The Prayer of Faith

Tradition and Wisdom
Teaching and Learning:
Forgiving as God's People

James 5:3-18

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. ^4-6All 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.
 ^7-8Meanwhile, 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.
 ⁹Friends, 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.
 ^10-11Take 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.
 ¹²And 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

 ^13-15Are 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. ^16-18Make 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.

For Reflection
I don't know that I would want to be a fatter than usual corpse!   You know, it really is all about you.  As many times we have succumbed to the temptation of criticizing others and trying to regulate behavior we consider to be immoral, amoral or just plane evil, it really comes down to fighting the devil within you.  Fighting the temptation to sin and some times losing a battle or two.

Thank God for grace.  Confessing short comings and backsliding action and asking forgiveness from the one true God is an act of authentic repentance.  God will hear you and you will be forgiven.  It is this forgiveness that enables faithful obedient living.

Pray
Confess your misdeeds, your transgressions, to God.  Ask and accept His forgiveness. Pray that you will listen as God whispers His gentle guidance.