Don't Swear and Protocol for Life

May 7, 2011

James 5:12 “Above all, my brothers, do not swear-not by heaven or by earth, or by anything else.  Let your “Yes” be yes and your “No” no, or you will be condemned.”

            Lord, You say that if I grumble against a brother, I’ll be judged, and if I swear by something, I will be condemned.

            Once in a great while I watch the show “COPS” with my hubby.  I remember one night an officer was questioning an inebriated man as to whether he had been drinking.  The man said, “I swear to God, officer, I haven’t had anything to drink.”  The officer said that when any perpetrator of a crime swears to God or on their dear mother of father’s grave, you can be dead sure they are lying.  If I swear like that, I am sure to be condemned as well.

            You are telling me to always be truthful.  I believe You are also saying to follow through on a commitment made to do, or not to do, something.  Lord, I so desperately want to be a woman of my word.  I must confess that there are times when I am still tempted to lie about something or to renege on a commitment, but you are doing a mighty work in me, and  I praise and thank You for that!  Only in pride would one lie and I do not want to live a prideful life!  Help me, Lord, please.

May 8, 2011
James 5:13 “Is any one of you in trouble?  He should pray.  Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise.”

My sweet precious Lord, for years I have lived my life according to protocol.  When I was staying at home raising my children, My husband and I determined protocol for our family based on Your Word.  When I started working outside the home, each job was operated by protocol.  Here in James, You are giving us protocol for our lives.

1.      If I am in trouble I am to pray.

I am to pray to You.  I am not to get angry, distraught, worried, discouraged, or run around telling everyone of my trouble…I am to pray…simply pray!  Who knows my need before I do? You!  Who knows the outcome long before the trouble comes about? You!  Who is the only one who can change hearts, do miracles, heal, and manipulate my situation? You!  So it makes perfect sense, Lord, to pray to You and You alone!

2.      If I am happy, I should sing songs of praise.

And why would I not?  If I am happy it is because I am not in trouble.  If I am following You and find the earthly love of my lifetime, who brought that about? You!  If my needs are met, who met them? You!  If I am fulfilled in my work, who caused that to happen? You!  If my quiver is full of straight arrows, who caused that to happen? You!  You guided, taught, corrected, chastened, and encouraged.  If I have godly brothers and sisters who love and encourage and strengthen me in my walk with You, who provided them? You!  So why would I not sing songs of praise to YOU?

But alas, Lord, sometimes I take these things for granted and forget.  Please forgive me.  I am so very blessed with the husband, children, grandchildren, occupation, provisions, church, and friends You have supplied.  I have a measure of health that is above most women my age.  For all of this, I praise You!  I thank You!  I am so unworthy, fail so often, and yet You bless me because of Your grace and mercy!  Who on earth is like You, God?  No one!

Job's Perseverance-God's Compassion and Mercy

James 5:11 “As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered.  You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about.  The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.”

            Lord, Job should be an example for us all.  I honestly doubt that I have ever been tempted by Satan himself.  He is not omnipresent as You are.  Job did not suffer because he was an errant one of Your children, but because he was righteous.  He went through tremendous grief, physical pain, and even harassment from his friends and wife, but never blamed or turned against You.  How long did he suffer, Lord?  Was it a month, a year, 2 years?  In our “instant” culture, we tend to expect that suffering of any kind should last hours at most.  My dear twin sister suffered with cancer and its side effects for 20 years and she, like Job, never once blamed You.  In fact, when she was asked “Why You?’ she would always reply, “Why not me? If God did not withhold suffering from His perfect Son, why should I, His imperfect servant, expect not to suffer here as well?  I will never suffer again in all of eternity!”  What a precious testimony!

            Lord, perseverance, like contentment, must be learned.  It is not within our nature to have the desire for either.  Your Spirit is the One who helps us to learn through times of trial and suffering.  Thank You for not leaving us alone down here.  Help us to see Him at work each and every day of our lives, and may I not quench His work in mine.  We may not see the tremendous restoration of health and wealth You restored to Job while we are here, but in Heaven…for eternity…Oh what awaits us!  Our lives here are but a breath!  Even so, Lord Jesus quickly come!

Patience, Prophets and Suffering

James 5:10 “Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.”

            Lord, immediately Jeremiah comes to mind, but others also.  Most knew before they ever spoke Your word to their countrymen that they would not listen.  How hard that must have been and how patient they were.  They suffered persecution and abuse from their own people.  We are just now starting to experience persecution in our own country.

            Lord, will be patient in suffering?  I am afraid that I will not be for even now if I have a headache or am sick, I want the pain to go away instantly.  Lord, I certainly will need Your grace and mercy in abundance when that time comes.

Grumbling Against One Another Will Be Judged

James 5:9 “Don’t grumble against each other, brothers, as you will be judged.  The Judge is standing at the door!”

            O Lord!  What an admonition especially for spouses and families!  Lord, did your mom and Joseph fight or argue?  Did your siblings fight with each other or with their parents?  Even in the sweetest Christ-like homes, irritations arise with one another and grumblings either at or about each other are common. Spouses don't get along or grumble that the other has not met some expectation. Parents grumble against their children when they do not act as we think they ought.  Children grumble (tattle) about each other too!

            One might expect these persecuted Christians to grumble against their oppressors, but they were grumbling against one another just as we do today.  But You are saying that we will be judged, and soon, for it.  O Lord, help us to always remember that You live within our Christian spouses and family members and when we grumble at or about them, we grumble against You!  Help us to remember that with all Christians with whom we come in contact whether at work or at church.  How will we ever win the lost if we act like them?

            Lord, I confess that there have been times when I have grumbled either verbally or in my heart and mind.  Please forgive me.  For whether verbal or not, the condition of my heart was not right, driven by either pride or selfishness.  Forgive me for that as well, Lord.  Help me to be more aware of this tendency, for I never want to grumble again.  For if I truly believe that nothing happens to me that You have not first approved for my ultimate good, why would I grumble?

Stand Firm

James 5:8 “You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.”

Lord, “stand firm” is an encouragement we need today for sure.  You and I have already discussed the “be patient” part of these verses.

Our culture is becoming more and more hostile to Christians.  Even now there are Christians calling for us to stand against its onslaught.  Chuck Colson’s Manhattan Proclamation, Matt Staver’s Amici Project, Glenn Beck’s Tea Party Movement, and many other grass roots groups are calling for Christians to stand against the moral decay and oncoming corrupt and socialistic government in our country.  By signing these documents, or joining their group, we may very well be signing our death warrant as martyrs or at the very least the warrant for our arrest.  If not our generation, it may be our children or grandchildren.

Lord, teach us…teach me to stand firm in my faith in You and in the hope of your eminent return.  Help me Lord, not to become desensitized to sin or to compromise my faith for the sake of creature comforts or position.  I do not ever want to be like Peter when he denied You to save his own hide, or so he thought at the time.  Help me to be more like Dietrich Bonheoffer in Nazi Germany…ready to become a martyr to spread, and stand for, Your truth!

Patience in Suffering

May 2, 2011

James 5:7 “Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming.  See how the farmer waits for the land to yield a valuable crop and how patient he is for the fall and spring rains.”

My dear Lord, patience is something we all know we all need and know we should have.  However; most of us do not actually want to be patient.  In the flesh we want immediate resolution to our problems.  We want the oppressor judged and sentenced yesterday.  When we are suffering, it is hard to wait.  I know You understand that from Your hours before Your death.

           

I taught my children that patience meant waiting without complaining.  It is really funny now to hear my grandchildren recite when asked what patience means, “It means waiting without complaining.”

Having grown up on a farm, I can well understand this analogy.  You have a specific plan for each and every seed.  Each kind has its own timeline.  Without ample water the seed will not grow. There may be irrigation that can bring water from an ample source, but for the most part, farmers have to await the rain You send and await the seeds to sprout and grow.  These things are out of our control.  So it is with suffering we do not bring on ourselves.

Lord, there are things that will be happening soon in our lives over which we will have no control.  You are telling us to be patient as Your return is even more eminent than in James’ day.  In the end all will be made right.  Justice will prevail.  But until then we are to “wait without complaint”.

Warning to Rich Oppressors

James 5:4-6 “Look!  The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you.  The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.  You (rich oppressors) have lived on earth a life of luxury and self-indulgence.  You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.  You have condemned and murdered innocent men who were not opposing you.”

            Lord, You are the Just One and are holy and true.  You are also omniscient and omnipresent.  The sins against your children do not go unnoticed and are judged.

 I have never been the victim of not being paid for the work I have done for Christians or non-Christians.  I know that when this was written Your children were disbursed throughout the Roman Empire and were being persecuted.  They did not have the right to sue their employer for non-payment as we might do today.  There were no bankruptcy courts, welfare, unemployment insurance, food stamps or Medicaid.  So if an employer did not pay the workman, he would have to sell himself or his whole family into slavery to pay his bills.  If he still could not pay, he was put in prison and would most likely die a slow agonizing death of starvation.  The workmen were not the guilty ones

What an encouragement it must have been to those believers that their cried had reached Your ears, Almighty God.  The rich oppressors who were living it up would not get off “Scott Free”.  You are the perfect judge.  This brings to mind the verse that says how terrifying it is to fall into the hands of an angry God.  The innocent might die in prison, but would go to be with You for eternity.  The guilty would pay dearly for their sins forever in Hell.   But You are not willing that any (not even the rich oppressors) should perish, but all should come to repentance, so You had James write this warning to them to give them a chance to repent.

How it must grieve You when Your children are oppressed and mistreated. How it must grieve You also that those unsaved that you also loved enough to die for, reject Your love for the pleasures and treasures of this world and end up in hell for eternity.