Thursday, November 10, 2011
Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Seehow the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.9 Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door! My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. Indeed we count them blessed who tendure. You have heard of tthe perseverance of Job and seen tthe end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. James 5:7-11
I’m not very good at surprises. I’m way too impatient. I want to know, and I want to know now. It’s not good, but it’s something I am working on. Today James tells us to “be patient… until the coming of the Lord.” James says that the Lord is coming back! How incredible is that. In the context of this paragraph, He is coming back to make everything right. The oppressed will be set free! What incredible news. I don’t want to be patient, yet that is what James commands us to be!
What do I do until he comes? James uses the illustration of a farmer waiting to harvest. Does a farmer waiting for a harvest sit idle? No way! He works the fields! James says to “establish your hearts.” Our hearts need to be right with God, ready for Him to come back. What does that look like? Being right with our brothers in Christ (vs. 9). Patience can wear thing and we can respond like Jesus isn’t coming back. James says, He’s at the door! He is about to come. Don’t grumble, be ready! (v.9)
James also uses the illustration of some of the prophets. They knew that God was going to do something incredible in the future, and had to suffer in the present knowing what was coming. They could deal with today, knowing that God’s compassion and mercy would be here tomorrow.
Application: Do you really believe that Christ is coming back? If he came back today would your heart be right with Him? Are you ready? Is there someone you need to get right with? You may not have tomorrow. Get it right today!
Study the Scriptures with Ben Jennings 
I do believe that god is coming back with all my heart because the bible tells you that he is coming back and he will take us to a better place ten we are now and live a better life then we are living down here. If God came right now I think I would be ready I think I would be ready for him to take me to the promise land, I would be ready. There are some people I need to get right with and try to be nice but they won’t work with me and they are like such bullies Im trying to make things right but they just won’t core operate with me.
I do believe that he is coming back! Because it tells u so in the piece of history!!!! The bible!!!!!!!!! 🙂 I love the bible cuz it let’s ucknow more and more about god! 🙂 it’s a very difficult but intrestin piece of info! 🙂 Great job everyone!!! 🙂 love u guys!!! 🙂
I definitley think God’s coming back soon!! Idk when, but i know He is going to come back to this earth at any time. My heart at the moment.. Hmm well, it could use work. Im really trying to have God number 1 always in my life, but theres a lot that takes me away from God, especially people. I feel like my hearts beeen a little distant from God lately, like doing my devos is hard all of a sudden & my prayers get distracted & sometimes i dont finish them. Those are things i feel like i need to get right in order to be right with God!! Have Him before everything. I love my God.. And i feel like i have SO much more to do/improve before He comes back to earth 🙂
Like everyone else is saying, I believe Christ is coming back soon! But no one knows when! I can definitely get impatient, but I love the illustration James uses about the farmer! When the farmer is waiting for his crops he doesn’t just sit around doing nothing, he keeps working. We don’t when Christ is coming back, could be today, tomorrow, a year from now,.. So why would we sit around doing nothing, just waiting for Him to come back when we could be preparing for His coming?! I probably wouldn’t be very ready though if He came back today. But thinking about this is reminding me that He could seriously come at ANY TIME! And that’s kinda weird, but verrrry exciting!!! So if He could be coming back at any time, I definitely want to be ready! Like Lindsey said, I don’t think I’m doing all I should be.. When I stand before God, whenever that is, I want Him to be proud of me. But I’m not sure if He’d be proud of me right now, I mess up a LOT 😦 but the important thing when I mess up is to ask Him (and anyone else I need to) for forgiveness, and not let it slow me down from doing what God wants!
When I was younger I was always nervous about Christ coming back and I always said I wanted to live my life before He did. But I realized how selfish that was! I mean I was practically saying I didn’t want to go to heaven until I lived my full life. But it’s totally different now! I feel like Christ coming back before my life is over would actually be a good thing, I could spend even more time with Him and I would be rid of this sin filled world! So whenever this happens, whether I’m 15 or 50, I want to be ready! 🙂
Sorry I kinda went on and on. lol. But I loved the devotions today 😀
I really do believe Christ is coming back, because not only does it say it in the bible more than once, but it’s the truth. If He were to come back today I don’t think my heart would be 100% right with Him.. And that really really bothers me, because it’s true, He could be coming back in the next hour I wouldn’t know, that’s why it’s so important to be serious about it. I don’t want Christ to come back and not be ready for it. I want to be able to feel as though I lived everyday doing everything I possibles could for Christ. This is all so important and not something to take lightly. To me God is most important to me, but my life doesn’t always reflect that and that’s what I need to get right. My relationship with Him needs to be legit and strong! I apologize to God today for not always putting Him first and for not always taking life is like a vapor seriously, cause it truly is! #Gettingserious
Whoop typos! Oh well y’all get what I tried saying! Hopefully… 😛
uhhh..i definetely believe he’s coming back!! im so excited i can’t wait! like tristian said it says in the bible he’s coming! just knowing that he will come and take us to paradise! the farmer w/ the crops is a good example.the farmer doesn’t just sit around not doing anything,he’s working! whether he’s coming back in 1,5,or 10 yrs.we need 2 b working and spreading his word.love u guys!! pastor ben i hv 2 questions,#i,hv u picked the people 2 do the drama and #2 will anyone hv 2 sing? just a few curiosities!! 🙂
if someone is singing i totally want to do it 😀 and good stuff allie
yea i do 2! like u,my realationship is growing and becoming more personal with God.yea memorization is great and something to deff do but we need to get more personal with God.say something happens down the road.using the chore for instance,u may hv already done ur chore for the day and be like “oh i already spent time with him and thats the only time i’ll spend with him each day” in my opinion,we should spend more time with him than just a devotion once a day.how about pray on a daily basis.thats what i do.this really shows my realationship has grown more far and personal.yes grace ur heart has DEFINETLY been changed!! 🙂 love ya girl!! 🙂 <33333
There isn’t any singing parts.. Sorry
But I’m sure they’re will be an opportunity for you guys to sing sometime! 🙂
I believe He’s coming back and I totally can’t wait. My heart, of course, isn’t how it’s should be, but I’m definitely trying to work on it. He’s coming back and I wanna do everything I can to get ready. I definitely see myself getting closer and closer to God while doing these devotions and my heart has definitely been changing. My new school has been a real challenge for me, because at my old school I kind of took God for granted. At my new school, there’s no God and I have to do everything myself. I definitely find my relationship with God becoming more personal instead of just a chore or memorization.
A farmer is a great example of what christians should be doing to get ready. He hasn’t come back yet, but we should be “taking care of the crops” until it’s time to “harvest them”. I’m ready!
What I got out of this is that Jesus is coming back and we can’t just sit around and do nothing. We need be proactive in our relationship with God and other people.