James – An Overview

I’m going to be going over the book of James, chapter by chapter over the next few weeks. It’s one of my favorite books and it holds a lot of relevant wisdom for us today.

The book of James was written by the half-brother of Jesus. James didn’t accept Jesus as Messiah until after He appeared to James after following his resurrection. Almost immediately James got involved in leadership in the local church and started teaching with Peter and Paul. They went against popular teaching and said that it didn’t matter where you were born, what your skin color was, or how rich or how poor you were. There was only one way to be saved, through Christ alone. (Acts 15:11)

James definitely had the heart of a pastor, as he reached out to people of any background, whether Jew or Gentile. His writings are thought to have been written around 44 A.D. which would make it one of the earliest, if not the earliest New Testament book. He was known as ‘James the Just’ because of the way he lived his life, and he eventually was put to death for his beliefs in 62 A.D,  according to the historian Josephus.

Who was James?

There are four men referenced in the New Testament as James. There was James, the father of Judas Iscariot, and James, one of the twelve disciples. James, son of Zebedee, brother of John, and also one of Jesus’s favorite disciples, and finally James, the half-brother of Jesus.

I’ve read through this book many times and I would encourage you to do the same. Every time I read it, I’m convicted or encouraged by something in it’s pages. It’s relatively short, but it packs in so much Truth for our lives today! I pray you will be encouraged by this, and also if you have any additional comments or requests, please feel free to e-mail me or post in the comments!

I’ve also included a song at the bottom of the page that has really been encouraging me the past few weeks, and I pray that it speaks to you as well!

Why Pray?

The Bible talks clearly about prayer and how it is so important to a believers walk with God. It is something that is so amazing and simple, yet most of us (myself included) forget how powerful and effective it can be! (James 5:16b) Not only is prayer a direct link between ourselves and an All-mighty God who made us and everything around us, it’s a necessary staple for a healthy Christian life. Prayer is so often used as a crutch for when we’re in a bind financially, physically, emotionally or any other tough situation we might find ourselves in. Instead, it should be like a continual phone call over bluetooth and we have God on the line all day! Prayer is not an outlet for us to use God as a genie or Santa Claus either though. He cares for us and hurts when we hurt, but He deserves so much more than to hear our struggles and the vain things we think we need! He knows them already, He just wants us to praise Him in all situations, and trust that He knows what’s best for us, even when we don’t think He hears us at all! My early prayer life pretty much consisted of me asking God for more money, or a nicer car, or for the perfect woman to come into my life (which came true). I read a book called Crazy Love by Francis Chan, which I would recommend to anyone looking for a good book over this holiday season. He talks about how we should be humble and honored to come before the throne of the Almighty, instead of just sending a quick text message to Him. I would challenge you to think, ‘If God is really who He claims to be, and I believe that He is my Savior, shouldn’t I spend more time in praise/communication with Him?’ There are lots of examples of how prayer affected people and nations in huge ways! We need to be praying more as a church and as the body of Christ for change not only in our lives, but in the lives of those around us. It’s easy to pray for yourself and just spend time on that, but as well as praying for your family and friends, we need to be praying even harder for those who’ve hurt us, or have different lifestyles or political views than us. Christ called for us to love our neighbor as ourself, that doesn’t just mean our Christian neighbors or our literal neighbors, but those He’s placed in our lives and even those whom we may not know (presidents, world leaders, etc) That is the second greatest thing He told us to do, next to loving the Lord our God with all our hearts, soul, and mind! Of course there are many other ways to love your neighbor than through prayer, but remember, it’s a powerful and effective tool. Plus the Holy Spirit is capable of accomplishing a lot more than we are! I’m putting the link to a song by Casting Crowns at the bottom called, ‘What if His people prayed.’ I’d recommend listening to it if you have the time. Here are a few verses on prayer that I thought gave a small glimpse of it mentioned in the Bible. I’d encourage you to read the verses and maybe spend some time in prayer!

Matthew 6:10

Luke 5:16

Luke 6:12

Colossians 4:2

Matthew 6:6

Mark 1:35

Luke 18:1

Luke 11:1

Ephesians 6:18

1 Thessalonians 5:17

Casting Crowns – What if His people prayed