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Walking By Faith is a Christian podcast hosted by Sarah and Murray, bringing practical Bible teaching and real-life faith conversations to help believers grow in their daily walk with Christ. Each episode explores Scripture through a modern lens, offering encouragement, biblical wisdom, Christian living principles, discipleship, prayer, faith-building lessons, and practical applications for everyday life. Whether you’re seeking spiritual growth, biblical encouragement, Christian inspiration, Bible study insights, or guidance for navigating life’s challenges, Walking By Faith helps connect God’s Word to real-world situations.
Hello everybody and welcome to episode one of
Walking by Faith and I'm here, my name
is Murray Elbourne and I'm here with my
co-host Sarah.
Sarah, please introduce yourself.
Hey guys, I'm Sarah Reynolds and I have
a TikTok channel and that's how Murray and
I met through my 100 Our Father Prayer
Streams.
And exactly right, I tuned into Sarah's prayer
streams and they're just so powerful and the
vibe in the room is so amazing.
And a lot of people have kind of
said to me over the years, hey, you
should do something that has practical learning outcomes
because I always talk about the practical learning
outcomes from my pastor and how powerful they
were and then Sarah's message is so powerful
as well.
So I definitely wanted to invite her into
doing this and for us to do it
together.
So Sarah, do you want to talk a
little bit about what we're going to do
today with James chapter one?
Yes, I'm so looking forward to this because
I think that this particular letter from James
is so practical, filled with practical stuff.
In fact, I'm in a 12-step recovery
program in AA and a lot of the
things he said just reminded me of stuff
from the big book and I thought, I
think the guy who wrote the big book
was reading the book of James first.
Absolutely.
And we talked about our father prayer streams.
I was in the store the other day
and saw this book and I had to
get it, Sarah.
It's Your Lord's Prayer and the Lord's Prayer
and it goes through and gives the Lord's
Prayer and in the first page here, my
little nephew who just turned one can write
his name in the book and then it
goes through and talks about the Lord's Prayer
and gives the parts of the prayer and
gives practical pictures for the parts, which is
amazing.
So it made me think of you, Sarah,
when I saw this.
And I think the Lord's Prayer is the
most practical prayer we could ever pray.
I mean, one of the most practical things
we will ever say all day is, God,
lead me not into temptation and deliver me
from evil.
And so that's why I love it so
much.
Absolutely.
And so the parts of the James chapter,
chapter one, we'll go through the verses.
We'll talk about practical outcomes from the verses.
And really, I think it's an endurance of
trials and how to talk and listen to
God.
It's definitely very practical learning outcomes.
We all face challenges in our lives.
And, you know, Sarah, you've just talked about
your 12-step program.
For me, you know, I've had challenges with
my health and at times with my blindness
and my low vision.
A lot of people who have blindness and
low vision say, why me?
Why is this happening to me?
And sometimes when we go through life, it's
really easy to talk about why things are
happening to you and how they're really challenges
that you need to endure.
And I always feel like, you know, there's
a reason that things happen.
And I'm a big believer in that things
happen for a reason.
And, you know, I've always thought about my
blindness and my low vision being an opportunity
to really help others.
And just last weekend, I was at a
conference with 32 families with kids with disabilities.
And just for me to be able to
have gone through this and to be able
to help those people, we'll be talking about
doing things in faith rather than just hearing
things about faith today in James.
And that was a message that really came
to me and was really strong that, you
know, you've got to live it and you've
got to live your experiences to help others
to overcome similar things in their life.
And so that's why I'm really excited that
we're doing James as our first episode today.
Yes.
Awesome.
Okay.
So, Sarah, you are the reader of James
chapter one.
You're very experienced at this with your prayer
streams.
So you'll read verse one to four and
then we'll break down some practical outcomes from
it.
Okay.
Awesome.
All right.
James, a servant of God and of the
Lord Jesus Christ to the 12 tribes in
the dispersion.
Greetings.
Count it all joy, my brethren, when you
meet various trials, for you know that the
testing of your faith produces steadfastness and let
steadfastness have its full effect, that you may
be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
So it's a powerful opening to the chapter,
right?
Talking about that, you know, trials are a
part of life for every believer, that difficulties
can produce spiritual growth, which is really important.
And testing of faith, development, developing patience.
You know, we live in a society, I
think, Sarah, that doesn't have a lot of
patience anymore.
And more and more people are tested for
their patience and their faith.
And it's very easy to say something and
not have perseverance around things that should be
important to us as people.
And I think that's going away, which is
why this practical learning is so important.
How about for you?
What are some of the examples that really
ring through to you about these first kind
of four verses?
What really hits me is steadfastness, because steadfastness
means unbreakable.
And throughout the Bible, it says that God's
love is steadfast.
It's unbreakable love.
And so for us to endure trials and
then come away with just a fraction of
God's love, and it strengthens our connection to
Father God and to Jesus, that is the
most powerful thing, that we're lacking in nothing.
Even if everything is falling apart in our
lives, we've got that steadfast love to rely
on.
And I think that's a really great message,
you know, in the trials of difficulties.
And sometimes we think, well, why is this
happening?
You know, why do I have to go
through this?
But when we look back at those trials,
you know, and we've gotten stronger and we've
gotten closer with God in many instances and
closer to the word and in faith, those
trials really build us the capacity to have
that perseverance that they talk about in James
chapter one, right?
And so I think like, it's very easy
to look at the negative straightaway and say
why, but it's harder to look at the
big picture and understand that we have to
go through these trials to be able to
get stronger and to be more persevering.
Yes.
And one of the things that I hear
all the time in my program, my 12
-step program, is when people, when we say,
why me?
Why is this happening to me?
It's really, why not me?
You know, there's someone who's struggling even more,
somebody who maybe just lost their job.
Someone else has been unemployed for 10 years
and someone else can no longer work.
So it's that idea of saying, what is
God's will for me?
How can I feel joy in the midst
of these trials?
And I love that message.
And I think the other message is that
that perseverance leads to, you know, spiritual maturity
and completeness, you know, and that's an important
message.
And I think if you take something in
your life that was bad and you overcame
it, you can really look back on that
journey and say, actually, that was a learning
moment.
That's where I did gain perseverance and I
did gain better understanding because I had faith
that whatever was supposed to happen, happened for
a reason.
So I just think, you know, we don't
think about that enough when something bad does
happen.
Why don't we go into verses five through
eight.
Okay.
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him
ask God, who gives to all men generously
and without reproaching, and it will be given
him.
But let him ask in faith with no
doubting, for he who doubts is like a
wave of the sea that is driven and
tossed by the wind.
For that person must not suppose that a
double-minded man, unstable in all his ways,
will receive anything from the Lord.
And I just have to say right off
the bat, that reminds me of the serenity
prayer that I say every single day, God
grant me the serenity to accept the things
I cannot change, the courage to change the
things I can, and the wisdom to know
the difference.
And of course, to find out that wisdom
and discernment are part of the gifts and
the fruits of the Spirit is just on
point.
James is just on point.
It really is.
And I think, you know, that God does
invite us to ask him for wisdom.
You know, we pray and, you know, sometimes
prayers seem like, oh, we're just praying for
the sake of praying.
But in asking him for wisdom, he wants
us to come to him.
He wants to guide us, you know, through
the challenges.
And I think having that faith is so
important, you know, that he gives us the
wisdom and it gives it generously, you know,
and that's an important thing to talk about
is that I always think when I pray,
wow, I really need to say thank you
a lot, you know, for things that come
true and that he provides and the wisdom
that he gives me to think broadly about
that big picture that we talked about earlier,
instead of being reactive in the moment, which
is so easy to do for all of
us, and we do.
Tell me about that for you.
Oh, yeah, the reactive in the moment.
I mean, and James will get to this,
but the patience, like I pray, I have
to pray for patience at the beginning of
every single day.
It's so true.
And you're not alone, Sarah.
I think everyone has a lack of patience.
I know that, you know, I used to
really get annoyed and angry about just little
things in every day that would cause so
much anger and pain for me that I
had to really ask God, hey, give me
more patience to be able to let little
things go that in the general parts of
the day don't really mean anything.
Right.
It's like you get so annoyed for something
so little and then you look back on
it and you think, wow, that was a
lot of emotion that I just used up
and a lot of energy for something that
wasn't really important anyway.
One hundred percent.
Yes.
And how about the double mindedness and and
leading to instability?
I think that's an important part as well.
You know, when we don't trust that God
has a plan and we don't trust in
our faith, you know, kind of we start
to go down that slippery slope.
Right.
And and for a lot of people coming
back from that, even at the beginning of
that journey on that slippery slope is difficult.
Tell me about, you know, your thoughts in
that.
And and when you're in the prayer stream,
even, you know, you can kind of sense
that when people ask for prayer for certain
things, you know, they've already gone down that
slippery slope and they've already started that double
mindedness to to doubt.
Is this working?
That's a great example that you brought up
with the prayer stream, because people will ask,
you know, let's so and so in the
romantic relationship come back to me.
And I'll always have to say, you know,
I never pray for somebody's free will to
be overridden, but I can pray for both
of you to be filled with the Holy
Spirit and for the best outcome for God's
will for your life.
Right.
But I know I much prefer the healing
prayers like give me a good healing prayer
any day of the week.
Right.
All right.
Let's go on to James verses nine through
twelve.
OK.
Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation
and the rich and his humiliation, because like
the flower of the grass, he will pass
away for the sun rises with its scorching
heat and withers the grass, its flowers falls,
its flower falls and its beauty perishes.
So will the rich man fade away in
the midst of his pursuits.
And that is just so right on point.
Our life is fleeting.
And so let us try to find humility,
because the blessings that we have could be
gone in an instant.
And, you know, in today's society, especially, I
think it's everyone's so consumed with things.
Right.
And possessions.
And we don't I guess we don't really
want to understand the value of the important
things, relationships and people and how we make
each other feel.
And that that's so important.
And this talks about that.
You know, the earthly riches are temporary.
Spiritual treasures are eternal.
And I think, you know, just again, walking
back and having faith, even if you don't
have the best car or the best apartment
or house or whatever that is for you.
You know, I've certainly had times in my
life where I've financially and I have not
had faith and I've been focused on the
possession and getting the possession rather than the
journey of faith.
And then when I just gave it up
and said, OK, you know, I'm here to
have what you want me to do.
And I started doing that.
Then I started to get things and have
things and, you know, be more financially free.
And I do believe it's a result of
just having more faith that whatever is supposed
to be happening with me or through me
to others happens.
And I know that you've also been on
that journey.
You know, I want to hear from you
about how having the prayer stream has really
transformed your life.
And it's a lot of work that you
do.
I feel bad for you at early hours
of the morning when you need to change
out your contacts to your glasses and you're
struggling with your tea and yawning a little
bit.
And I think, wow, you do this all
the time.
And, you know, it's after probably a day
of work and you're tired.
But, you know, it must have a big
reward for you personally now.
Yes.
I mean, I am just so grateful because,
of course, I grew up in a Christian
family, but I did walk away from Jesus
at age 19 and coming back last fall,
October 5th of 2025, you know, after 25
years away, I am just blown away by
the mercy that God brought me back.
I always like to joke that Jesus took
the Holy Spirit lasso and lassoed me back
into the building and got me singing.
And then the Holy Spirit had the opportunity
to fill my heart and bring me back
to him.
And so I just want to do everything
I can to bring more people to Jesus.
And so that's why I've just got this
passion in my heart.
Even if I am exhausted, you know, I
want to get up every morning and read
a psalm, see the sunrise.
And then most nights, not every night, it's
usually about four nights a week, we'll do
the 100 Our Father Prayer Stream.
So, yes, it's me, my way of saying,
God, thank you so much for bringing me
back to you.
I love you so much.
And I want to bring as many people
to you as I possibly can through the
prayer streams and my TikTok videos.
And I think, you know, that outlook as
well.
And sometimes I think about how we spend
our time.
I just spent this weekend with these families
and these children and the power that it
brings to the community.
And, you know, you have over 100 people
in your prayer streams now after just doing
it for a couple of months.
And it's really gaining momentum and the value
that you bring across the world.
We have people in your prayer streams from
Europe and Asia and Africa.
And it's amazing.
And I think, you know, what would you
rather be doing?
You know, would you rather be, you know,
going out or, you know, it talks here
about those who endure trials faithfully are blessed.
And now, you know, I think we'd rather
spend our time in that space of helping
others and, you know, praying and being faithful
and the joy that that gives us in
that moment.
I know for both of us, that's probably
true.
Oh, yes.
And I sleep like an absolute baby after
the prayer stream.
I just conk right out.
I bet you do.
All right.
Well, let's look through verses 13 to 18.
I think this part of the verse has
some really good messages to it.
OK.
Let no one say when he is tempted,
I am tempted by God, for God cannot
be tempted with evil.
And he himself tempts no one.
But each person is tempted when he is
lured and enticed by his own desire.
Then desire, when it has conceived, gives birth
to sin and sin, when it is full
grown, brings forth death.
It's a powerful, powerful few verses.
And it talks, you know, a lot about
God's not tempted.
Right.
He's not tempted by evil.
And as humans think, thank goodness for Jesus,
who allows us to, you know, be tempted
and then be saved again through prayer and
forgiveness.
You know, I think that's a powerful lesson.
And the practical side of that, I think,
is really powerful as well.
Right.
Because we do all four.
We are all human.
We do have emotions and we are tempted,
but we have somebody who is above that.
And that's really important to remember.
Right.
It is so important.
And again, just because the Lord's Prayer is
like the foundation of my faith every morning,
I try to have that prayer be the
first words out of my mouth, but to
lead us not into temptation.
I just like to think of God taking
our GPS when we say that prayer, like
our soul's GPS, and just rerouting us around
any possible temptation that we might have otherwise
walked straight into during our day.
And I think, you know, every good and
perfect gift comes from God.
Right.
It's like it's part of the faith.
And when we we think about being angry
or lashing out at somebody or having a
lack of patience, and then we stop from
doing that and we think, what's the right
thing to do?
You know, sometimes it's if we're faithful, it's
about God.
But more importantly, you know, equally as importantly
is what's the right thing to do?
Why should you be that faithful person and
have that mercy with somebody in a situation
like that?
And I feel like the practical outcome is,
is that God teaches us the right way
to do things.
And having faith teaches us the right way
to do things against the temptation to lash
out or be irritated or, you know, annoyed
at somebody for something that someone did.
And it's so easy to do in today's
society.
Just having that moment that you can step
back out of that emotion.
That's a powerful thing that I think faith
gives us.
Yes, I 100% agree.
And then, you know, believers are brought forth
through God's word and of truth.
And it's important to just, you know, we
read in the word, and the word gives
us so many things that are practical learning
lessons about how to treat others, and about
how to be respectful and faithful.
And I think that that is, you know,
the ultimate thing is whether you are, even
if you're not religious, and you don't go
to church, and you don't read the Bible,
having those faithful opportunities to understand in a
prayer stream or a church sermon, or even
this podcast, it's teaching you to be a
person who you actually want to be.
Because not many people want to be angry
and annoyed all the time and irritated, right?
It's like, that's just a function of who
we are as people.
But it's not really what we want to
be.
Yes, and just to jump just a tiny
bit ahead on verse 19, when James says,
let every man be quick to hear, slow
to speak, and slow to anger.
For me, I like to take all these
beautiful suggestions that they write and turn them
into a prayer and say, help me, help
me be slow to speak and slow to
anger, Lord.
And it's so interesting, because in my 12
-step program, we talk about restraint of pen
and tongue.
So just pause and pray if you're going
to say something that you don't want to
say.
And another thing that I say every morning
is, God save me from anger.
And, you know, there's this moment in time
before the words come out of our mouth
that we can just pause and just think,
those words will come out of my mouth
like bullets from a gun.
They can never go back in.
So do I really want them to come
out of my mouth?
And James drives that home later when he
says that the tongue is fire, and those
flames come out of our mouth, and they
could burn someone, or they could be like
a lovely, warm campfire that they could warm
their hands over.
Exactly.
We'd all love to toast marshmallows and yell
at people, right?
Yes, yes.
I think let's go into verse 19 and
20, because this has some really great connotations
for practical learning.
Yes, well, and I'm sorry I did say
that one and jump ahead, but know this,
my beloved brethren.
Okay, know this, my beloved brethren, let every
man be quick to hear, slow to speak,
slow to anger, for the anger of man
does not work the righteousness of God.
Therefore put away all filthiness and rank growth
of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted
word which is able to save your souls.
Sarah, I love those two verses, honestly.
In every part of my life, I think
being quick to listen and slow to speak
is the perfect advice for anybody, because we
don't do it, right?
A lot of people, we don't do it,
and even if we are people who walk
with faith, we still don't do it, and
I think just remembering exactly what you just
said is just taking that second and saying,
do I really want to say this?
Do I really want to speak these words?
It's so powerful, and you know, I've obviously
been, you know, a CEO and been in
corporate business as well, and I say to
people, you know, when you walk into a
meeting, ask a question and be quiet.
Listen.
The most important thing you can do is
listen, and it doesn't matter where you are,
in what circumstance, if you're in a marriage
or you're in a family squabble or you're
in business, listening rather than speaking is often
the best thing that you can possibly do.
Tell me a little bit about more about,
you know, that for you.
Well, and people remember that you listened, that
you were such a good listener.
They feel sometimes the most powerful thing we
can do for another person is just let
them speak and be that listening ear and
be that love that that Jesus was for
all of his disciples.
I just, I imagine that all of them,
you know, doing the debrief at the end
of their day, out casting out demons, and
then later just them pouring their heart out
to Jesus saying this is what happened today,
and I bet he just listened and just
took it all in and took all their
pain away from the day.
And it's kind of an interesting thing, right,
but when you listen, so many times when
I've listened to somebody, they tell me, wow,
you really see me, and it's interesting, right,
because we're using our ears, but people feel
seen by having someone hear them.
Yes, so it's so powerful, yep.
And then, you know, be slow to become
angry, and that's another practical learning thing is,
you know, don't go from zero to a
hundred and outburst.
You know, think about if you're starting to
feel something, how you can come to terms
with that before it gets to the point
where you're yelling at somebody or you outburst.
You know, I think that's a really important
lesson as well, and one that takes time.
You know, I think that if you are
an angry person and you do lash out
frequently at people, you're not going to stop
that overnight from happening, but understanding where it
comes from and understanding how to kind of
control that when the feelings start is really
important.
Can you give me an example, Sarah, about
maybe how that's changed for you?
Oh, yeah.
I mean, for me, as soon as I
feel just even the little, the tiniest bit
of frustration, I pray.
I immediately pray and say, from the sick
man's prayer in AA, I say, God save
me from anger, and please help me, and
I immediately say, you know, Jesus, please help
me either figure out what to do or
take my anger.
I'll often say that, just, Jesus, please take
this, take this from me.
I put this at the foot of the
cross, and then I pray for involved to
be filled with the fruits of the spirit.
I think that's a really, you know, great
thing is going back to what we talked
about before, right, and having that faithful journey
to give it up, to have those feelings
be taken away.
That's really an important thing, and so if
you as a person can't control it, it's
great to be able to come back to,
you know, your faith and really believe that,
hey, if you can't control it, give it
over, give it up, you know?
Yes.
And that's an important thing, right, because we
are frail humans with bad tendencies who do
things to hurt others, and sometimes we can't
control that, unfortunately, but, you know, what we
talked about is the Lord won't be tempted
by evil, and that practical learning can just
bring you back down and help you deal
with that emotion.
Yeah, amen to that, yes.
All right, let's go into chapters 21 to
25, verses 21 to 25.
Oh, wait, I read 21.
Okay.
22?
22 to 25, yeah.
Okay.
But be doers of the word and not
hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
For if anyone is a hearer of the
word and not a doer, he is like
a man who observes his natural face in
a mirror.
For he observes himself and goes away and
at once forgets what he was like, but
he who looks into the perfect law, the
law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer
that forgets, but a doer that acts, he
shall be blessed in his doing.
Boy, this is a big one for me,
Sarah, I'll tell you.
I love this so much.
I feel, you know, having been around religion
quite a long time and like you come
from, you know, a Christian family and upbringing
that sometimes when, you know, we come across
other Christians and people who have faith seemingly,
when we hear them, you know, talk and
gossip and say bad things about other people,
it takes away from people's faith.
And certainly like I get affected by those
things a lot.
And I feel like, you know, that I
am more of a doer for God and
Jesus and with people than I am necessarily
with following every rule of the Bible.
But I do am now going back to
trying to be as faithful as possible, to
go along with being a doer.
But it's this, I think it's this constant
pull and tug about living versus hearing, right?
You can go to church, you can pray,
but if you still do bad things to
others, then you aren't, in my mind, like
as close to your faith as if maybe
you are always helping people and doing things
like that.
What's your kind of opinion on that?
That is such a great point.
And I think we're going to hear people,
you know, I always have to remind myself
when people that are also fellow Christians and
love Jesus, like I know they love Jesus,
I've heard their testimony.
And then you might hear them say something,
you know, that's just a little unkind, and
I just pray for them.
And I love this reference to the mirror
that we see our actual reflection, our natural
face in a mirror.
But then when we turn away, we forget
the truth of that part of ourself that
is prone to sin.
And the truth is, we just got to
keep on asking God, you know, I ask
every day for a pure heart.
Jesus, give me half as pure a heart
as you have, and I'll be cooking with
gas.
Because I want to not regret at the
end of the day that I said something
unkind that I wish I could take back.
And it makes you feel bad, right?
I think if you are truly someone with
faith, and you try to be the best
person you are, and you have a weak
moment where you do say something that's hurtful
to somebody, you can't take that back, and
it does well on you, right?
And so, but I've also seen, you know,
people who are like you, I think, man,
you do love God, you know, but then
you have these moments where you say something
pretty bad about somebody or something.
And I think, well, how does that make
you feel really?
You know, do you feel bad when you
say that?
And it's, I think it's a really interesting
point.
And it, you know, talks about a couple
things here.
You know, hearing God, hearing