No one walks in perfect faith all the time. In his book, James clarifies in order to receive God’s Word and Truth, we are to walk in perfect faith. How can we as Christians receive this gift? Join with Rabbi Schneider as he interprets the book of James.
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I could be so intelligent and have the ability to memorize mathematical formulas, but that doesn’t mean that I would have wisdom. What’s the difference between having wisdom and having information? Baruch Hashem, blessed be the name of the Lord. The reason I’m recording the book of James, Yeshua’s half-brother, from Jerusalem is because James was the leader of the Jerusalem church. We read about that in the book of Acts. And so I love the fact that this is historical. I mean, Yeshua’s half-brother, They had the same mother, but a different father, right? Because the mother Miriam or Mary was impregnated by Joseph to conceive James or Yaakov, but the same mother, Mary or Miriam, was not pregnant as a result of Joseph, her husband, to conceive Yeshua, but was pregnant by the Holy Spirit. So Yeshua and Yaakov or James are half-brothers, and James was such a preeminent apostle. He’s described as one of the pillars of the church, and he’s the leader of the church at Jerusalem. So because of that, I’ve decided to preach some content from the book of James, where James presided here. So I’m going now, I’m picking up where I left off at the last episode, the book of James. And we’re just gonna begin in the first chapter, verse number five. The grass withers, my friends, and the flowers fade, but the word of the Lord abides forever. Hear the word of God. James says, but if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives it to all generously and without reproach, and it’ll be given to him. So first of all, let’s talk about what is wisdom? What’s the difference between having wisdom and having information. You know, I could be so intelligent and have the ability to memorize mathematical formulas or scientific equations or the anatomy of the human body, and I could be so precisely intelligent to have that information memorized, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that I would have wisdom. because the ability to retain cognitive information is not the same as having wisdom. The ability to retain cognitive information is powerful and beautiful and important and mankind has benefited so much from scholars and from mathematicians and biologists and doctors, et cetera, that have the ability in their mind to understand complex cognitive information. But wisdom is of a different character. Wisdom is about the ability to know what is needed in every given specific situation. So for example, it takes more than scientific information in the mind to know how to navigate human relationships, to know how to reply to a child, to a husband, to a wife, if you’re the pastor of a church, to know how to lead your congregation. That’s more than information. That takes wisdom. It’s a primordial knowing. It is accumulated through experience, that we learn through experience how to walk in wisdom. The scripture tells us that through experience, the mature are able to differentiate good from evil. So wisdom is gained from experience, right? You’re a lot wiser now than you were when you were a teenager. Going through life and experiencing so many different things has caused you to grow up in maturity, which gave you wisdom. But wisdom is also a primordial, I say primordial meaning that it’s like children sometimes, it’s like beyond experience at times, it’s beyond intellectual information as I’ve said, children sometimes have the most wisdom of all. I mean, I think we look at kids, and I know many of you understand this, and we think they don’t really know what’s going on. But sometimes something will come out of a child’s mouth, it’s like, wow, they know exactly what’s going on. I remember when I was just a little child, again, I think many of you can relate, you were able to observe adult human relationships. And you knew in your spirit, in your soul, that some of the way that adults were speaking and acting, you knew that it was just wrong. I know that when I was a little boy, I observed the behavior of even adults that were closest to me. And I was just like ashamed by it. How did I know that it was wrong? It was just a gift that God gives that there’s no explanation for it other than the fact that God gives the gift of wisdom. And even as we were little children, many of us can remember just having a wisdom Not that we knew everything about life, but we just had a wisdom that sometimes was lost to adults. Because sometimes when you age, your mind is taken away by the spirit of the age and you lose that wisdom that you had when you were just a little child. that it was given to us as babes. I think when Yeshua said, unless you become as children, unless you become as a child, you shall not inherit the kingdom of God. I think that when Yeshua said that, he was speaking of many things. I think he was speaking of innocence. I think he was thinking of childhood wonderment where children are just in awe of creation, in touch with nature. They’re not jaded. they’re trusting but i think another thing that yeshua is referring to is that innocent wisdom that children are born with but listen wisdom as we all know it’s not just for children the book of proverbs says that above all else we should seek after wisdom And so James tells us here that if any man lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives it to all generously and without reproach. It will be given to him, the one that asks. So let’s just ask the Father right now for wisdom. I mean, I know I need wisdom. I know I need more wisdom than I have right now. I need the eye to the Lord to see, like David said, David Melech, the King of Israel, he said, in thy light, I see light. And I know that you also need wisdom to know how to deal with the challenges that you’re facing in life, maybe financial situations, relationships, your children, your spouse, Decisions that we need to make, we don’t know which way to go, whether we should move to this area or not, whether we should accept this job, whether it’s time to retire. So many decisions we have to make every single day. After all, isn’t life just about choices? Every day we’re having to choose. And oftentimes we’re put in positions we have to make a choice. The situation necessitates we have to make a choice. We’re up against a wall. We wish we didn’t have to make a choice, but we’re just in a predicament we have to choose. and we don’t know what to choose. So let’s ask the Lord for wisdom. We all need it. Maybe you want to pray with me. Father, in Yeshua’s name, Father, we just bow our hearts before you. We need wisdom, Father God. We recognize we need wisdom. And Father, so oftentimes our hearts feel insecure because we just don’t know which way to go. And Father, we know we have to make a decision, but we feel like we can’t see straight. We can’t really know which road is the right road. We just don’t have the vision sometimes to see which direction to go and which way to choose. So Father, we ask you for wisdom. We ask you for the ability to understand, to make the right decisions, that Father, we’ll be guarded by your wisdom and that our steps will be guided by your wisdom. Father, we wanna make the right choice every day. the right choices all day long. So, Father, we ask you by your spirit, by the Ruach HaKadosh, to give us a greater impartation of your mind, of your wisdom. In Yeshua’s name, we ask you today, Father, for wisdom. And your word tells us that if we’ll ask you for wisdom, that you will give it. generously so father we thank you right now that i’ve just received that we’ve just received wisdom from above just put your hand over your heart with me beloved one and say father thank you for just answering my prayer because you told me if i would ask you for wisdom you’d give it and father i believe i’ve asked you for it and you’ve just given it to me thank you lord i go by faith now in yeshua’s name that i’m walking in greater authority because of the wisdom you just gave me
SPEAKER 01 :
You’re listening to Discovering the Jewish Jesus and Rabbi Schneider will be right back. But first, I’d love for you to stay connected with us by signing up for Rabbi’s Seeds of Revelation newsletter. Each week, you’ll receive a powerful devotional direct from Rabbi. along with other ministry updates, including when Rabbi will be live. It’s a simple way to stay uplifted and informed. Go to discoveringthejewishjesus.com and click stay connected today. Deception is rising, and many messages today, they’re not the full gospel. But Rabbi’s teachings come directly from Scripture, declaring truth with boldness. He’s uncompromising. And if this ministry has blessed you, would you consider becoming a monthly partner today? To continue reaching the world with God’s Word, we need committed supporters just like you. So to become a monthly partner, call us at 800-777-7835. And now, back to Rabbi Schneider.
SPEAKER 03 :
And then James continues in the first chapter, verse number six, and he says, when we pray, asking for wisdom, and this is just about prayer in general as well, it says we must ask in faith without doubting. For the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. Now that scares me a little bit when I read that verse, that when I pray, I can’t doubt, because if I doubt, I shouldn’t expect to receive anything from the Lord. Listen again, just to let the Word see again. James just got done telling us if we ask wisdom, the Lord’s gonna give it to us. But then James follows up and he says, we must ask in faith, without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being double-minded, unstable in all his ways. Now, I don’t know about you, but that makes my heart tremble a little bit in the spirit because I wonder sometimes if I’m always in absolute faith. I feel more like the one that came to Yeshua and said, Lord, I believe. Help thou my unbelief. And so I think the reality is that none of us walk in perfect faith all the time, but I think James gives us clarity that we are to be committed to walking in perfect faith to receiving God’s word, to receiving God’s truth, to receiving the light of Hashem and not letting doubt or anything else in. So we’re on a journey to perfection. And the target is that we must ask in faith and not doubt. So let’s strive, beloved, to guard ourself from allowing doubt in. And when we see that doubt is in our heart, let’s try to uproot it. Let’s ask for forgiveness and for cleansing. Let’s say, Lord, forgive me and cleanse me of unbelief. I want to believe perfectly. And Father, I hear James’s words when he said that the man that doubts ought not to expect anything from the Lord because that man is double-minded and unstable in all his ways. And we’re on a journey to perfection. We’re on a journey. And listen, you can’t really trust someone unless you know them. Isn’t that true? I mean, when someone comes up to you that you don’t know and just says, trust me. I mean, how much do you trust them? I mean, I’ve got it in situations before with people where people that I didn’t know were offended with me because I didn’t trust them. they’re expecting to have my complete trust. I’m not speaking about being aggressively in distrust towards them, but I mean, they’re asking me to make a full commitment to them and I’m not ready to make a full commitment to them because I don’t know how trustworthy they are. I don’t know them. And yet they’re offended with me that I don’t fully trust them on the spot. But the reality is we can’t trust somebody unless we know them. We gain trust with people by getting to know them and seeing that they’re faithful and seeing they’re trustworthy. I mean, because of the jaded world that we live in, All of us, I remember when I first got married to Cynthia Marjorie, my beloved wife, over 40 years ago, I didn’t immediately fully trust her at first. Because I had been in some relationships where there wasn’t trustworthiness and faithfulness that was there. So it took me some time over the years to get to know my wife before I could fully trust her. Now I fully trust her. but it took time to get to know her. You know, yes, she’s faithful and trustworthy. You can trust her. The reason I share this, it’s the same thing in our relationship with God. It takes time for us sometimes to fully trust God. We ask ourselves, will He be faithful? Will He come through? Can I really trust Him in this situation? But over time, As time goes by, and as the years go by, and as God proves Himself faithful over and over and over again, our heart opens up and blossoms in the light of His Spirit to trust Him. And so, beloved, I want you to know that God is calling us to complete faith, but He’s also a gracious and a merciful God that knows that it takes time for us to be able to fully heal out of the darkness which we came from to fully trust in His love. Father, we ask you to immerse us in your love now. Father, we realize that there’s no excuse not to trust you. But Father God, we thank you that you realize that our souls, God, have been jaded and tainted by sin in the world. And Father, that it takes time for us to open up and heal from that. Father, heal our hearts to fully believe in you. Without doubting, we pray. Father, we love you today. We make no excuses for our unbelief. We declare war against it, and we ask you now to give us complete, perfect faith and trust in you, just like Yeshua has and modeled for us. Do you know what the Bible tells us in the book of Ephesians chapter two? By grace, you’ve been saved, you and I, by faith, not of works, lest any man should boast. And then Paul continues, he said, even your faith, he said, is the gift of God. By grace through faith you’ve been saved, not of works, lest any man should boast. And even your faith has been given to you by God. So what I’m sharing with you is the ability to have faith in God and not doubt Him, to trust Him, that’s a gift. that’s given to us by Hashem, by our Maker. So Father, right now, we open our hearts, Lord. We love you. Father, we appreciate you, God, our Daddy. And Father, we thank you for circumcising our hearts and promising us that you would complete the good work that you started in us. That, Father, you will establish us perfectly in the ground of eternity. And now, Father God, we come to you asking that you would establish us in faith, that we would believe in you and trust you without doubting. In Yeshua HaMashiach’s name, amen and amen. And notice also that James makes the comment, he says, a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. This is why we should endeavor through prayer and through obedience to build our confidence in God. Because until we get confident in God, the Bible tells us we’ll be unstable. And it’s painful to be unstable, right? It’s painful to be unstable. It’s painful emotionally. to feel unstable, to be in belief and then in unbelief, to trust and to not trust. God wants us to have perfect confidence in Him, to trust without doubting. So Father, we ask you, like the man we read about in the gospel, increase our faith. Father, we believe, increase our faith. Now let’s conclude today by going on to James’s next point. He says, but the brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position, and the rich man is to glory in his humiliation, because like the flowering grass, he will pass away. And so what James is saying is that we should look upon everybody as being the same in stature in terms of how important they are as human beings, that we’re not to place more emphasis on successful people or rich people than we do on human beings that may be poor or may not have the status as others. James is going to tell us, we’ll get to in the next episode, that if we start to show favoritism and treat people differently just because of their worldly wealth or position, that we’ve become judges with impure motives. So I leave you today, my beloved friend, with this challenge. Do you treat everybody with the same love and dignity and respect, regardless if they’re a man or a woman, rich or poor, whether they’re a doctor, a lawyer, or somebody that’s laboring in more humble circumstances? Do you treat everybody with the same dignity, love and respect, or do you tend to show more respect to people in high places. The Bible warns us against having a heart that doesn’t treat everybody with the same love. You see, walking with Jesus is the great equalizer. We’re all brothers and sisters. We’re all the same. We’re one people with the same blood. And God wants us to love everybody as a child of his. We’ve all heard Yeshua’s words, it’s better to give than receive. I remember years ago, I was in Africa, and the Holy Spirit came to me one night. I heard heavenly music. And what was so unusual about this experience is that along with the music, I actually heard lyrics, which I’ve never had happen before since. And one of the lyrics of the heavenly music I was hearing was, give big. Jesus has a heart of generosity. He’s a giver. God sold the world that he gave his only begotten son. And beloved, you and I want to live that type of lifestyle. I want to ask you today, if you believe in me, if you believe in the authenticity of this ministry, would you sow financially into it? Not only will it help you by sowing a sacrificial seed, but it will also allow people all over the world to be helped, blessed, and strengthened by the word of God, just because you sowed financially into this work. God bless you and thank you in advance.
SPEAKER 01 :
Amen. And you can give a financial gift of any amount to Discovering the Jewish Jesus. Just visit us online. Our website is discoveringthejewishjesus.com or give us a call at 800-777-7835. That’s 800-777-7835. And as a token of our appreciation for your gift, we want to send you our latest newsletter. It includes details about exciting ministry updates, personal letters from Rabbi’s wife, Cynthia, and even testimonies from your fellow listeners. And it can also include opportunities that we have available for you like free will. Freewill is a user-friendly estate planning tool, and it’s absolutely free. It’s a resource that empowers you to make provisions for the future, and it ensures that your legacy reflects your commitment to sharing the gospel. And for those of you who feel called to include discovering the Jewish Jesus in your estate planning, it offers you that ability as well. And we want to thank you with our deepest gratitude. When you honor the Lord in this way, You’re not only ensuring that the good news continues to be proclaimed to future generations, but you’re also helping pave the way for the return of Jesus. So if you’d like to learn more about free will, just visit us at discoveringthejewishjesus.com. Click on the resources tab and then click need a will. Again, it’s absolutely free. I believe it’ll be a blessing to you. I’ve went through it. It was definitely a blessing to me. And now let’s turn things back over to Rabbi Schneider. He’s gonna send us off as he always does each and every day with God’s sacred and special blessing. Rabbi.
SPEAKER 03 :
What I love about the Aaronic blessing is that it did not originate with man. The words actually proceeded from the very essence of God himself. The blessing comes from the book of Numbers chapter six. So listen to these words and receive the blessing of the Lord into your life today.
The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift you up with His countenance. And the Lord give you, beloved one, His peace. God bless you and shalom.
SPEAKER 01 :
I’m your host, Dustin Roberts, and this program is produced and sponsored by Discovering the Jewish Jesus. Join us again next time when Rabbi Schneider reveals how you can rejoice and discern the Spirit in any season of life. That’s coming up Tuesday on Discovering the Jewish Jesus.
