this might be a little long, but seems to me James fits a lot of this thread very well - here are some excerpts from James , The Message,
interspersed with questions/thoughts of mine.
Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides.
??like when an angel of light tempts you ?
If you don't know what you're doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help.
??what if eve did this ?, or adam ?
The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have
no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust.
Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood,
and becomes a real killer.
??sometimes we can't blame the devil ?
In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the
Word, making a salvation-garden of your life.

God knows what to do ! YEAH !!!

But whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God—the
free life!—even out of the corner of his eye, and sticks with it, is no
distracted scatterbrain but a man or woman of action. That person
will find delight and affirmation in the action.
>> We get to do what God wants! WOW! Just ask Him.
Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is
this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight.
?? Did God reeaallly say this ? Why they don't tell us in church?
My dear friends, don't let public opinion influence how you live out
our glorious, Christ-originated faith
?? Today, 2006, does/doesn't that include church opinion ?
Isn't it clear by now that God operates quite differently? He chose the
world's down-and-out as the kingdom's first citizens.
>> i.e. "The last shall be first." ?
Dear friends, do you think you'll get anywhere in this if you learn all
the right words but never do anything?
??Like, "Yes, dad, I'll obey you"; but then don't?
0Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but
then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done
something wonderful? That's just great. Demons do that, but what
good does it do them?
>> "The demons believe, and shudder !"...so, believing helps how ?
The very moment you separate body and spirit, you end up with a
corpse. Separate faith and works and you get the same thing: a
corpse.
>> That's clear.
Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from?
Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about
because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside
yourselves. You lust for what you don't have and are willing to kill to
get it. You want what isn't yours and will risk violence to get your
hands on it.
>> God can't be talking about ir__ ? Can He ?
If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance
you get, you end up enemies of God and his way.
>> Did eve flirt with a good looking angel ?
It's common knowledge that "God goes against the willful proud; God
gives grace to the willing humble."
>> Was eve proud of her unsurpassed beauty ? (She was certainly
more beautiful than anyone on earth, in the flesh, for the past couple
thou)
Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life.
?? Who really does this? (hint and answer:friends of God)
To the rich, James inspired by God writes: (I thought of leaving this
out, but God didn't leave the temptation out of Genesis, nor the
many many warnings of a choice - choose a curse, or a blessing (see
the blessing a little farther down) - out of all the books of the Bible.
God put this in James for a reason, to restore those wayward ones
who were willing to be corrected and restored. The ones who weren't
willing, perished.)
James: Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are
over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the
Master; it's the only way you'll get on your feet.
And now I have a word for you who brashly announce, "Today—at the
latest, tomorrow—we're off to such and such a city for the year. We're
going to start a business and make a lot of money."
All such vaunting self-importance is evil.
And a final word to you arrogant rich: Take some lessons in lament.
You'll need buckets for the tears when the crash comes upon you.
Your money is corrupt and your fine clothes stink. Your greedy
luxuries are a cancer in your gut, destroying your life from within.
You thought you were piling up wealth. What you've piled up is
judgment.
All the workers you've exploited and cheated cry out for judgment.
The groans of the workers you used and abused are a roar in the ears
of the Master Avenger. You've looted the earth and lived it up. But all
you'll have to show for it is a fatter than usual corpse. In fact, what
you've done is condemn and murder perfectly good persons, who
stand there and take it.
Then, to the oppressed believers James writes:
Meanwhile, friends, wait patiently for the Master's Arrival.
Take the old prophets as your mentors. They put up with anything,
went through everything, and never once quit, all the time honoring
God.
What a gift life is to those who stay the course!
Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other
and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and
healed. [IMPORTANT NOTE: It is written: "to each other", never never
never to the wrong person about whom it is not written]
My dear friends, if you know people who have wandered off from
God's truth, don't write them off. Go after them. Get them back and
you will have rescued precious lives from destruction and prevented
an epidemic of wandering away from God.