Day 35 September 13 - Hebrew 11-James 5

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James 3:5 Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth

Spencer W. Kimball

“Lies and gossip which harm reputations are scattered about by the four winds like the seeds of a ripe dandelion held aloft by a child. Neither the seeds nor the gossip can ever be gathered in. The degree and extent of the harm done by the gossip is inestimable.” (The Miracle of Forgiveness [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1969], 54)

Joseph Smith

“The tongue is an unruly member—hold your tongues about things of no moment, a little tale will set the world on fire.” (The Words of Joseph Smith: The Contemporary Accounts of the Nauvoo Discourses of the Prophet Joseph, compiled and edited by Andrew F. Ehat and Lyndon W. Cook [Provo: BYU Religious Studies Center, 1980], 120 - 121.)

Joseph Smith

“I now counsel you, that if you know anything calculated to disturb the peace or injure the feelings of your brother or sister, hold your tongues, and the least harm will be done. (History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 5:140)

Milton R. Hunter

“Throughout my life in mingling with many people of various religious denominations I have observed that as a rule it seems as if human beings like to gossip. We like to hear unsavory things about our neighbors and talk about each other. It seems that ofttimes we get a certain degree of satisfaction or even joy out of saying bad things about other people. We thoughtlessly and sometimes maliciously judge each other. We censure our associates sometimes unjustly, many times unkindly; and most of the time we speak without having the evidence to back up what we are saying. We seem to forget that James, the brother of the Lord, warned that the unbridled tongue is ‘full of deadly poison.’ (James 3:8.)

“ know that even sometimes people who are faithful in the Church pass judgment and condemnation on those with whom they associate without knowing the facts. Such is displeasing to God.

“I know that many people's hearts have been broken and tears have been shed because of the unkind and perhaps untrue things that have been said about them and because of unjust judgments that we give of each other.

“As I look into the faces of the members of this congregation, my conscience certainly tells me that I err at times. Sometimes I gossip and judge others, and when I do it I act unrighteously before the Lord. My heart tells me I would like to repent, I would like to overcome my weakness of gossiping and saying bad things about other people. I am sure that you feel the same as I do.” (Conference Report, October 1960, Afternoon Meeting 24.)

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James 4:3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss

Neal A. Maxwell

Clearly, when our prayers are uninspired, we petition for things we should not ask for, even though we do so innocently. This is, in effect, what we do when we pray and “ask amiss.” (James 4:3.)

When we ask amiss, God, being perfect, must reject our petitions: “And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you.” (3 Nephi 18:20. Italics added.)

The task is to draw close enough to the Lord that we progress to the point where we petition Him according to His will, not ours. “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us.” (1 John 5:14.) In modern revelations the Lord has declared His willingness to grant us the requests contained in our petitions if what we ask for is expedient for us. (D&C 88:64-65.) (All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1979], 94.)

Neal A. Maxwell

We are told by God that we receive no blessings except by obedience to the laws upon which those blessings are predicated (D&C 130:20-21), prayer is required as part of that process of learning to ask for what is right. “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us” (1 John 5:14; see also 3 Nephi 18:20; James 4:3; 2 Nephi 4:35).

We cannot expect the blessings of prayer unless we submit sincerely, meekly, and fully to the process of prayer.

Granted, finite minds do not fully understand the infinite mind of God. We are not fully comprehending when our agency brushes against His divinity. Yet we should trust Him as our provincial petitions meet His universal omniscience…

It is necessary for us thus to place our desires and needs genuinely and unselfishly before God in prayer. It is in this process of placing our desires before Him, to a greater extent than we usually do, that we can listen and learn concerning His will. Such could not be done if we were ritualistically submissive or only partially involved.

Of course, after we place our petitions before Him we are to be submissive: “Thy will be done.” But this is the last part of the process of petition, not the first.

Learning to pray is, therefore, the work of a lifetime. If we keep on praying, we will keep on discovering. (That Ye May Believe [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1992], 179.)

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James 4:4 know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?


Hugh Nibley

James does not mince words: “Know ye not, that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever, therefore, will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4). Nor does John: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world . . . is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof” (1 John 2:15-17). “Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. . . . We are of God: he that knoweth God, heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. . . . And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness” (1 John 3:13; 4:6; 5:19). (Mormonism and Early Christianity, edited by Todd M. Compton and Stephen D. Ricks [Salt Lake City and Provo: Deseret Book Co., Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1987], 294.)

Spencer J. Condie

As we cling to the iron rod and partake of the gospel fruit of the tree of life, we become enemies of the world, and some begin to scoff at us from their perch in the great and spacious building seen in Father Lehi's dream (see 1 Ne. 8). We are then called a peculiar people because we do not drink martinis before banquets, we do not toast others with a glass of wine, nor do we finish our meals with a cup of cappuccino coffee. (Your Agency, Handle with Care [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1996], 50.)

Neal A. Maxwell

Because our behavioral standards are different, we must come to despise the ridicule of the world. The scorn and derision of the world are fleeting. James, who was not shy concerning truth, counseled, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?” (James 4:4.)

Those who are in error must not call the cadence for our lives, for those who boast of their sexual conquests are only boasting of that which has conquered them—in the same way that drinkers who make nervous jokes about drunkenness are only mocking that which has come to mock them. We may pity behavioral clones, but we do not envy them. (Notwithstanding My Weakness [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1981], 102 - 103.)

James E. Faust

I owe my text to Elder Marion G. Romney, who, at a Brigham Young University devotional in 1955, stated: “Now there are those among us who are trying to serve the Lord without offending the devil.” This is a contradiction of terms. Elder Romney goes on: “Must the choice lie irrevocably between peace on the one hand, obtained by compliance with the Gospel of Jesus Christ as restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith, and contention and war on the other hand?”

Someone once said, “If you come to a fork in the road, take it.” But it doesn’t work that way. The Savior said, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” Today many of us are trying to serve two masters—the Lord and our own selfish interests—without offending the devil. The influence of God, our Eternal Father, urges us, pleads us, and inspires us to follow him. In contrast the power of Satan urges us to disbelieve and disregard God’s commandments. (“Serving the Lord and Resisting the Devil,” Ensign, Sept. 1995, 2)

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James 5:14 Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders…


Gordon B. Hinckley

That power to heal the sick is still among us. It is the power of the priesthood of God. It is the authority held by the elders of this Church.

We welcome and praise and utilize the marvelous procedures of modern medicine which have done so much to alleviate human suffering and lengthen human life. All of us are indebted to the dedicated men and women of science and medicine who have conquered so much of disease, who have mitigated pain, who have stayed the hand of death. I cannot say enough of gratitude for them.

Yet they are the first to admit the limitations of their knowledge and the imperfection of their skills in dealing with many matters of life and death. The mighty Creator of the heavens and the earth and all that in them are has given to His servants a divine power that sometimes transcends all the powers and knowledge of men. I venture to say that there is scarcely a faithful elder within the sound of my voice who could not recount instances in which this healing power has been made manifest in behalf of the sick. It is the healing power of Christ. (“The Healing Power of Christ,” Ensign, Nov. 1988, 54)

James A. Cullimore

The accounts of miraculous healings in the Church are numerous. They warm one’s soul and give great strength of testimony as to the divinity of this great work. But the Lord has instructed us that we are not to boast of these great blessings. He said, “But a commandment I give unto them, that they shall not boast themselves of these things, neither speak them before the world; for these things are given unto you for your profit and for salvation.” (D&C 84:73.)

It was not intended that we make merchandise out of the gifts of God and shout to the world the result of these most wonderful gifts. They are given to us for our salvation, to strengthen our testimony and the testimonies of others as we bear humble witness of them in our meetings, quietly, by the Spirit but not before the world. (“Gifts of the Spirit,” Ensign, Nov. 1974, 28)

Gordon B. Hinckley

The priesthood includes the power to bless the sick. Is there anyone within my hearing who has not exercised or felt that divine power? Can any of us have any doubt concerning its efficacy? We could tell of miracles, sacred and wonderful, that we have witnessed within our own experience. (“Priesthood Restoration,” Ensign, Oct. 1988, 72)