A couple of weeks ago our bible study finished the book of James. James is a great book describing practical ways to live out your faith. James 5:12 is a fairly well known verse that we read and talked about, but today the Spirit gave me a new revelation about this verse:<\/p>\n
12<\/sup><\/strong> But most of all, my brothers and sisters, never take an oath, by heaven or earth or anything else. Just say a simple yes or no, so that you will not sin and be condemned.<\/p>\n Every time I\u2019ve ever read this verse I\u2019ve always focused on the \u201cnever take an oath\u201d and \u201cjust say a simple yes or no\u201d. Today the Spirit showed me that there is an implied truth here which is even more important, that you are actually telling the truth<\/strong>, and that you will actually do<\/strong> what you said you were going to do. No duh Nate, everybody already knew that<\/em>, and there are plenty of other verses in the bible about being honest, but how does that play out practically?<\/p>\n In the case of this particular verse, it means living up to your word, and doing what you said you were going to do. I don\u2019t think I have a problem telling the truth, but I do think I (like most people) have a problem with honoring good intentions. I like the quote \u201cthe road to hell is paved with good intentions\u201d. This is especially true for anyone who thinks they can earn their salvation by good works, but that\u2019s not how I apply it here.<\/p>\n We\u2019re all full of good intentions, or at least most of us. We want to do our best, we want to make people happy, we want to take on new challenges, we want to meet our existing responsibilities. We want to do so much that sometimes we end up doing everything poorly, or we forget things, or we get there late, or we miss our deadline, or we de-prioritize; we disappoint those we love.<\/p>\n Our actions or inactions, even with the best intentions, indicate to others the stewardship and care we use with the love and truth that God has placed in us.<\/strong> It is an indicator of God\u2019s transforming power in our lives, and a measuring stick others can use for how seriously we take our faith. Ouch! Maybe the text doesn\u2019t say that in black and white, but that\u2019s what the Living Word was telling me. So let our yes be yes, and our no be no, but more importantly let us execute those good intentions with the same level of diligence that God uses when he makes a promise with us.<\/p>\n -Nate<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A couple of weeks ago our bible study finished the book of James. James is a great book describing practical ways to live out your faith. James 5:12 is a fairly well known verse that we read and talked about, but today the Spirit gave me a new revelation about this verse: 12 But most…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":14798,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9],"tags":[4710,4709,2767],"class_list":["post-1187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faith","tag-intentions","tag-james","tag-truth","wpcat-9-id"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p504YJ-j9","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12834,"url":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/2019\/03\/mercy","url_meta":{"origin":1187,"position":0},"title":"Mercy!","author":"Becca","date":"March 14, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"James 2:12 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.","rel":"","context":"In "Becca"","block_context":{"text":"Becca","link":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/cat\/becca-2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":918,"url":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/2010\/11\/secret-wisdom","url_meta":{"origin":1187,"position":1},"title":"Secret Wisdom?","author":"Nate","date":"November 29, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019ll admit it, there are some parts of the bible I don\u2019t like.\u00a0 This doesn\u2019t mean I don\u2019t accept them on faith, it just means there are areas in the bible where I hope to someday come into better emotional peace and intellectual understanding so I get the fuller meaning,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Faith"","block_context":{"text":"Faith","link":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/cat\/faith"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themoehrings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/1cor212.jpg?fit=600%2C600&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themoehrings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/1cor212.jpg?fit=600%2C600&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themoehrings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/1cor212.jpg?fit=600%2C600&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":19377,"url":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/2022\/01\/verse-of-the-day","url_meta":{"origin":1187,"position":2},"title":"Verse of the Day","author":"Becca","date":"January 17, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I didn't have anything to post today since we've pretty much just been trying to recover from vacation and get back in routine. (We did 'catch up' on laundry.) So I pulled up today's verse of the day. Ouch. I guess I needed that.","rel":"","context":"In "Becca"","block_context":{"text":"Becca","link":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/cat\/becca-2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themoehrings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/verse.jpg?fit=900%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themoehrings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/verse.jpg?fit=900%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themoehrings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/verse.jpg?fit=900%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themoehrings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/verse.jpg?fit=900%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5686,"url":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/2008\/10\/do-you-have-a-biblical-worldview","url_meta":{"origin":1187,"position":3},"title":"Do You Have A Biblical Worldview?","author":"Becca","date":"October 2, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Where do you find your source of truth? If you answer yes to these questions, then you have a biblical worldview, if you don't, then you allow things other than the bible to be sources of truth in your life, thing like culture, science, and philosophy. Only 9 percent of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Becca"","block_context":{"text":"Becca","link":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/cat\/becca-2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5880,"url":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/2006\/06\/booo","url_meta":{"origin":1187,"position":4},"title":"Booo","author":"Becca","date":"June 6, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"So I can't do LJ at work anymore (it got blocked). Thus, obviously I don't know when I have time to write anymore. I'm thinking about downloading the email version for updating, but then I can't read about you guys until the weekend. :( I'll figure something out. New favorite\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Becca"","block_context":{"text":"Becca","link":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/cat\/becca-2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themoehrings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/06\/voice-of-truth.gif?fit=480%2C320&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14274,"url":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/2020\/03\/look-at-the-birds","url_meta":{"origin":1187,"position":5},"title":"Look at the Birds","author":"Becca","date":"March 20, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Hannah wrote a new song this morning and distracted me from my puzzle because she wanted to record it right away. :) Hope you enjoy it. Words below. Verse 1Do not worry about lifeAs it comes and goesDo not worry about whatYou will doPre-ChorusGod will provide what you needChorusLook at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Becca"","block_context":{"text":"Becca","link":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/cat\/becca-2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themoehrings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/90258133_10117295923582374_6346837043481411584_o.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themoehrings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/90258133_10117295923582374_6346837043481411584_o.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themoehrings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/90258133_10117295923582374_6346837043481411584_o.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themoehrings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/90258133_10117295923582374_6346837043481411584_o.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themoehrings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/90258133_10117295923582374_6346837043481411584_o.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themoehrings.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/testimony.jpg?fit=512%2C341&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1187"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27475,"href":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1187\/revisions\/27475"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themoehrings.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}