<<< I don't think I can make grace happen, but for some reason I can't rest and realize it is all of Jesus, because of many scriptures that seem to imply that it is us too. Like in the book of James,etc. >>>

Keep in mind it was through using "many scriptures" that the religious community ultimately rejected Jesus.  So, don't let the SEEMING implications become the reasons for your own doubts.  The truth is that we all have these little fears tucked away, but the most insidious ones are those backed up by and chapter and verse!!

Jesus made a few blanket statements to the Pharisees, Scribes, and Sadducees as to how they did not believe the very "scriptures" they used to "test" and "accuse" him.  It should come as no surprise that the Bible would remain the #1 weapon used against Jesus today as it was when he walked the earth before the cross.  But somehow, we still assume that a "chapter and verse" argument must be valid.

The funny thing about most views of the book of James is that he was probably the most like Jesus in his presentation.  He was after all, the half brother of Jesus, and had many connections with him.  Somehow we fail to take into account the fact that James' statements were aimed at the same religiosity that Jesus blasted when he walked among them.  He demanded that religious words and opinions had nothing in common with the miraculous life of the Spirit.  James came to realize that the same kind of religious "professors" had infiltrated the assemblng of those made alive in Christ and he made it clear in no uncertain terms that all their pretentious words of "faith" had no life in them.  It was the very same conclusion Jesus made in his famous "Sermon on the Mount", which is another "scripture" passage that is used to make salvation SEEM to be partially our work.  Strange.

Jim