James 5

Sorry it took me so long to post James 5. I have been reading it for a couple of days and to be honest with you, I'm not in the right frame of mind to post my thoughts. Currently I am dealing with feelings of intense anger. When I read this, I think about that anger and what has caused it and I can't write about these verses due to the possibility of my own agenda seeping through.

So I thought I would share this based on how I am feeling.

Life is full of ups and downs and so is our relationship with God. We are not always in that place of feeling content. At times we feel like we are walking beside him with every step we take. Other times it feels as if He is a million miles away. That is normal. That is part of it. It's not real life to always feel like you are on that mountain top. Today, for instance, I can tell that I'm grumpy. I am not at a place where I FEEL like loving those who have hurt me. I don't FEEL like working on relationships and I don't FEEL like forgiving either. These are the times I have to trust that God's Word and His friendship are carrying me, even if I don't feel it.

James 5 (The Message)

Destroying Your Life from Within

1-3 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.


4-6 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.

7-8 Meanwhile, friends, wait patiently for the Master's Arrival. You see farmers do this all the time, waiting for their valuable crops to mature, patiently letting the rain do its slow but sure work. Be patient like that. Stay steady and strong. The Master could arrive at any time.

9 Friends, don't complain about each other. A far greater complaint could be lodged against you, you know. The Judge is standing just around the corner.

10-11 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! You've heard, of course, of Job's staying power, and you know how God brought it all together for him at the end. That's because God cares, cares right down to the last detail.

12 And since you know that he cares, let your language show it. Don't add words like "I swear to God" to your own words. Don't show your impatience by concocting oaths to hurry up God. Just say yes or no. Just say what is true. That way, your language can't be used against you.

Prayer to Be Reckoned With

13-15 Are you hurting? Pray. Do you feel great? Sing. Are you sick? Call the church leaders together to pray and anoint you with oil in the name of the Master. Believing-prayer will heal you, and Jesus will put you on your feet. And if you've sinned, you'll be forgiven—healed inside and out.

16-18 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. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with. Elijah, for instance, human just like us, prayed hard that it wouldn't rain, and it didn't—not a drop for three and a half years. Then he prayed that it would rain, and it did. The showers came and everything started growing again.

19-20 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.

When I read these scriptures, I feel like pointing fingers in some faces. But I need to figure out how this applies to ME, not anyone else. A lot of people DON'T GET IT and I desperately WANT TO GET IT!