Devotion
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The Promises of God: Part CCCLV
Author
Timothy Laughlin
Published
Dec 02, 2025
Tags
Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. James 3:13-16
Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. James 3:13-16
I received a call one day from a lady I had known years before, asking me to come and pray for her husband, who was dying of cancer. The husband had been very legalistic and had made his family become involved in his religious deception.
His two children, now grown, were there, and when I got there, we reminisced about old times, and then I asked to see the man who was in the bedroom. The wife said he wouldn't recognize me, but when I entered the room, he immediately greeted me and was glad to see me. I anointed him with oil and prayed for him, and then met the family in the kitchen to pray for them.
After I prayed, I tried to comfort the family by telling them that their father would not be in pain anymore when he goes to Heaven, and you would have thought I had dropped a bomb on them! They said in an angry tone, "Do you think he will really go to Heaven?" Surprised at their response, I said my goodbyes and quickly left.
The Lord told me a spirit of animosity was on them for all the religious abuse they endured over the years. Animosity is a strong feeling of dislike or hatred; ill will or resentment tending toward active hostility: an antagonistic attitude! The man died that weekend, and I never heard from the family again, hoping they would finally find deliverance!
But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. James 3:17,18
Your servant in Christ, Timothy Laughlin
Minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ
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