For what I'm trying to do in my personal and academic studies, I have to wholeheartedly admit that Logos is the best application to suit my needs. In doing this challenge, the biggest thing that sold me was the ease at which I was able to study in the original languages. Not too far behind were many of the positive features that I noted in my progress reports. One of the things that I found most interesting was that even though I complained early on about not having all of the works I had in WORDsearch (the entire catalog, of which I admittedly only use a small subset), I was still able to study adequately. I ended up using commentaries sparingly, while giving more attention to lexical aids, which turned out to be a good thing. I still miss not having my favorite resources in my Logos library, but I believe that I can make due with what is currently available until I'm able to begin expanding my library.

The decision to switch wasn't all that difficult as the challenge went on. After the first few days I was more than ready to switch back to WORDsearch because of comfort and familiarity; I knew how to get stuff done, and I didn't really have the motive to relearn how to do things in a new software application. Putting that aside, the more I got acclimated to Logos, the more proficient I became and noticed how the small features were saving me a lot of time. As I got further along, I did start to long for some of the things that WORDsearch did well, but I kept pressing without letting myself give in a single time (meaning I never fired up WORDsearch to study). By time I reached the halfway point, I think my mind was made up for the most part; I knew that Logos was the program that I needed to be using for my studies. The more I used it the more I liked it, and I found things that helped to re-emphasize those feelings.

So that's where I am at the conclusion of this challenge. There's no profound epiphany, other than finding out which application is right for me. The one thing that I did notice is the unique position that I am in with all of this. If I had never come to work for WORDsearch I would likely have never come to own Logos (or be at a church where the pastor uses it in the pulpit). Yet, if I were comparing these two packages without the benefit of a full catalog from WS, this decision wouldn't even be an issue; but, one of the things that makes Bible software worthwhile is the books that are contained therein, which makes it an issue. All of that makes for a very unique predicament indeed.

It's almost with a heavy heart that I write this though, because I am a WORDsearch employee. Part of the heaviness is because I had hoped that their application would be the one to best handle everything that I need and want to do, but it isn't (at least not in its current version). But, I do not want this to be anything negative towards WORDsearch as they by no means have an inferior product. Simply put, they have a great product that excels in many areas, yet they excel in areas that I really don't need, at least at this point in time. Nevertheless, WORDsearch will forever be a part of my arsenal for study and I will do what I can to continue to make it one of the best Bible software packages available. Taking my job out of the picture for a moment, the bottom line is that I am a student of the Word first and foremost and I have to use what's going to help me to study best, regardless of any personal feelings or allegiances, thus my decision to use Logos.

As a final word, now that I've decided to go with Logos as my primary app, I figured I'd go ahead and make a wish list of a few titles that I'd like to purchase: MacArthur LifeWorks Library 2.0, BDAG, Lewis Sperry Chafer's Systematic Theology, Ariel Ministries Messianic Collection, the Greek Audio Bible, and upgrading to Scholar's Gold to start.

This was a fun challenge, but hopefully one that I won't be doing again anytime soon.

James 4:8 (NASB) - Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

"Cleanse your hands, you sinners." Our clause for today is just five words, but five words where you could very easily spend hours studying the details. The first three words in this sentence give us our imperative, "cleanse your hands;" while the remaining words serve as adjectives describing the recipients of this letter. The imperative is the word "cleanse" and comes from the Greek katharizo (Strong's #G2511). Used thirty times in the New Testament, katharizo generally carries with it the idea of cleansing, both physically and morally; this word is also used to refer to being ceremonially clean, which is important for us to note. What makes the idea of being ceremonially clean so important? Let us remember the audience that James has before him and all will become clear. James is writing this letter to a group of Jewish converts; in writing to Jews, being a Jew himself, James knew just how familiar his readers were with the Mosaic Law and the rituals and commands for being ceremonially clean and its importance in Jewish temple life, especially for the priests.

In order for us to have a proper understanding of what it means to "cleanse your hands," we're going to have to talk a walk through the Old Testament Scriptures, the only portion of God's Word available to James' readers. Part of the reason for our look at the Old Testament is because of the frequent use of katharizo in the Septuagint (LXX, the Greek translation of the Old Testament). Katharizo appears four times more (126 times) in the LXX than it does in the New Testament. With that as our basis, let's start with the institution of the Mosaic Law. Under the Mosaic Law, before a priest could approach God to offer any kind of sacrifice, he had to ceremonially wash his hands as a means of being acceptable in the sight of the Lord. One passage in particular that points this out is Exodus 30:19-21 where it speaks of the washing required for Aaron and his sons before they could enter the Tabernacle to offer sacrifices. The book of Leviticus is also a good resource for looking at the matter of cleansing, as it details all of the laws pertaining to sacrifice and the procedures that needed to be taken by the priests. It's also in this book that we find the ordination of Aaron and his sons as priests, which also included rituals of cleansing, as noted in our Exodus passage. Space does not allow for it here, but a thorough reading of Leviticus would be recommended as it will help you to see just how important ceremonial cleanliness was in the Mosaic Law and the steps required in order to be declared clean (healed, another minor use of katharizo; see: Matthew 8:2 & 10:8) by the priests.

Elsewhere in the Old Testament, such as in the prophets and the psalms, we see katharizo taking on the aspect of being cleansed from sin or turning away from it. In Psalm 19:12, a psalm of David, katharizo (in the LXX) is translated as "acquit" in the English, and is derived from the Hebrew naqah (Strong's #H5352), and means to be clear, clean, or innocent. It is here that we see David seeking the Lord to cleanse him of any sins that he does not know about so that it will not rule over him. This is the same kind of ruling over that we saw in the James 4:1-4 where they were giving themselves over to their worldly desires. Instead of plunging in, we see David pleading with the Lord to keep him from sin and to also forgive sins that he has already committed. This is the kind of attitude that James is desiring for his readers to have in response to their sinful ways; he wants for them to repent and be cleansed of their sins. Other examples that we find in the Psalms include: 18:20; 24:4; 26:6; 51:2, 7; and 73:13. As I said, this is also seen in the prophets in texts such as: Isaiah 1:15, 16; Jeremiah 13:27; 40:8; Ezekiel 36:25, 33; 37:23; and Hosea 8:5 to name a handful. Now, most of these do not directly apply to us as present day believers, but the principle of being cleansed from sin still remains true today and is one that we need to be keenly aware of.

Now, the one thing that we have to remember in all of this is that cleansing and sacrifice in under the Mosaic Law was only a covering for sin, not a cleansing. Total cleansing only came through the atoning work of Jesus Christ on the cross. It is passages such as 1 Peter 3:21 that make this fact perfectly clear for us when it says, "Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you--not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience--through the resurrection of Jesus Christ." We see here that it is not mere physical cleansing that saves us, as the Pharisees thought (Matthew 23:25; Mark 7:3), but it is through the spiritual cleansing of sin that comes from Jesus Christ (1 John 1:7). That is the point that needs to be made here with this imperative; we need to be reminded that we are sinners ("you sinners") in need of Christ's cleansing. This is not to say that we need salvation cleansing when we sin, as that cannot be removed (Romans 8:38, 39), but we do need the daily cleansing of sin that keeps us in fellowship with Him and His Spirit (1 John 1:6-9). This is the cleansing that James speaks of, since he is speaking to believers; they need to cleanse themselves of sin, through repentance, and return to fellowship.

As we can see, in closing, the concept of cleansing one's hands is a very important one derived from the Mosaic Law and it was something that James' readers would have been all too familiar with. In reading those words, they immediately recognized that they needed to be cleansed in the sight of God. Much of the Old Testament bears out this principle for us, and we can see it carried over very clearly in the work of Jesus Christ and the teaching of the apostles. For us, as present day believers, this needs to serve as our reminder to remain in a constant state of cleanliness before the Lord, repenting of sins immediately, so that we might remain in fellowship with Him. Our previous imperative told us to draw near to God, but that is a difficult thing to do when you are not walking in the light and keeping yourself clean. Rest assured, though, that we can come to God in confidence (Hebrews 4:16) knowing that He will forgive us our sins if we would just repent (1 John 1:9, again). Along with cleaning your hands, you also have to have a pure heart, and we will take a look at that next time. Until then, keep walking in the light!

With that, I've come across a few more things that I wish were in the application, as well as a few small features that have made life easier. Let's start with the wants first. One of the main things that I have a gripe with is the inability of Logos to save the current state (results) of the Passage/Exegetical Guide or Bible Word Study when I open/close/save a workspace. Instead of saving all of the results that it gave when I first ran the search, it has to perform the search each and every time I load a workspace that contain any of those reports. This can really bog down a system when loading a workspace, plus it means that I have to wait before I can dive back into my study. I just wish that it could save the state and just return the previous results, with an option to perform the search again, if I so desire (say, if I've added new resources since starting my study). In my mind, this is a big feature, and one that I would love to see implemented in Logos. Unfortunately WORDsearch doesn't exactly do this well either, so I guess I'm not missing anything, other than a desired feature.

Speaking of workspaces, another feature I would like to see in Logos is the ability to auto-save workspaces when switching to another one, when going back to the default home screen, or when closing Logos. As it is right now, I have to manually save the state of my workspace in order for it to save, which I've forgotten to do on many occasions, which has resulted in some lost work (or forgetting which books I had open & where). This is one thing that WORDsearch 8 does well, in that whenever you change workspaces (desktops in WS8) or close the application, it will save the current state of your workspace. This is a bit tricky, as I may or may not want it to save, but it should at least be an option in the program.

Although those have been bugging me, the positives still excite me. The first is the Bible Speed Search, which is just that. This is a feature that allows you to type in a few key words and it will find all of the passages that have those words in them. For example, I was trying to remember the passage that contained "great gain," so I used the Bible Speed Search to quickly find the passage I was looking for, which happened to be 1 Timothy 6:6. This tool was handy because I needed that very right away and didn't have time to wait for a search to complete. This small yet simple feature is a great time saver!

The next feature has been a great find (thanks Morris Proctor), and it deals with marking favorites. Much like you would mark favorite websites in your web browser, Logos' favorites do the exact same thing. This has come in handy when doing my devotional studies for Trailblazin Ministries as I'm now in a section where I'm doing word studies for each of the imperatives that are given in the passage. Since I don't have time to do the study in one sitting and Bible Word Studies take a long time to load, I'm able to save it as a favorite instead of saving the search as a part of my workspace. This is a great resource because I don't have to go back and perform the Bible Word study each time by clicking on the word and so on; instead, I just click on the link and it's done (minus having to actually perform the search). A very cool feature indeed, and a big time saver, especially since I can create folders to categorize them.

Since I have only a day or two left, this is my last entry before giving my concluding thoughts. In terms of this post, it would be nice if these features could be implemented in a future version of Logos, and the features that are already there do a great job in saving time and making Bible study all the more easier. I look forward to sharing my conclusion with you, so stay tuned!

I got to work feeling pretty bad, but the Lord quickly turned that around with some divine perspective. Last night at church, during our Pastor's Ministry Workshop session we were discussing mental attitude, occupation with Christ, and prayer. Interestingly enough, it was each of these things that came to bring me out of my funk this morning. I first started to get my mental attitude in check by deciding that I wasn't going to talk about the things that were bothering me, but try to focus my mind on things that are above. I figured, sure I feel bad, but I could be worse; even with all that was going on around me, I had to still recognize that God is still Lord of all. Once I got to thinking about the Lord, I decided to hop over to the TM forum and see if anything was going on. It just so happened that yshwa4life had commented on some items, all of which made me glory in the Lord all the more. First, I read his comment on one of my devotions; that served as a great bit of encouragement to me and put into perspective the purpose of my life: 1) to glorify Him and 2) to teach His Word.

From there, I moved on to his next posting, which was an update to one of his prayer requests. Long story short, he detailed how the Lord saved he and his son from major injury during an accident. That testimony echoed two more things in my mind. First, how the hand of the Lord is able to protect us, when situations could have been a lot worse. Secondly, it was a reminder to how fervently I need to be in prayer for each and every member that is a part of Trailblazin Ministries. I often think that I don't have much to pray for, as I hardly ever pray for myself; but, this was a great reminder of who I need to keep at the forefront of my prayers and how much prayer needs to be a part of the ministry that I'm doing here.

So yeah, the lessons that I have learned in the past few days have been very timely and have served to put my life in the right perspective. I'll have to keep this in mind the next time these kind of events happen, remembering that godliness with contentment is great gain (1 Timothy 6:6). And to think, I almost didn't blog this, but I'm glad I did.

One of the first things that I was a bit disappointed with was the Verse List feature that Logos offers. Don't get me wrong, it's a great and fully functioning tool, but there are a few things that WORDsearch had implemented in theirs that I had become used to having. The primary thing that WORDsearch's verse list has is the ability to create categories within a single verse list so that you can easily organize your set of verses. While working on my sermon for Romans 1:16, this became an invaluable feature because it allowed me to sort out my references according to the part of the study I was working on; for example, I was able to create a category for the part of the teaching that focused on "gospel" (εὐαγγελιον) and other categories for each other part of the verse, as shown in the image. This is a feature that I was hoping to have in Logos because that is one of the things that makes my studying go a bit easier, especially when I'm dealing with a good number of passages as I was in the Romans 1:16 study. What I get in Logos is simply a single window that is able to display a list of verses that I input. I will say that the ability to choose a style in Logos is a plus (reference only or reference & text in 1, 2 or 3 columns). Even with that though, I still sorely missed the ability to categorize them in some way within the verse list, without having to put each grouping in its own verse list.

Another feature that I missed from WORDsearch 8 is the Topic Explorer. In WORDsearch 8, you are given a window where you are given the ability to type in a topic or keyword, and when you click search it brings up an entire list of every single hit in your library. A bonus to this is that within the window, if you click on the item, it'll display it in a preview window so that you don't have to unnecessarily open the resource in its own window if it's not what you're looking for. An example of this is shown at this link from WORDsearchBible.com depicting what the Topic Explorer looks like. In Logos, you are only given a little window in which to type your topic and then it displays a list of all the different matching topics, along with another text box displaying all of the hits for that topic; when you click on the entry, it just opens up the book. A picture of the topic window is shown below.  Now, this isn't that big of a deal considering, but when it's a feature that I have in another program, it makes me desire to have it in Logos as well. I mean, really, the Topic Explorer window in WORDsearch 8 is a very solid feature and a big plus on their behalf; it's great to be able to have a window to preview items without having to physically open them on my desktop.

For the most part, those are the only things that I could really find to complain about in my use of the software. There are minor things here & there, but they're not really worth mentioning because they are so miniscule in nature. So, let's move on to some of the things that brought a smile to my face.

The first thing that has me excited about Logos is its ability to link books to one another (syncing is probably a better term for this). This is a feature that I was familiar with in WORDsearch, as it comes with the ability to sync Bibles, commentaries, and other books together based on Scripture or Strong's context. The only drawback to this in WORDsearch is that you can only have one set of linked books; which means that you cannot have some books set to sync in one way, while others sync in another way. This is a feature that Logos does really well, as it provides multiple levels of syncing/linking; for instance, you are able to establish up to six different sets of syncing, which is likely more than I'll ever need at any given time. An example of where this comes in handy is when I'm in church, where my pastor frequently refers to the Greek text, as well as giving multiple cross references. To make it easy to keep up with him, I will have two sets of NASB open, as well as two copies of my Greek New Testament open; I will then link one NASB & Greek NT as Set A, and the other two as Set B. With this, I can keep one Bible on the main text, with the Greek NT synced to the same passage; while, the other set can be used for cross references, which also keeps a Greek NT synced with it as well. This kind of linking is handy, especially when I don't want my other open books to change unless I change my source passage, or I can work with multiple items at once. In a word, this feature is A+! This makes studying the Bible so much easier, and in more ways than one, especially in the levels of complexity it allows me to create with my sets.

Another great feature that I've found is the ability to create serial resources, I found this courtesy of the Logos blog. You can read that link for details, but simply put, I was able to use this to create a connection between my Hebrew Old Testament and my Greek New Testament Bibles. Why is this important? Well, it comes in handy when I have my books linked as sets. Let's say that I'm in the New Testament studying a passage and find a cross reference to an Old Testament passage, what happens? Well, my English Bible will go there without a problem, but my synced Greek NT is left sitting there with no reference instead of following along. A serial resource allows me to connect my Greek NT & Hebrew OT so that when I go to an OT passage, it'll automatically switch my Greek NT to my Hebrew OT, and go back to my Greek NT when I go switch back to a New Testament passage. This is such a cool feature and real estate saver; I don't have to have both an OT & NT Bible open together, since they can work together in this fashion.

One last feature that I want to highlight is the Bible Word Study. This is something that has come in handy for a study on worship that I'm doing. I simply type in the word worship and I'm given a wealth of information on this word at a single glace from my entire library. One of the best features is that it gives me a chart of both the Greek and Hebrew root words, with word weight so that I can see which words are used more frequently. This comes in handy because I can know which Greek or Hebrew words to focus on while doing my study, as well as finding out what the differences are between the words used. From there, I can simply click on any of the words in the chart and it'll immediately generate a list of all the places in the Bible where that word is used. Or, I can even choose to right-click on the word and select more options from the context menu, such as doing a Bible Word Study on that particular root word. Not to mention, you're also given the definition and all the key links to this word, so you're in no way lacking on information. Plus, from here, you can very easily move over to the Passage or Exegetical Guides to do a study on any passage where your word is used. In a lot of ways this is a tremendous time saver, but it can also become a source of endless hours of study, both of which are a good thing.

At this point in the challenge, with only a week or two left, I'm drawing nearer to making my final judgment on Logos as a Bible study application and whether it will end up replacing WORDsearch 8 as my primary application. Admittedly, the urge to use WORDsearch 8 is still strong, but I'm quite impressed with what Logos has been able to offer, even in the absence of many of my favorite works. In many ways, it has changed how I study, relying less on commentaries and looking more at the text for what it is. I won't make a final decision until the challenge is over, but this is surely proving to be more interesting than I originally thought it would be. If I come across anything of major importance before the end of the challenge, I'll be sure to write about it, but this will likely be the last post on the matter until my conclusion. God bless!

Album Overview

For some reason, it took me forever to get to writing this review. Burned out by exams, with writer's block hitting me pretty hard, I finally got around to it. In fact, this album may have been the perfect one to get me back into the swing of things...

The reason I say this is that Shachah's On the Move is what I would call a breakthrough in Christian rap, if it even fits that description (the rap part that is). As I popped in my headphones, I realized CMR had added some serious diversity to the record label, and this review would have me entering a musical territory I hadn't yet encountered in Christian music. Shachah is a funk rock/rap band with a very interesting sound, intent on worshiping the Lord, which is fitting, as the name "Shachah" is the Hebrew word for "worship." The group consists of Brenden McPeek (vocals/rap), Josh Wagner (vocals/guitar), Earl Mergelsberg (bass), and Stephen Anderson (drums). I've never heard such a unique, bangin' sound in Christian music. From the rap to the worship songs, the project brings a versatile collection of music for a wide range of listeners. And don't be fooled, these guys aren't rookies. Although this is their first album on CMR, it is their 4th project, with an EP and two full length projects preceding it. Their experience definitely shows with the professional quality the album boasts.

This album is a must-have for all HHH fans looking for a unique twist for their library, along with those wanting some summer music to vibe to for the next few months. The album has an upbeat swing throughout, meshing perfectly with this time of year. Trust me; you won't be disappointed in this purchase.

Spiritual Significance

As with all other CMR groups and artists, Shachah brings Bible-based songs, giving the listeners topics that relate closely to Scripture. To me, the album seemed to revolve around the title, putting Christ On the Move, similar to the old Cross Movement song off Human Emergency. All the topics revolved around things that would benefit believers acting dutifully as ministers and street soldiers for God. With that said, the album brings encouragement to those struggling while grinding for the Gospel. Songs like "Won't Stop" and "Stand Up" urge the listener to continue working for God and represent Him with no shame, reflecting Philippians 3:12-14 and Romans 1:16, respectively. I've always liked albums that provide encouragement to those in ministry because they are very personal, as the artists are ministers themselves.

On the other hand, the album also focuses on the believer's personal walk with the Lord, which is a critical part of ministering effectively. In order for someone to bring the truth to others, they must have a solid grasp on living it out in their own life. Tracks like "Choose Life" and "Found My Place" target issues/lessons in every believer's life: contentment in God's love (Philippians 4:10-11) and finding one's place in God, letting go of the world and focusing on Him (Matthew 6:25-33).

All in all, the CD gives good lessons on living right in God as a believer focusing on both how to spread God's love to others and how to get one's own walk tuned up.

Topics Covered

• Be ready for God's coming (Matthew 25:13)
• Representing/Standing up for God's truth with no shame (Romans 1:16)
• Not backing down in the face of evil
• Pressing on in the faith (Philippians 3:12-14)
• Being content in life with the Lord (Philippians 4:10-11)
• Finding one's place in God
• Letting go of world (Matthew 6:19-21)
• Forgetting worries: giving them to the Lord (Matthew 11:28-30)
• Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20)

Key Tracks

On the Move, Are You Ready?, Won't Stop, Choose Life, Arise

James 4:8 (NASB) - Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

As we investigate the text, a couple of things should stand out: 1) the three imperatives should be fairly clear, and 2) James is once again using harsh words in referring to his audience. We will be taking a look at both of these in our study. First, our imperatives are: "draw near," "cleanse," and "purify." These imperatives are combined with the harsh reality that James' readers are "sinners" and "double-minded." The study of the imperatives will once again encompass a word study, with "draw near" being looked at individually, while "cleanse" and "purify" will be looked at together, as the reason for this will become obvious as we progress. From there, we will look at the names that James chose to call his readers and see what implications they have for this text and the passage as a whole.

Now, the first imperative that we want to look at is "draw near," which comes from the Greek word eggizo (Strong's #G1448) and means "to bring near, approach, or to come near to." In our text, we see that James is instructing His readers that they need to draw near to God. This falls right in line with his instructions from verse 7 when he tells these Jewish believers that they need to submit to God. Please note, drawing near is much more than simply submitting one's self to God, but it is to seek and pursue after an intimate relationship with God, as this word indicates a sense of closeness in proximity and relationally. In Scripture, this phrase was first associated with the Levitical priests. At this time in history and the stewardship of Israel, only the Levitical priests were able to draw near and have a closeness with God. This truth can be seen in passages such as: Exodus 19:22; Leviticus 10:3; and Ezekiel 44:13. Later on in Old Testament Scripture and into the Church Age, the term "draw near" came to include anyone being able to approach God. In the Old Testament we can see examples of this in the psalms and prophets, such as Psalm 73:28 and Isaiah 29:13. In our present stewardship, as a result of the atoning work of Jesus Christ, we are now believer-priests who are able to have access to God on both an individual and corporate basis; Hebrews is a book that really drives this point home, as we see in Hebrews 7:19 and 10:22.

What is so important about drawing near to God? The first thing to point out is that this is an aorist active imperative. This means that we are the ones that have to carry out this action, much in the same manner that we have to actively resist and stand firm against the devil. As we stated above, this involves more than just submitting to God, but requires an act of the will on our part to do what is necessary in order to draw near to Him. The first step, after salvation of course, is to be in fellowship with God through the repentance of sins (1 John 1:9). When we have repented of our sins, we are free to fellowship with the Lord and draw near to Him, which we are able to do through prayer and Scripture reading, as well as singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs (Colossians 3:16). When we do this, we can take notice of the second half of this sentence where it tells us that God will draw near to us. God desires to have intimacy with us, which is why He will draw near to us as we draw near to Him. If we would become intimately familiar with Scripture, we would see just how near God is to those who love Him, with Psalm 145:18 being an example of that.

It is through this drawing near to God that we are able to grow in our Christian walk. When we draw near, we become more familiar with the Word of God, our prayer life increases, and we come to know more about God and His infinite attributes. It is through these times of intimacy that we are able to resist the devil, as we are admonished to do in our previous verse. Without the strength of the Holy Spirit within us, which comes through time spent with God, then we leave ourselves wide open to be susceptible to the attacks of the adversary. The Psalmist says that he has hidden the Word in his heart so that he won't sin against God (Psalm 119:11), which is exactly how we are going to resist, much like Jesus in the wilderness who was able to quote Scripture to Satan to defeat each of his temptations (Matthew 4:1-11). More than anything though, drawing near to God is about having intimacy with God the Father, which we are able to do with a sincere heart and full assurance in faith (Hebrews 10:22).

Today, we only looked at only one of the three imperatives in verse 8, but there was such a wealth of information that it would have been foolish to try and squeeze it all into a single devotion. With what we have learned today, let us recognize that, as believers, we need to actively make the effort to draw near to God as a means of escaping our sin patterns. As a result of our seeking after Him, God will draw near to us, meeting with us so that we can know more about Him. Doing this gives a measure of resistance against sin and temptation; but, the most important reason for doing drawing near is to be more intimate with our Lord. In our next study, we will look at the other two imperatives in verse 8 and see how they relate to remedying worldliness and its lusts. Until then, draw near to the Lord and enjoy intimacy with Him forever.

James 4:7 (NASB) - Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

This is a rather short verse, but the spiritual implications are eternal. The two imperatives that we find in this passage are "submit" and "resist," which are contrasting terms when placed next to each other. By using these words, James is urging his readers to do just as the text suggests: 1) submit to God, and 2) resist the devil. The basis of this devotion, as well as our subsequent studies, will focus on the imperatives and understanding exactly what it is that James is wanting his reader to do. This will involve using Greek word studies so that we can grasp the full context of these commands, so let us begin with our first sentence in James 4:7.

"Submit therefore to God." The word that is used here for "submit" is the Greek word hupotasso (Strong's #G5293). There are many subtleties in which this word can be looked at, but for the most part, it simply means to subject or yield one's control over to someone else. One of the interesting things about this particular word is that it has a military context and can mean "to arrange [troop divisions] in a military fashion under the command of a leader." In its non-military sense, it represents "a voluntary attitude of giving in, cooperating, assuming responsibility, and carrying a burden." In laymen's terms, what we are talking about here is humility. Submitting to God is an act of humbling one's self and giving over total control to God. In other words, submitting to God means that we are falling in line and under the command of our leader (Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit). This is not the only time that believers are told to humble themselves before God, as we can see it all throughout Scripture, especially in a passage like 1 Peter 5:6. One thing of dire importance to note about this particular imperative is that it is passive; this means that the person is not actively doing the submitting, but they are the one being acted upon. To put it more plainly, this is to say that I have chosen to submit to the Lord, but He [God] is the one that is actually making the submission happen. So, we only make the decision to submit to God, and then God does the rest from there in terms of conforming us to His will. This will serve as a sharp contrast to the imperative in the second half of this verse.

After you have submitted yourself to God and have chosen to follow His commands, the next command is, "Resist the devil," which is then followed by a purpose clause that depicts the end result of resistance. As we know, "resist" is our imperative, and it comes from the Greek word anthistemi (Strong's #G436). This word means to set oneself against, withstand, resist, or oppose. With that in mind, James was using this word to tell his readers that they literally need to take a stand against the devil. This line of thought goes back to James 4:4 where James says that friendship with the world makes one an enemy of God. There is no middle ground when it comes to serving God, because you can only have one master at any given time; either you are serving God or you are serving Satan. This is why we need to pay special attention to the directives in the Word of God, such as are found in Ephesians 4:27; 6:11f; and 1 Peter 5:8f. We are not to give any place to our adversary, always being fully armored and on the alert, which is what we find in these passages of Scripture. What about that contrast between the imperatives? As stated above, "submit" is a passive imperative, whereas "resist" is an active imperative. What does that mean? It means that this is something that is actively carried out by the participant. In other words, you have to be the one doing the standing, as no one else can do it for you. Therefore, when you actively choose to stand firm, you will be in great shape spiritually.

This second imperative, as I said, is followed by a purpose clause. The purpose clause essentially tells what will happen if you take heed and follow through with this command. James tells us that "he [Satan] will flee from you," if you you are able to make your stand against him. The reason that satan will flee is because he is already a defeated foe and there is nothing that he can do when a believer is well armored and on the alert. When we make the active and conscious decision to serve the Lord, there is no door or crack for the enemy to enter in, therefore he has no other choice but to leave. This is not to say that he will not continue to try and tempt us, but we can rest assured that if we resist those temptations he has absolutely no power over us. The one thing to keep in mind with this, though, is that resisting the devil is impossible unless you are first submitted to God and under His direction; otherwise, you are completely susceptible to falling prey to his attacks.

To close, we have looked at two of our ten imperatives; and, of all, these are likely to be the two most important. Without following through on these two commands, the rest are worthless to even attempt. Their order in the letter is of importance because they should be followed in that order to achieve their maximum effect, as we just noted above. So, first, we have to consciously decide to put ourselves under the authority of God and allow Him to reign in our lives. From there, we are to then stand firm against our enemy, knowing that he will flee if we don't give him an inch. With this as our foundation, we will build upon it and move forward in remedying worldliness and sinful behavior. Next time we will look at another handful of imperatives in verse 8. Until then, stay submitted to the Lord and stand firm against your adversary.

I've heard the argument before that it may be sin for you, but not for me. Indeed, in some cases, that is Scriptural and correct, but I don't think that really stands in this instance. How can we willingly sit down and choose to expose ourselves to sinful acts? The same goes for music; how can we find enjoyment listening to an artist talking about cheating on his girl or some other sin?

I don't really have much more to say; I just want you to ponder on that and think about the entertainment you're allowing yourself to enjoy. Are they the things that we know for a fact God hates? (And know that I've assessed myself before presenting this to you, and I had to do some house cleaning)...

In doing studying for my devotions, the Logos tools have come in handy for a few things. I'm currently working through James 4 right now, and as I read I noticed that James seemed to be giving a lot of commands to his reads. Using Logos, I was able to quickly verify this by doing using their verb river utility, and also some syntax markup (view both below). With the verb river, I was able to very easily see that there were indeed commands (or imperatives) and that there was a heavy concentration of them between verses 6 through 11. I was then able to use the syntax highlighting feature to mark all of the verbs that were imperatives so that I could see specifically which words were imperatives (I chose to do this in the ESV Reverse Interlinear). Having this information at hand, I was able to more clearly focus my studies and pay special attention to the imperatives, which are an important part of this particular passage.

Some of the other features that I had time to play around with this week were the Bible Reading Plan and the Prayer List. The Bible Reading Plan is a very nice feature and I love the flexibility that it offers. They offer a good number of useful presets (such as the entire Bible, a mix of OT & NT, OT & NT plus the Psalms or Proverbs, and a few others) and it is flexible in setting the length and the days on which you want to read. As I said before, I chose to use a special reading plan that I downloaded elsewhere & then modified, and then set my schedule to finish in a year, reading Monday through Friday. With that, I'm doing a chronological read through the Old Testament, where I'm currently reading through Job after reading Genesis 1-11. One of the features that I really enjoy about their reading plan is that you can export it to your calendar in Microsoft Outlook. This was useful for me because I use a combination of Outlook 2007 and Google Calendar to keep track of my appointments and tasks, which I then sync to my Windows Mobile smartphone (T-Mobile Dash). The only downside that I found to this was that I had to set a time to insert into the calendar, whereas I would have preferred to set it as an all day event, so that it doesn't disappear out of sight after the time has passed and is always visible at any time of the day when looking at my calendar. Aside from that minor issue that I hope is fixed in a future update/version, I'm very pleased with the Bible Reading Plan, as it's one of the best I've seen, especially taking into account its ability to be customized and use your own reading plan. One other neat feature to mention is how it can either make a clean break on a pericope boundary, or it can just stop at the end of the verse, regardless of where it is in relation to a pericope; this feature makes for much easier reading without having to re-read a text to remember its context.

The Prayer List is pretty straight forward. I've taken time to put in new entries and use the list to pray for people. There's not a whole lot to say about this feature, but it's a useful one and one that I can make plenty of use of. Running a web ministry, I'm constantly getting prayer requests via IM or email, so this helps me to remember them. It also helps in tracking routine prayers, such as praying for my church, pastor, those I'm discipling, and so forth. Simply put, it's an invaluable tool.

So far, I'm pleased with Logos. Again, still trying to get over that hurdle, but making it through nonetheless. I'm really enjoying some of the small features that Logos offers, as they are turning out to be icing on the cake. I'm actually hoping to run into more obstacles, but I'm sure that that'll happen as I have the chance to use it more.

Album Overview

When is the last time you were able to fight the temptation to look at that girl's booty? Or how long has it been since you did not get wrapped up in the newest video on BET with the shiny wheels and money flashing on the screen? Are you able to resist stirring up strife when someone gets in your face or clowns you in public? If you struggle with dying to yourself in these or any areas of sin, then I suggest you get your Bible, grab a pen and pad, then be sure to visit: KingdomCityRecords.com to cop Juneteenth by Dre' Sr. today!!! Not since Trip Lee have I been so excited about the lyrical talent of a Midwest Holy Hip-Hop artist. This man is pouring his heart out on this project. His beats are unreal. His perspective on the Gospel is so refreshing. Not many people have the ability to bring the truth of God to stereo as effortlessly as Dre' does. This Kingdom City representative presents the Gospel in truth and in spirit. I guarantee that if you are hearing these beats, lyrics, and concepts you are not only bobbing your head, but being fed the word of God. Oh what a relief it is to be in Jesus! There is so much encouragement with the second installment from this Kansas City rapper who came to the faith in the spring of 2005. Maybe that is a factor in why I feel him so much. I was saved in the same year. I pray I am not being bias, but this dude is on a new level with this album. He took a huge leap from his debut album Living Sacrifice. I am not saying that it was not fire, but on the real man, Juneteenth is sick! I mean, I bet some cats will need pepto after ridin' to this. Tracks like "Cross on My Back" and "Devoted" will have you rewinding over and over. Believe me, this purchase will not only show love to Dre' but support the Great Commission. If you are blasting these tracks in your whip, somebody will hear the word and be saved.

Spiritual Significance

The hardest part of our faith as Christians is the battle we are in with the spiritual forces. Our submission to God's will over our own is a constant fight. The moment we think we are good and standing firm, we should be careful or we may fall. Dre' addresses this on every level. From scripture reading to practical steps of obedience, we see how it plays out on an everyday basis. He also does such a good job of presenting vivid examples of how it feels to struggle. "DIE" will take you on a journey like a National Tour Association member. We all struggle with sin. But praise God that He gives us the perfect cure for overcoming sin in the spiritual. First and foremost we have been justified through our lord Jesus Christ. But the next step for us is to be crucified with Christ by being willing to accept His will for our lives. We should deny our own selfish desires for the righteous, holy, and perfect desires of the Living God. Christ died for our sins. So to paraphrase T-Mission as he sings in "Know You More," we should be eternally grateful to Him for being willing to sacrifice so much for our salvation. I think that it is such an important fact to dwell on as believers. We get so concerned with our daily lives. We focus so much time on the daily grind of career, household chores, and five year plans that we constantly make the mistake of forgetting how important the death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ was. He died for us! He bleed for us! He took a brutal beating, got spat on, and endured unimaginable pain for us! We fuss and whine because our car runs out of gas or we did not get the promotion we wanted. We whimper over how much money we should be making. Our lives are sometimes reduced to if we feel good at the end of the day. Stop! Ask yourself this question: If I had to die so others could live for eternity, would I but more importantly, could I? We are so selfish with our own agendas that we get completely distracted from the truth that God has revealed to us. Dre' Sr. brings us back to reality. He makes you fight the good fight. With his devotion to the King of Kings more believers will refocus and nonbelievers will hopefully be drawn to how attractive Christianity is.

Topics Covered

• Fruits of the Spirit
• Not being a slave to sin
• Being set free
• Being a bond servant/slave to Christ
• Devoted to God
• Die to the flesh
• Die with Christ
• Grace
• Resurrection
• Restoration

Key Tracks

"Know You More" featuring T-Mission, "DIE", Resurrected", "Devoted", Phenomenal featuring Micah Smith, "Me vs. Me Part 1, 2 , and 3"

Having already setup Logos according to the tutorial on Logos' website, there wasn't a whole lot of customization that needed to take place before I really decided to dive in. Plus, I had already been using the software sparingly, so that helped things along in already being familiar with quite a few of the keyboard shortcuts and functionality. With the first night of my challenge, I decided to just spend some time reading the Bible using the Bible reading plan (Genesis 1-4) and take some notes as I read. To do this, I setup a new workspace with the notes window on the left and two Bibles on the right (NASB and ESV Old Testament Reverse Interlinear). Considering the original typeface was rather small, I opted to use the zoom feature to enlarge the text, rather than using a larger font size, that way I wouldn't have to keep manually changing the font size with each new note. This worked out rather well, and I was able to get some good notes taken down; I also linked the notes to their corresponding passages, as well as took the time to do some highlighting. The picture below shows what my workspace looked like as I worked. That's pretty much all I did the first night, aside from adding a few requests to my prayer list.

Last night, I attempted to use Logos to prepare a devotion for the Trailblazin Ministries website. To do this, I setup a brand new workspace, and decided that this one would be more intense. In the top right I added quite a number of Bible translations that were all linked together, which would serve as the window for displaying my main Bible text. In the bottom right, I had another copy of NASB with the reference target option selected, as well as a commentary and the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge for cross references. Finally, on the left I had Logos' Passage Guide, which provided a quick glance at what my library had to say concerning my selected passage. Once I had that setup, I was able to quickly get right to work and begin my time of study. Studying went very smoothly with Logos, just as smooth as if I had been using WORDsearch 8 to prepare my devotion.

I did run into a bit of a snag when it came time to start writing my devotion, where I use Windows Live Writer. The problem came when I tried to copy Bible text from Logos so that I could place it into my devotion. When I originally tried, it was putting each verse on its own line and giving me full footnotes and everything. I tried & tried again, only to get the same result. I then opted to go online and search the Logos website to see if I could find the answer. Luckily I was able to find the answer, as I had completely forgotten about the "Copy Bible Verses" icon in the taskbar that was designed specifically for doing this kind of thing. Once I found this, I was able to quickly get back to work. One of the beauties of this feature is that you can set many different styles for copying Bible text, and I was even able to set my own custom format that would output exactly what I wanted without having to format it post copy & paste. So, after spending about 20 minutes figuring that out, I was back on track and was excited to know that I had learned about a feature that would come in very handy in future projects. Below is a picture of the setup that I used for writing my devotions.

To this point, I'm very pleased with the software. Admittedly, I was frustrated with the copy & pasting of Bible text, but that quickly went away when I found the answer and saw how customizable it was. I even used Logos today at church for taking notes, but that's nothing new, since that's what I've been using Logos for since getting the software. Right now, the only downside seems to be the notes feature and its lack of functionality in certain areas, especially those that I'm accustomed to having in WORDsearch 8, such as properly formatted nested lists (i.e. 1, 2, 3... A, B, C... etc., instead of them only being numerical) and better tagging of Bible references as hyperlinks. I was given a solution to the first by Phil Gons of Logos, but the other I'll have to play around with some more to see if I can make it work better. That's where I am right now; I'm still excited about things and encouraged with Logos' apparent flexibility in terms of helping to get things done.

We have spent the first six verses of James 4 looking at the problem of worldliness and the trouble that believers can get into when they choose to chase after their lustful pleasures, instead of following the ways of the Lord. We have seen how it can lead to envy that can ultimately result in murder. This is far from the Christian way of life that God envisions for us. Now that the problem has been outlined in much detail, both on James' part and ours, we are ready to begin a look at the subsequent passage that outlines, what I call, "the remedy to worldliness." We can find this remedy in James 4:7-10, where James gives a barrage of instructions to his readers if they plan on overcoming these unregenerate tendencies. Our study today will consist of an overview of the passage and some of its intricacies before we delve into the verse by verse study. If our hearts and minds are right, let us begin by looking about our passage.

James 4:7-10 (NASB) - 7Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. 10Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.

When looking at this passage, one of the first things that you will notice is that James' instructions appear to be rapid fire and very forceful in nature. This is rightfully so because James has already warned his readers of the worldly indulgences that they had allowed themselves to become a part of; and, his desire is for them to quickly turn their lives around and get back into proper fellowship with the Lord. As is the goal with any believer that falls into sin, they should desire to be back in fellowship with the Lord and His Holy Spirit as quickly as possible. As an apostle, James knew what steps needed to be taken to make this a reality, which is why he chose to give a detailed list of what needs to take place in order for a believer to escape the grasp of lustful pleasures. If you look closely at the passage, you will see that James gives ten (10) commands, that, if followed by these believers, will have them well on their way back to fellowship with the Lord.

This passage is given a certain measure of importance knowing that James has given ten commands in a span of four verses. When we carry this over to the Greek, these commands become all the more important in helping us to understand this passage and the commands that are being given. In Greek grammar, commands are better known as imperatives, and each of these ten commands in English correlates to a Greek imperative.

It would serve us well to take a brief moment for a lesson in Greek as it will aid in our comprehension of the text. The first thing that needs to be pointed out is that there are two kinds of imperatives: present tense and aorist. Present tense imperatives are those that indicate a continuous action. An example of this type of imperative would be, "Preach the gospel!" This imperative implies an ongoing action in the sense that I am not telling you to preach the gospel just one time, but I want you to continually preach the gospel. The aorist imperative does not carry this idea of continued action, so it would be something like, "Tie your shoe." You would not keep tying your shoe; you would tie it once, and then you're done. In our passage, all ten of these imperatives are in the aorist tense. Therefore, these imperatives from James are to be considered as finite or puncticular actions that need to only be completed once. This distinction is important because it is not clear from the English text alone, and it tells us exactly in which sense these imperatives need to be taken.

There is one more thing to note about these imperatives, along with one note about imperatives in general. Our next point about these imperatives from James is that they are all in the second person plural form. Imperatives come in two common forms; these forms are: the second person singular and the second person plural. The second person plural is used when you are talking to one person directly and you are telling them to do something; in English we use the word "you" to specify this person. For example, "Timothy, you preach the gospel." In this example, it is very clear that the imperative is only intended for a single person. The second person plural is simply the plural form of "you," so it would literally be "you all" or the southern "y'all" in an English rendering, indicating that a group of people are being spoken to. An example of this would be, "You (all) be quiet," which is something that I collectively tell my kids often. Bringing this back in context, James is speaking to his entire audience, and not just one person in particular; so, he uses the second person plural for all of these commands, thus making them applicable to all of his readers, including us. The final note about imperatives is that they are not always in the view of a command as we generally would think of them in English; instead, they can best be understood as pleas, requests, or exhortations. In other words, James isn't so much commanding these Jewish believers to do these things, but is rather forcefully pleading with them to follow his instructions.

It is passages like this where it really helps to have an understanding of the Greek language, as even just sharing this little bit has gone a long way in helping us to understand the words of James in this epistle. If we had simply relied upon our English texts alone, we could have very easily taken this any number of ways. This is why we must remember that there is only one interpretation of Scripture, which is why this kind of preliminary work is sometimes necessary. Knowing the verb tenses and the audience will go a long way in allowing us to go through each of these commands, see what James intended, and ultimately make it applicable in our lives as present day believers. With this miniature Greek lesson, we are now in a good position to move forward and start looking at these verses individually.

Next time, we will start with verse 7 and look at these commands one by one so that we can get the full remedy to worldliness. Until then, keep the faith!

Recently I've been intensely evaluating my use of Bible study software and how I can make the most/best use of it. It's been a very taxing thought process as I've evaluated things like: 1) my personal needs when using a Bible study software application, 2) the pros and cons of each application, 3) the primary audience for each application, 4) ease of use, 5) must haves, and so on. The two applications that I gave the most attention to were WORDsearch 8 and Logos Bible Software 3 (Scholar's Edition), since these are my two primary sources for study and what I personally feel are in the top tier of Bible study software.

As I've noted before on several occasions, I've been a user of WORDsearch since 2000 when I originally bought version 5. I later upgraded to version 7, and am currently using version 8 (the most recent version). If I remember correctly, I started off with their discipleship library (or something like that), which retailed for $350 and started me off with a very commendable library of works for doing Bible study. Since becoming an employee of WORDsearch in March 2007, my library has grown extensively, since employees are given access to all of the books the company has published. This has really helped to improve my studying of the Scriptures because I now have more tools that are both better and more recent. Being an employee of WORDsearch has been a tremendous help, as admittedly, I had never given much thought to expanding my library until coming to work for them; not to mention my depth of study has increased dramatically in recent years.

I just recently started using Logos in December 2007 when I received a copy as a Christmas gift. Admittedly, to this point, I have only used the software for church and the occasional Greek word study, along with playing around just to figure things out. With that in mind, my library, right now, is about at the same level of my original purchase of WORDsearch in terms of the number of commentaries & so forth that I had available to me. Of course, this package has considerably more Bibles and language tools available, which is something I did not have in my original WS5 package. Seeing my pastor and others at church use the software has really piqued my interest in the software, and I have started to try to learn more about the software and how it might be able to meet my growing needs as a teacher and preacher of the Bible.

That's where I currently stand in terms of both software applications. Right now WORDsearch 8 is my primary application because of familiarity and the size of its library, and Logos serves as a secondary resource when I'm working in the original languages.

James 4:6b (NASB) - Therefore it says, "GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE."

It has taken us a little while to get to this point, but we are now looking at the Old Testament quotation that James spoke of in the beginning of verse 5 when he said, "Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose." The Scripture that James uses for his quotation in this verse comes from Proverbs 3:34; more specifically, this quotation is from the Septuagint (abbreviated LXX), which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament, as opposed to the original Hebrew translation. This is also quoted by Peter in 1 Peter 5:5, where he also uses the LXX. A Hebrew rendition of this passage reads as follows in the New American Standard Bible, "Though He scoffs at the scoffers, Yet He gives grace to the afflicted." As you can see, the readings are slightly different, but the message is still the same. The differences come from translating from one language to another (such as we have when translating from Greek or Hebrew to English); things don't always translate word for word, and require equivalents to be used.

Now that we know where this quote originated, we can begin to examine it. In doing this, there are two obvious truths that stand out and serve as the meat of this passage. First, we see that God is opposed to the proud; secondly, we find that God gives grace to the humble. Our study today will take a look at both of these as we explore a little bit of the Greek and gain an understanding of what both of these truths mean.

First and foremost, God is opposed to the proud. If we are to bring this back to its full context, we could say that these are the people that James is addressing in this chapter. Those who are seeking after their own sinful pleasures are the ones who are proud, and these are the kind of people that God opposes. Before we get too much further, it is important to understand two words in relation to their Greek meanings: 1) oppose, and 2) proud. "Oppose" comes from the Greek word antitasso (Strong's #G498); this is a military term that means to set oneself against or to range in battle against. This denotes the seriousness in which God is opposed to those who are filled with pride. This is very similar to James' use of strong language back in verse 4 when looking at being a friend with the world and an enemy of God. Our word for "proud" comes from the word huperephanos (Strong's #G5244) and means to show oneself above others. If we use this definition and look back at verses 1-4, the picture that we get of the proud is that they are in a position where they feel that they are above God and others, thus their reason for indulging in worldly pleasures. It is no wonder that God is opposed to such people; if they feel that they are above God in some way (by not obeying His commands), then it is quite obvious that He is going to war against such defiant people. In respect to verse 4 and the first half of verse 6, we would be right in saying that these individuals are not going to be the ones who receive this gift of greater grace; instead, they have rejected the gift and have made themselves enemies of God.

The second truth that we are presented with is that God gives grace to the humble. This is the antithesis of those who are depicted as proud; these are people who have submitted to the plan of God and are the recipients of the greater grace that is spoken of in the first half of verse 6. Again, we want to briefly look at some Greek terminology so that we can better understand our text. The first word we want to look at is "grace," which is charis in the Greek (Strong's #G5485). This word refers to the limitless and unmerited kindness or mercy that God has freely given. In its most prolific sense, grace is the method of salvation that God has provided for us through His Son, Jesus Christ. Many like to use an acronym for grace to help define it as: God's Riches At Christ's Expense, which is indeed a definition of grace. Our second word is "humble" and it finds its root in the Greek word tapeinos (Strong's #G5011). This word is an adjective meaning lowly (in spirit). This is the true state of a believer who has repented of his/her sins and placed their faith in Jesus Christ. To be humble means that you recognize your lowly state, reject your own ways, and replace them with the Lord's. Be aware, though, as this humility does not denote some special rank of Christian, but is the state of all believers. It is because the believer has chosen to lower himself in the sight of God that He is willing to give a greater grace that is able to cover their sins and give eternal life. Those who have not humbled themselves before the Lord are not eligible for His greater grace of salvation and forgiveness of sins; instead, they only receive the common grace of God that is given to all men (such as life and the necessities to sustain it).

At this point, James has made it very clear what it means to befriend God or to become His enemy. His harsh words at the beginning of this chapter make it clear that many of his readers have befriended the world, instead of God. With the conclusion of verse 6, he has now finished outlining the problem, and will spend the next handful of verses (verses 7-12) giving the solution and the proper heart response that his should have. The main thing that we want to walk away with today is that God is against those who choose to be proud and live life as they see fit. Secondly, God only gives His grace to those who have humbled themselves. So, with that in mind, we realize that we can either be at war with God by rejecting His perfect will for our lives or we can give ourselves over to His will in absolute humility and receive His grace. The choice is yours to make, and its answer should be obvious.

In closing, take time today to meditate on this passage of Scripture and what it means to be humble. Ask yourself, "Am I humble? Have I given up my will and exchanged it for the Lord's perfect will?" Also examine yourself to see if you have any pride in your life; if you do, pray that the Holy Spirit would reveal it to you and ask for His help in removing it from your life. It is God's desire that we walk in humility, as that is how we receive God's grace. Until next time, keep fighting the good fight of faith.

Album Overview

Aight so I'm chilling one day and LJ gives me the chance to review a new album. I get it and start to listen. Oh baby! Ya'll better get ready for Life on Life by J'son. This is the second album by this St. Louis artist whose ministry (Hid In Christ Ministries) is rooted deep in discipleship. Let me tell you, when you think of what the Gospel is, you have to respect the approach this rapper takes in living the truth through his music. He's open, honest, and authentic in how he preaches with hip-hop. This album has everything you would expect and more from J'son. We got sick beats, crazy lyrics, and content that is not only relevant to this generation but also reaches out to older cats as well. So, prepare yourself to feel the presence of the Holy Spirit once you press play.

As I look around at the countless emcees and artists that claim to be Christian but don't make music for God, I am more impressed with this new breed of lyricists like J'son. They have taken the challenge from veteran groups like Cross Movement to do just that, take the extra step to see how dope their rhymes can be by putting God first. Once you buy the record, then you too will see what I mean. He takes the challenge personal. So personal that he even brings his life in on this project. He talks about rebuilding relationships with his mom and close friends. He addresses his surgery and the subsequent struggle with his recovery. I mean when I say open, there ain't no playing around ya'll. J'son does not allow society's mindset of keeping issues like this hidden. He opens himself up for the sake of our King. In order to reach the lost you have to share testimony they not only believe, but also can relate to. Otherwise, the non-believer tends to feel like they can not measure up to the task of being a Christian. J'son does this with such confidence he creates a measure of comfort for someone who might be struggling with the same things. This makes an opening for a discussion with those who fit into that situation. This is why I can do nothing but endorse this album without reservation. Get atcha' boy J'son and hit up his ministry. Aight!

Spiritual Significance

J'son knows how important relationships are in reaching the lost for Christ. Life on Life touches on this aspect of our job of making disciples through preaching the Gospel time after time. He shows practical examples of how you, as a believer, can do just that: have relationships with non-believers. I struggle with rebuilding relationships as well. It is a part of the Christian walk that tends to burden us. Somehow we think that because we follow Christ that everyone will naturally be compelled to just love us more or see us as different people. We forget the lesson Jesus taught us about a prophet in his own hometown or dealing with his own family.

He also does a good job of painting an in-depth picture of who Jesus is and the extent of God's sacrifice. It's done in such a way that if you don't stop and reflect on the plan for redemption in careful detail then maybe you ought to search you heart. For real man! This project forces someone who is really seeking God to view Christ's death on the cross in a dynamic light. The plan had to be perfect for it to work. Because of this loving God and HIS perfect plan, man can atone for his sins and have eternal life with our King in heaven. Not many artists can handle this subject. It takes someone who is digging in to their Word and has mature believers to provide the wisdom. It also takes a strong desire of wanting a loving relationship with our Savior to even tackle this subject. We love to focus on the benefits of our redemption through Jesus' death but forget to remember the reality of His suffering and death. J'son did a very good job of presenting the death to his audience and I pray they visualize it while they listen.

Overall, I took some good things away from Life on Life. At the root of a church foundation is the obedience to the Gospel. For a body of believers to grow, they each must have the will to submit to God. They walk it out by living a Godly life and building relationships with other believers so that the body can come together for the Great Commission. Although each track does not specifically address this, the lessons learned from each track definitely build upon working for the kingdom in the way Christ intended. One on one relationships culminating to crescendo into a body of believers or a Church, living to serve God by obeying his commands to love him above all and loving our neighbors as we love ourselves.

Topics Covered

• Atonement - "Run"
• Becoming a new creature in Christ by dying to yourself - "What it Do" featuring Titus & Trip Lee
• Be careful what you ask for; self examination; wrestling with pride - "Music"
• Not compromising Godly music for the worldly music - "Listen Choice" featuring Tedashii
• The spiritual battle that faces the body - "Fight" featuring Thi'sl & Mike Real
• Being thankful to God; the heart being God's home - "My Heart"
• Dealing with old friends/relationships after becoming a believer - "I Do"
• God's glory - "Sitting Big"
• The truth about a marriage; it requires a real commitment - "Ladies & Fellas"
• Die to yourself - "Move Out" featuring Future & Flame

Key Tracks

We're back with another podcast, and we're going to be looking at another song from my man Excelsius. The song is titled "Lead Out" and it's from his soon to be released album called Liberation. The theme of this song is discipleship and growing to the point of being able to disciple others. This is a topic that's been weighing heavy on my heart lately, and I feel that this song is perfect for helping to convey the purpose of what we're trying to do here at Trailblazin Ministries. I could very easily say that this could be our theme song! After hearing this episode, it's my prayer that you would be motivated to "Lead Out."

Scripture Reference

Luke 6:40; Matthew 28:19-20; 2 Timothy 2:2; Hebrews 5:12

Proverbs 21:5 (KJV) - The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness; but of every one that is hasty only to want.

When I was in the second grade, I was a straight A student. By the middle of the school year, my teacher wanted to immediately skip me to the third grade. I was excited, but scared of being in a classroom with bigger kids. Much to my surprise, my mother declined my teacher's request and told me that since 'I wasn't going to amount to anything, why should I be skipped?' I was devastated.

By the time I reached the fourth grade, I allowed my mother's statement to destroy my mental resolve. I was disruptive and unruly in school. The school had to call my mother almost everyday. I became just what she said. My last report card was filled with Cs and Ds - I almost flunked. Within the first two weeks of summer, my mother couldn't take much more and sent me to live with my father.

Fast forward 11 years... I was a sophomore in college on a basket ball scholarship. During the season, I had wrist surgery and a falling out with the coach. Toward the end of the year the coach informed me that my scholarship would not be renewed for the next year. I talked to my father about various ways to pay for my last two years of college, but he nipped all of my ideas. Then, two weeks later, he told me that I was going to wind up in jail, on the unemployment line, and on welfare. My heart felt like it dropped to pit of my stomach.

I wanted to become more than what my father said. The LAST thing I wanted was for him to visit me in jail and say 'I told you so.' I became determined to finish college. For me, receiving my degree was the goal. It was a way for me to prove to myself and my father that I can succeed, but I had an uphill battle ahead.

During that summer, I moved in with my grandparents which gave me some time to get my life together, but things were looking bleak. Being a 20-year old with little college education doesn't welcome the best job offers. I worked temporary job after temporary job. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't find a job that would allow me to live on my own and attend school. I cried so many days because I wanted to do something positive with my life, but nothing seemed to be working.

Around the same time, my girlfriend and other friends were talking about selling drugs and getting into credit card scams. I didn't want to go to jail and become some dude's wife and I DEFINITELY didn't want to become what my father said, so I had to get on the grind to find a legal way to finish school.

I took my grandparent's white pages and began looking for work. I thought about becoming a police officer or firefighter, but my girlfriend turned me away from those careers. Then I saw an entry for the military recruiter, but I said to myself that would be my last option. Two weeks later I was at the military recruiter's office. Before going to the recruiter, I said to myself, "to get where you want to go, you have to do what don't want to (legally)." Joining the military wasn't my top choice, but I knew it would give me an opportunity to get my life together.

For the first four years of my military career, I was only able to take five classes, but I wasn't swayed. Many years went by where I could only take one class at a time or no classes at all, but I didn't lose sight of my goal. Little by little, I chipped away at my goal. Finally after ten years in the military, I graduated from the University of Maryland University College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Information Systems Management.

Within our fallen world, the sinful nature ushers many challenges that test our lives. They seem larger than life and can consume our entire being. Then, we believe we'll never make it...so the best thing to do is to give up. But you don't have to give up; you don't have to quit. You can be an overcomer!

You have to believe...and it starts with the mind!

Being an overcomer doesn't mean your situation will get better overnight. I faced numerous hardships in the process of earning a college education. There were many times when I felt like giving up, but without the mental resolve to continue, I would have. Our quick-fast-now society doesn't talk about holding on and persevering, but living as a Christian depends on it.

James 1:2-4 (NIV) - Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

You don't have to be a statistic or what others say you will become! All things are possible through Christ who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13)!

A Closer Look...

What areas of your life need a little mental toughness?

Why would you believe it is important to be mentally tough? Read (Proverbs 14:30; Romans 12:2).

How can you exercise your mental 'muscles?' Read (Joshua 1:8; Proverbs 15:28; Philippians 4:8; 1 Peter 1:13-15).

What are a few sources of help to you develop mental toughness? Read (Proverbs 27:6; Proverbs 27:17; Philippians 4:6-7).

Hold on...be strong...don't you ever give up!

James 4:6a (NASB) - But He gives a greater grace.

As a very brief recap, we learned in our study of verse 5 that the correct interpretation of the text should read something like, "Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy (KJV)?" With that, we understood that James was referring to the human spirit and how it lusts to envy within us. We also stated that this is no quotation of Old Testament Scripture, as many modern English translations would have it to be; instead, we find our Scripture quotation in our verse today, verse 6, with the text in-between serving as an explanatory remark and rebuke. Having this fresh in our minds, let us move continue on.

The very first thing we find in James 4:6 is a sentence that serves as a direct and immediate response to the thought and question posed in the previous verse, "But He gives a greater grace." Who is "he?" Considering the context and the subject matter at hand, it is obvious that "He" is God, as He is the only one that is able to offer grace, which is something that we cannot acquire on our own. The next logical question then becomes, why does God give a greater grace? A secondary question would be, what is this grace greater than? If we allow Scripture to interpret itself, I believe that the answer to this question will become clear. Moving back just one chapter to James 3:2, we are told, "For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well." As we learned previously, if a person is able to control their tongue and never slip up, then they are a perfect person, able to control their entire body. Therefore, this kind of person is unblemished in the sight of God. Since we know that Jesus Christ was the only person to achieve such stature, we conclude that everyone falls short of this standard and is labeled a sinner. This is confirmed with the words of Paul in Romans 3:23 where we're told that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Knowing that sin is a problem that humanity is unable to rectify in its own ability, we can see why God's grace was needed.

Still, why are we given a greater grace? If we skip ahead to Romans 5:20-21, we see the reason for the greater grace: "20 The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (emphasis, my own)." With these words from the Apostle Paul, the picture becomes clear. God gave the Law so that man's sin would be exposed, thus revealing man's inability to live up to God's perfect standard. It was this revelation of sin through the Law that sin increased. But, God, being all powerful, extended a grace that was greater than the extent that sin had piled up so that we might have a means of obtaining eternal life. In other words, the grace of God is greater than the lusts and envy that reside in our flesh; He is also willing to forgive and bring us back into fellowship if we repent of such sins (1 John 1:9). The bottom line is that God's grace is great and powerful in the life of a believer, even to the extent of covering our sins past, present, and future.

I would like to continue with the rest of this verse, but I think we're going to stop here for now. I think that there is enough here to chew on before we move forward with the rest of this verse. We should not be quick to rush through this verse, lest we miss the importance of God's giving of a greater grace. In closing, I would strongly encourage you to spend the next few days meditating on these passages of Scripture. Take time to savor the overwhelming abundance of grace that God has bestowed upon us and how that grace is able to cover our extensive list of sins. Once you have done that, give thanks to the Lord and just worship Him for this gift that He has given, despite us not deserving it. Until next time, worship the Lord in spirit and truth, thanking Him for His grace!

Let me start by laying some groundwork. For starters, both milk and meat are food, spiritual food to be more precise. Let's not look past this point so quickly because this is where the misconception begins. Milk and meat are the same thing (food), but they are structured in a way that is either easier or more difficult to digest. A babe is unable to feast on meat without choking on it or its stomach having trouble digesting the complexities of the food. On the other hand, the adolescent or adult is equipped with the necessary tools to both chew and digest meat. For the believer, our food is the Word of God. Again, a key point; they are both the Word of God, milk and meat, just in different stages of complexity. What does this look like in action? As a point of example, we could say that teaching a new believer about the basics of salvation and repentance is considered milk. Notice that this is still truth of the Word of God, but it is given on a level that they can understand and isn't over their head. Then you have the meat, which is still teaching a believer on salvation and repentance, but getting into its depths with doctrines such as the atonement, substitution, hamartiology, peripatology, and so on. Teachings such as these cover the same thing as the milk, but on a more complex level that takes more chewing and digestion to fully grasp. Regardless of the depth of teaching, milk or meat, the content should be the same: the Word of God.

I think a lot of people misunderstand that concept; they think that milk and meat are two different things, opposed to the same thing at varying depths. This concept then creeps into the line of thought where artists say that they are giving their listeners milk, but there is no message at all. Going back to the paragraph above, milk should still offer the Word of God, but just on an easier to understand level, not ignoring the Word altogether. Yes, it's fine to write feel good songs and the like, but that's not milk. Christian rap & hip-hop comes in many different forms, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. There is a place for artists like Sivion and Braille or Sev Statik and RedCloud; what they offer in their music is solid Christian content, but it's not milk or meat, it's just music with solid content. That's not to say that there's no biblical content (because there is), but it's not teaching the Word.

So what is milk and what is meat (at least in my eyes)? Quite obviously cats like shai linne, Timothy Brindle, Christcentric, Cross Movement, and the like are the ones that are offering up the spiritual meat in holy hip-hop. These are the guys who are offering up that weighty spiritual truth for the listeners to chew on for days upon days; you know, those albums that keep you coming back for more and you come away with something new every time you listen to it. That would mean that guys like Urban D., the Yuinon, La Familia Muzik, Jahaziel, and others are the ones who are offering up the spiritual milk for their listeners. No, their music isn't any less edifying, but it is music that is on a level for that is easier for the spiritual babe or younger believer to grab hold of and learn from. In other words, they're making music to meet the listener where they're at so that they can grow in maturity and come to appreciate the guys who are spitting the spiritual meat.

I don't mean this to bash anyone, if I did, then I apologize. I just want us to get our terms straight when we're talking about our music and ministry. There is no distinction between the milk and the meat because they are both the Word of God; the only difference that exists between them is the depth in which you take your listener. Rapping about everyday life with a positive Christian spin is just that, but it's not milk, just like it's not meat. The guys who are intentionally putting the Word of God into their rhymes are the ones who are spitting milk or meat, and it's a blessing to have those cats who are able to give you both (I think CMR/Reach are cats that do both well). So yeah, this is just some encouragement for us all to better clarify what it is that we're doing. Again, if you don't have the milk or meat in your rhymes, but you're repping Christ, then the community has love for you too, believe that. I just want you to use caution when you say your stuff is milk for the baby believer but all you're giving them is air pudding (as my parents used to put it).

God bless and keep growing!

James 4:5 (NASB) - Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: "He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us"?

What is it about this verse that makes it so challenging? The problem lies in the Greek text itself and the difficulty of determining whether James is speaking of the human spirit or the Spirit of God (aka the Holy Spirit). From simply reading the Greek text, this is not clear, and it forces the reader or interpreter to look at surrounding context in order to properly understand how this verse should be translated and which spirit James is referring to. Another interpretive challenge comes in the fact that James says "the Scripture speaks," but then has no explicit Old Testament quotation that immediately follows. With some work, both of these can be easily resolved, around which we can then begin to understand what James is speaking of in this passage.

As we can see above, the NASB interprets this "spirit" as the Holy Spirit, and just about every other modern English Bible translation treats this text in much the same manner (except for two in particular, which I will note later). One would think that this is the most obvious answer, considering the word pneuma (spirit, Strong's #G4151) most often refers to God's Spirit or the Holy Spirit. I do not believe that this is the correct way to translate this text. In interpreting the spirit as the Holy Spirit, many questions come to mind, two of which are: 1) why would God jealously desire His own Spirit and 2) how does this fit with the surrounding text, especially the text that precedes and follows? One way or another, the answer that one normally comes up with is rather unspecific and forced into the text. Since we know that James spent the first four verses talking about fleshly lusts, why would he all of a sudden switch to talking about God desiring the Holy Spirit inside of us? On the one hand, it makes sense because God desires for us to obey Him, but that doesn't quite fit with the text presented. Then, if you look forward to verse 6, we see that God "gives a greater grace." Given the context, this doesn't make much sense because why is a greater grace needed for God desiring His own Spirit? At most, this translation of the text, with "spirit" being unders