10 For examples of patience in suffering, dear brothers and sisters, look at the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.----------------------
It is very encouraging to think about what the prophets had to endure because they spoke in the name of the Lord. The only difference is....they spoke a message (in the people's eyes) of destruction and condemnation because of how the people were living their lives! We get to speak a message of salvation...a message of joy and deliverance! How awesome is that? Yet, so many Christians today are being persecuted because of this message of joy, the Gospel! The crazy thing is that some of these Christians probably don't even have access to the word and can read about the prophets like we can. I just read in Jeremiah that though he was taken to court and people plotted to kill him, though he was innocent...he stood firm in his faith! At the end he was saved by the witness of some of the wise men in the crowd. Uriah, on the other hand ran away in fear and was killed shortly after anyway. This only shows that the job of the prophets was not an easy one. So it definitely is good to look at their strength and be encouraged by their faith!
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ReplyDelete17-18 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.
ReplyDeleteI have so often disconnected myself from the people in the Bible that did amazing things for the Kingdom of God. What is amazing is James is saying that Elijah, who was one of the "mightiest men" in the Bible, is just like me. That I differ in no way from Elijah in and of myself.
The distinction is this: There are no mighty men of God. Only weak, sinful, helpless men who are used by a mighty God.
Let us meditate on this because what could God do in us if we really believed that Elijah had a nature like ours. That all we need to do is submit to the will of God in our lives and then He will begin to work.
20 remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.
ReplyDeleteWe have the ability to show somebody how to be saved through Christ from their sins. This is a very powerful peice of scripture to me. It is showing what we are able to do. But in reality we are unable to complete these things because of our shortfalls. Its just motivating to try to become a better disciple of Christ.
16 "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."
ReplyDeleteThere is so much power in prayer and I feel that a lot of the time we get stuck on our own lives and our own struggles and ask God to help ourselves with what we are going through. What I encourage us to do is to not pray for ourselves, but for our brothers. Confess your sins and your struggles with your brothers and let us pray for each other, because with each brother praying for one another is much stronger than you just praying for yourself.