How to Study the Book of James: Faith That Moves | Ep. 105

Trials testing your patience? Start here. In this episode, we unpack the Book of James with fresh clarity—who wrote it, why it matters, and how “count it all joy” becomes more than a phrase when life feels hard. Discover how faith and action work together without falling into legalism, and how trials can mature your faith instead of breaking it. You’ll walk away with a clear study framework, three kinds of trials to recognize, and practical steps to build a sturdy, joy-filled faith that stands strong when the floods rise.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome & Why James
• 1:45 Authorship, Context, and Theme
• 3:40 Does James Contradict Paul
• 4:50 Trials: Joy, Testing, Patience
• 8:20 Ask For Wisdom In Trials
• 12:10 Maturity, Correction, Direction
• 14:10 Be Doers, Not Hearers Only
• 18:20 Speech, Transformation, Conviction
• 21:00 Luke 6: Wise vs. Foolish Builders

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

This is episode 105, and I'm your host, Latoya, and this is Equip the Next, where you get equipped to lead the disciple and move the mission forward. Want a practical Christian living book to read next? You don't want to miss this. If you are returning, thank you for stopping by. Anyway, I am your host, like I said before, La Toya, and I'm gonna get into a book that some people don't talk about, but I'm going to bring it up. Um, if you are looking to um just read uh I'm talking about a book in the Bible, by the way. Sorry about that. A book in the Bible. If there's a book in the Bible and you're looking, like maybe you finished a book in the Bible and you want to read something new, or maybe you just are like, I don't know what book to read. Perhaps you'll want to read James. Um, and I'm gonna give you an overview of James just to, you know, just encourage you to give you some some tools, some basics. But I would encourage you to um read the book of James. It's only five chapters, and I'm gonna just highlight some stuff. Now I will say this there were some naysayers when it comes to James being in the Bible, canonized. There were there were some there were some naysayers. One of those was Martin Luther. Um, and he disliked the book of James because he believed it contradicted the doctrine of salvation by faith alone. A lot of people feel like it contradicts um what Paul was teaching, and it does not. And so I want to kind of highlight some of that stuff so that you will feel more confident when you read this book. So, first I want to say that the author is um Jesus' half-brother. As we know, when Jesus was on earth, um, his family didn't really believe that he was the Messiah. But that changed. And so now we have James, who is over the Church of Jerusalem writing this letter to Jewish believers that have been dispersed. And this is a very the the overall theme is a very practical Christian living theme theme. Actually, a lot of people would say that James is like the Psalms for the New Testament, and so that's why I thought that it would be fitting to give you an overview of this book so that you can read and understand its richness. Now, I'm gonna be completely transparent. I remember reading this book and I was like confused. I was like, what is but I understood after studying that it may not be written in the right order, some teachers have said, and so it was like, oh yeah, that makes sense, and then it started to click. And so I want to again encourage you. We're gonna kind of chop up some things in this book and break it down, and then I'm gonna have an overflow um to this chat and again so you can get to know me a little bit better. So the themes are the main themes, are gonna be talking about trials, faith, wisdom, speech, prayer. I'm gonna cover um the trials and the wisdom portion, and then well, I guess fate too, because that kind of ties into it. And then I'm gonna also talk about the the fact that this doesn't contradict what Paul is saying, that he's not talking about works, this is not works based, and I do want to talk about that, but let's talk about the trials first, and I'm gonna break that down. So if you go, if you have your Bibles, if you go to James 1, 2, chapter 1, verse 2, it says, My brethren, this is um the New King James version, it says, My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials. Now, when we're looking about joy, this is not for you to raw and cheer. He's not talking about have joy like that, because guess what? That's not joy, that's happiness anyway. But nobody's like happy or like woo-hoo when it comes to a trial. At least I'm not. I don't know about you, but I'm not up here cheering. So this is not about emotional joy. This is about counting it all joy that got from God's perspective, this is Him pruning you and growing you up spiritually and mature and naturally, you know, for you to be more mature in the things of God for to develop patience in you, to develop character, count it all joy. Now, depending on what translation you read, one translation says, consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds. So, what does that mean? Well, if we look at the word whenever, that means that it can happen whenever. That means it's spontaneous. That means you can't really plan sometimes a trial. You don't know when a trial is coming, it's just spontaneous. And guess what? There are many kinds, there are numerous, various kinds of trials that can happen. But I love the verses after this, and I love how it's put in to this letter, how it falls in, because he's talking about trials, then he's talking about knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience, but let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. We are not perfect, we are flawed, but the joy makes you um content in the trial. It's like you're in the middle of a storm, but you're not moved. It's like the the um, I think it's the eye or the middle of the storm. I think that's the the calmest, I think. That's like that. But I love what he says in verse five when it says, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God. And he gives it generously, without reproach. I love how that's put in there because now you should ask for wisdom anytime, but when you are going through a trial, you cannot figure out what to do in your own strength. You need God to help you in anything, but especially in a trial. I don't know, I don't know about you or who's listening, but I am a mother, I am a wife, um, business owner, whatever. So guess what? When trials come, I don't know what to do. I didn't, there's not a manual, especially on being a parent or being a spouse. I need the wisdom of God in order to help me to navigate that space. And so when trial, he's saying when listen, when trials come, guess what? You can ask for wisdom in that. How do you deal with that? What do you what should you do? Maybe nothing, but you you have the opportunity to ask, and he gives it to you. It's just like if you again, if you're a parent, and say you maybe test your child, maybe test them to see if they're honest, or just whatever. Test them to see if what they're gonna what they are gonna do, how they how are they going to respond. And if they struggle, do you let them struggle? Do you sit back or do you help them or give them tips? Maybe you won't give them the everything. You want them to try to figure it out, but maybe you would be like, okay, maybe try this. Maybe do that. You're right there, right? You're not just throwing your child and just letting them do whatever and they're struggling. You're not doing that. You are actually saying, you know what, let me let me help you. I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna solve everything for you because I want you to figure it out, but let me give you some wisdom on how you I would have handled it better. That's how we learn. And that's what this beautiful passage is saying. But not only that, he follows it up in verse six by saying, But let him ask in faith with no doubting. For he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. He goes on to say that it's double-minded and it's they're unstable in all their ways. If you believe in him and you believe he'll do it, and you ask for for that wisdom, believe that he gave it to you. No matter what, believe that he gave it to you. So when we look at trials, I'm pretty sure there's a lot of different trials that come our way, but three of them, I think three main ones, at least that I've heard taught, are they they they come from maturity or maturation, correction, and direction. Sometimes you'll have a trial that will correct you, and you will think that it's that you are being punished when it's actually a God move. He's directing you again. If you're a parent, you can relate to this. He's directing you on a God move, a godly move. That's the importance of the trials. And I and the reason why I wanted to also bring James up is because I'm pretty sure all of us are going through stuff in this in this world we're living in, this fallen world, this sinful world. I don't know, you might be going through a trial. I want to remind you, pray and ask the Lord to give you wisdom. A lot of people might be saying, oh, that's easier said than done. Well, guess what? It is easy. It's easy to ask and believe. I've always said to myself, the things that I cannot fix and cannot control, I don't worry about them because there's nothing I can do about it anyway. And so just believe, have faith and ask and surrender that to him. Now, I also want to point out verse one, I mean sorry, chapter one, verse 22, because this is um some of the highlight of like being doers of the word and kind of like what that looks like. It says, but be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. Now, again, a lot of people feel like James is um this works-based type of book. It's not what he's saying here is that when you accept the Lord in your life and you have the Holy Spirit in you, there's going to be a transformation that happens. Whether it's quick, whether it's long term, you're going to be changed. Hopefully, I won't tell my age, but if you've if you were a teen and used to wear clothes and do stuff and all kinds of like that, when you hit your 20s, you're still kind of like, yeah, woo-hoo. You hit your 30s, you aren't doing that anymore. When you hit your 40s, you weren't doing that anymore. You weren't wearing that anymore, you weren't watching that anymore. It wasn't something that you know you even noticed. It just happened because you were mature. Those things, you don't have an appetite or a desire for those things anymore. Same thing here when we're looking in the book of James, and he's talking about, you know, just your speech, you know, how you talk to one another, how you treat one another. You can't say, you know, you're rocking with Jesus and then you treat your neighbor any type of way. Now you could be rocking with Jesus and treat your neighbor any type of way, but hopefully you're convicted. Not condemned, but convicted, corrected. Listen, we all make mistakes. We all have our bad days, we all have our ups and downs, okay? But the Holy Spirit in us will be like, okay, you know that one right. You shouldn't have did that. You'll be like, Yeah, you know, you're right. I don't know about you, but I'm sometimes I'm like tussling with the Holy Spirit, like, oh, I don't want to do that. You really need to do that. I don't know about that. You know what I'm saying? It's just that type of thing. But there's a transformation. There comes you you get convicted, you you you change your thoughts. You you it's something that transforms you. I I can't really explain it other than you know, you feel free. There's something else I wanted to share from um Luke chapter six. I'm gonna grab my Bible really quick. So this is Luke six, and this is one of the parables. When the the first class I took in seminary, this convicted me. This one right here, it convicted me. Um it convicted me, it brought me to tears. This is what I'm gonna let me see, read six. Um, so Luke 6, 49. Is it says, but the one who hears and does not do them, talking about um, maybe I should go up a little bit more. So it's this this parable is about the two builders. Um, and he's talking to the disciples. And I'll just I'll just read, I'll just start. Let me bring my Bible up. I'll just start at verse 46. It says, why? This is the ESV. So it says, Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like. He is like a man building a house who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock, and when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who builds a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great. And in a nutshell in a nutshell, this is a superficial relationship with Jesus will not stand. That's that's an that's what this is saying in a nutshell. What he's saying to his disciples is the one who hears Jesus' teachings and does not do them is like a foolish man, the foolish man that didn't that built on shaky ground. But the one who hears his teachings and applies them and does them, he's like the wise man who builds his house on firm foundation on the rock. Rock happens to be Jesus, right? But this is what he's saying. So if you're gonna break it down a little further when we're looking at this, he's highlighting this, it's not a works-based thing that he's talking about. This is this was Jesus talking to his disciples, but this wasn't a works-based thing. This was, if you if you're gonna read the Bible, at least try to apply it, man. Just try. That's all he's looking for. You know, when you have a child and they're trying their best. I mean, even when my son, he um he's taking what is what class, like world, world um history, something like that. And that's kind of a little of a challenge for him. And he got a C on um a paper or like a test he did. And I asked him, I said, Well, did you try? He said, Yeah, I did. I tried my best. I didn't have any notes or anything. I was like, Okay, as long as you try, that's what I'm looking for. Because now we can figure out how to correct it. And that's the thing here. We are, you know, I I feel like I always have to give this disclaimer. Like, I know I'm not perfect. Listen, we are not perfect, we are all flawed. We do not have to keep saying that every time. We know that. But are you at least trying to come to him? Are you at least trying to surrender? Are you at least trying to do what you're reading after you've understood it and took it in context and then you know applied and had application? I teach about how to study the Bible in my Bibles Foundations course. Um, but this is what it's saying. You know, he's he's looking for you to surrender and the areas in which you cannot do, like you're like, I'm just struggling in this. Give it to God. Let him feel you in that area of your life. Let him let him work on you and mold you into that area. And don't beat yourself up if you don't get it. Don't don't don't don't carry that burden, man. Give that to him too. And then ask him to surround you with people, godly people, who can encourage you and you can fellowship with, break bread with, and grow. That's how it starts. So I just wanted to. Do I have any more nuggets? Okay, no, I don't. I just wanted to challenge you with that, or just encourage you rather, on studying that book. I think it will be a blessing to you. Listen, I have a challenge. Read James one this week and jot down three themes. Maybe you want to read the whole book, but that's your challenge this week. I I just bless you. I thank you so much. Thank you for listening. Don't forget to grab your free guardrails book, the five Bible study guardrails for confidence, at equipthenext.com forward slash freebie. Bless you. So this is the overflow. If you're still here and you haven't clicked off, am I gonna do this all the time? Probably not, but yeah, we're just gonna try to see how this goes because I figured if you're new and you want to know who I am, this is a great place to start. Um, tomorrow we have our Zoom party where we're going to be just mapping out or journaling our goals with God first. And if you haven't registered already, I would encourage you to do so. Um, I don't think it's too late. I don't know. But anywho, let me get on with um something that I wanted to talk about, which which is first of all, we're gonna have some guests come on, so you don't have to just hear me talking. So be on the lookout for that. They are coming. I've already got one lined up. Thank you, Lord. But also, um, a lot of you may not know this, but I like Star Trek. Now, listen, hear me out. I like the original series, Star Trek, and then I think um maybe Star Trek Voyager, but for the most part, the original series. When I was younger, it was cheesy, but now that I'm looking at it, it's so many nuggets, so many teachable nuggets. Why do I like it, or what do I like most about it? Hmm, I love um Captain Kirk. I'm gonna tell you why. And I'm so sappy. There are times where I've cried watching certain episodes. I like it because he shows you how a real leader leads a team. Because Captain Kirk puts the ship and the people on it before himself. He cares more about that ship than anything else. The level of discipline, self-control, and resilience is amazing. And I'm talking about the character, not William Shatner, I'm just talking about the character, Captain Kirk. I really like that character because it just shows how he problem solves even in the face of danger, and how he has an amazing team around him. And I look at that when it comes to discipleship. This is not a one-and-done thing, this is a kingdom thing. And it starts with amazing people and an amazing team around you of encouraging vessels of God who are sharpening you, and you are sharpening them. And whether they have flaws, you you're helping them get out of that. And the same thing for you. It's this building, this network, this team. And we see so many churches and so many people that are falling. There's so many things that are just wacky and wonky out here in these social media streets. It's like it just makes everything just look so bad. But I know the kingdom of God that I've experienced and the people that I've encountered, and they have blessed me, and I've grown so much so. And so I just wanted to share that little nugget because I might just go watch some Star Trek if I have some time. I don't know. I'm a mom and a wife. I'm going to try my best, but I wanted to just sneak in. Listen, if you want to ask me a question, feel free to email me at hello at equithenext.com. Bless you.