are wrong and He does not want people to do things that are wrong.

14Anyone who does things that are wrong does them because he desires to do them.

15When these desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.

16My dear brothers and sisters, don’t be fooled about this.

17Everything good comes from God. Every perfect gift is from him. These good gifts come down from the Father who made all the lights in the sky. But God never changes like the shadows from those lights. He is always the same.

18God chose to give us life. That is why God sent the true message to us. He wanted to make us the first and the most important of all His creatures.

19For this reason, my beloved brothers and sisters. Let everyone be quick to hear and understand, slow to speak by choosing our words wisely, slow to anger

20Anger does not help you live the way God wants.

21So, stop doing bad things and stop saying things that are not good. You must be humble and listen to the Good news that God gave you in your hearts. This is the message that can save you.

22Do what the Word of God says. Do not only listen to God’s word but do it. If you don’t do what God says, then you are deceiving yourselves.

23Because when someone only listens to the message of God but does not do what God says, he is like a man who looks in a mirror and sees his face.

24When he stops looking in the mirror and goes away, he immediately forgets what he looks like. James 125: But when you look into God’s perfect law that sets people free, pay attention to it. If you do what it says, you will have God’s blessing. Never just listen to his teaching and forget what you heard

26You might think you are a very religious person. But if your tongue is out of control, you are fooling yourself. and his religion is worthless.

27The right way that God the Father wants us to serve Him is to care for children who do not have parents and to help widows who are suffering. And you must keep away from sin and all the things that are wrong in the world.