patient and prayerful…

a mature person is patient and prayerful.

james 5.7,11 (niv), be patient then, brothers, until the LORD’s coming…as you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered.  verse 16 (niv), the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.  GOD says the mark of a mature person is, he is patient and prayerful. 

those are the two key words in chapter five of the book of james.  patient is used four times and prayer is used seven times.  the mark of a mature person is they are patient and they are prayerful.  those two go together.

james 5.7 (niv), be patient then, brothers, until the LORD’s coming.  see how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, how patient he is for the fall and spring rain.  you too be patient.  stand firm because the LORD’s coming is near.  don’t grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged.

he’s saying, be patient and he uses the illustration of a farmer and if anybody has to be patient, it is a farmer.  he does a lot of waiting.  he plants a seed, waits, prays, hopes, expects…he waits.  there are no overnight crops.

and just like a farmer, we too sometimes have to wait.  we have to wait on GOD to answer our prayer.  we have to wait on GOD for a miracle.  we have to wait on GOD to work in our lives.  we have to wait.  patience is a mark of maturity.  the only way you learn patience is by waiting.

have your kids ever learned the difference between, “no” and “not yet.”  when they are young is seems that they both mean the same thing. 

many times GOD says to you, “not yet.”  HE doesn’t mean “no.”  HE doesn’t mean HE is not going to answer your prayer, HE is just saying, you’ve got to wait.  I want you to develop, to grow.

james 5.16 (niv), therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other that you may be healed.  the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.  elijah was a man just like us.  he prayed earnestly that it wouldn’t rain and it didn’t rain on the land for three and a half years.  again he prayed and the heavens gave rain and the earth produced its crop.

if anybody was patient it was elijah.  elijah was patient and he was prayful.  that’s a mark of maturity.

just a thought from the front porch…