We must recognise who the enemy is. It is not a member of your family, neither is it your boss, your neighbour nor your pastor or your priest. Those people who bother you are being used by demons to frustrate believers. James tells us to resist satan and he will flee.
We pray and if we do not see immediate answers we think the Lord has forgotten us, or is refusing us. But no. He is teaching us perseverance. He is also waiting for us to be ready for the exciting things He has prepared for us in the future.
As one who is learning very slowly to let the Lord make plans for me, I can tell you that life is much more exciting than it was when I made my own plans. His plans are bigger, better, and a hundred percent more sure of being accomplished than ours.
There is no point in wearing the belt of truth and knowing that Jesus is Lord, if we do not walk in peace. We cannot expect the enemy to run from us if we are not carrying the shield of faith which will resist the fiery darts he throws us.
The thing that we cannot imagine from our blurred perspective of that first earthly home is that Adam and Eve did not even know that bad things existed. Until Eve took the fruit, neither she nor Adam had their eyes opened to the knowledge of good and evil. How wonderful!
Paul is telling this Galatian church that just like any farmer, they will reap what they sow. But James in this last verse seems to be going further than that. He tells us that not only will a peacemaker reap peace, but also righteousness which means right standing with God.
The more we open our spirits to receive from God, the less we will find ourselves guilty of saying the wrong thing. If we submit to Jesus, and His word, we cannot help but be changed. We do not do it ourselves, He does it for us with our co-operation.
Real Wisdom, the wisdom from God, begins with a holy life and is characterised by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day, cold the next, not two faced. You can develop a healthy community that lives right with God.
The world needs freshwater and salt water. They are not used for the same purposes, and we need them to come from different sources. In the same way our hearts should be so full of the Word of God and His thoughts, that we never use bad language or criticism.
James must have suffered a lot from the words of others, and you can feel the bitterness behind what he says, and imagine in your mind the pictures he uses in stressing his point. The chapter continues the message about the use of our tongues giving different examples.