Prayer, Patience & Perseverance (James 5)

In the final chapter of James, we’re reminded that faith isn’t just about trusting God when life is good. Faith is about staying faithful in the waiting. In this episode, we’re talking patience, perseverance, the power of prayer, and what it looks like to lovingly bring one another back to truth. James 5 reminds us: don’t give up, don’t stop praying, and don’t underestimate what God can do through a faithful life. Hope you enjoy!!

📖 Scripture: James 5
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Buckle on up, besties. We are back in our Bibles. Hello and good morning and happy Friday to you guys. I am so excited and so grateful that you are here, especially if you are new. I'm your host, Dana, and today we are covering the end of the book of James. This is an exciting episode, kind of special. So if you are new, first of all, welcome, welcome, welcome. Um, over the last four episodes, we have covered the book of James. So James is actually a quick one. It's short, but there's so much wisdom in here, and I've been having the time of my life dissecting it with you guys. So we've gone over James 1, 2, 3, 4, and today we finish it with chapter 5. There are some really, really good key points in chapter 5 today that I'm like really excited to dive deeper into with you guys. Um, and I don't really think there's too much to catch up on, honestly. I know typically I like to go over, I don't know, something exciting that's happening in my life. Um, but truly, like this week is just, I don't know. This week was kind of a doozy, if I'm being honest with y'all. But it's fine because God is so good. Right? God is good in the mundane, in the joy and the excitement, in the anxiousness, you know. I guess that's something to be joyful for. I I really had a pretty boring week. And I feel like it's so easy to think of boring as being negative, but boring can be good because, you know, I've talked to you guys about this. Like, I've had a couple like really anxious weeks, and so, you know, being busy and being on the go, go, go all the time like isn't always as glamorous as it as it you know looks, right? So I really think that having a boring week is something that's needed every once in a while. So that's my take, I guess. Nothing too crazy. Um, if you guys are new or if you've forgotten, I am reading out of the NLT version, which is the new living translation, and I love, love, love my partner in crime, aka my Hosanna Revival study Bible. Um, this is called a life application study bible, and as always, I will have it linked below for you guys so that you can find um the exact copy. It is seriously my saving grace and helps me really just it really helps me interpret everything that I'm reading, and then in turn, kind of, you know, translate that, help translate that, I should say, to to you. Um, so that is what I am reading out of. A lot of my notes are gonna come from there. Um, and per usual, I'm gonna lead us in with a brief prayer. So if you are somewhere safe that you can bow your head, close your eyes, please do so and join me in this prayer. Lord Jesus, thank you so much for today. Thank you for the opportunity to trust you and to speak about you. Thank you for this podcast and thank you for my friend on the other side. I pray that you are with them no matter what it is that they are going through. I pray, Lord, that you remind them that you are always there and that you love them so, so much and that you've never forgotten them. You will never leave them or forsake them. Lord, I pray that something that I speak on this podcast today resonates with them and helps them with whatever it is that they are going through. Lord, thank you so much for just the opportunity again to to praise your name and to talk about you, the freedom I have on this podcast, the friends that I have made. It is all because of your glory. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. All right, you guys, if you are reading along, open on up. Again, reminder, you could be reading a little bit different if you're not in an NLT version. So, but it's same, same story, same stuff. Okay, same good stiff. All the good stuff. All right, so we're starting with warning to the rich. And just as a reminder to you guys, in case you are just joining, and I you know what? I need the reminder too. Maybe we all need the reminder. The author is James, of course, or reading James. The author is James, which is Jesus' brother. Okay, and at this time he was a leader in the Jerusalem church. The purpose of this book was to expose a hypocritical, um, not a hypocritical, just uh hypocritical practices. Good morning. Hypocritical practices and teach how Christians should live. The original audience was first century Jewish Christians residing in Gentile communities outside Judea. Cannot talk this morning. Um, and the date written was uh AD 49. So Jesus had already died at this point, of course, and his brother is here to share some wisdom. And that he has, that he has the amount of notes I have in James is amazing. I I really, really am loving this book. So, anyways, we're gonna start here at the end, James 5, warning to the rich. And again, this is James speaking. Look here, you rich people, weep and groan with anguish because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you. Your wealth is rotting away, and your fine clothes are uh moth-eaten rags. Wow. Okay. Thanks, James. Your gold and silver are corroded. The very wealth you were counting on will eat away your flesh like fire. This corroded treasure you have hoarded will testify against you on the day of judgment. For listen, hear the cries of the field workers whom have whom you have cheated of their pay. The cries of those who harvest your fields have reached the ears of the Lord of heaven's armies. You have spent four years on earth in luxury, satisfying your every desire. You have fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter. You have condemned and killed innocent people who do not resist you. Okay, so again, that little part right there, warning to the rich. I think James 5 can be broken up into about five different parts. So we're gonna go over it. Warning to the rich. The next one we're gonna cover is patience and endurance. Then we have the power of prayer and restoring wandering believers. I guess that's four, but you get the point. So this first portion here is a warning to the rich. James proclaims the worthlessness of riches, not the worthlessness of the rich. Okay, today's money will be worthless, you guys. This is for somebody who's struggling right now with money or the identification of money, like having money and fame and fortune and wealthiness like define you. I would be lying if I said I wasn't there before too, but this is your reminder that today's money will be worthless when Christ returns. Okay, so we should be more worried about spending our time rather than our money. Okay, spend your time accumulating the kind of treasures that will be worthwhile in God's eternal kingdom. Money, it doesn't go. You ever heard the phrase can't come with me? I use that all the time. Like, if I ever like pay for dinner or something, people are like, oh, I don't know. That sounds kind of greedy. But like, if I pay for something and they're like, oh, let me pay you back. I'm like, dude, it's fine. It's not coming with me. Like, you know. Now I should say do that in moderation, right? Just don't go like spending all your money everywhere. But that's just a good, I feel like that's just like a good mindset to have. Like, can't take it with me. Okay, money's not the problem. Christian leaders need money to live and to support their families. Missionaries need money to help them spread the good news. Churches need money to do their work effectively. But the love of money, okay, this is where it like gets a little bit, this is where it starts turning wrong. The love of money leads to sin. And it causes people to oppress others in order to get more. Like, this is where it starts becoming an issue. And where it starts becoming a sin is when we put money above God, when we put money above being a good person, when we put money above the things that actually will get with us to God's kingdom. This is essentially a warning to all Christians who are tempted to adopt worldly standards rather than God's standards, standards, as well as an encouragement to all of those who are oppressed by the rich. Okay. Um James again isn't teaching that having money is automatically sinful. He's confronting people who are hoarding their wealth, exploiting others, living only for their own pleasure, allowing money to harden their hearts. This is this should be a pit stop. Heart check. Heart check. Are we allowing money, which is a worldly thing? Right, are we allowing that to harden our hearts? Are we putting it above the things that actually matter? Money is a tool. Okay, it's not a master. It makes a terrible master. In fact, who is our master? Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Money is a tool. We need it. I'm not saying don't be worried about money, don't go out and try to make money. Like we need it. Let's be real. Okay. Obviously, we need it to live, but when you make it your master, that's when it becomes an issue. God cares deeply about how we treat people, especially people who have less than us. Okay. And in verse three, it says, You have hoarded treasure in the last days. James is reminding us that everything we accumulate here is temporary. Reminder, it's temporary. Am I stewarding what God has given me, or am I building my entire sense of security around what I have? My house, my car, my money, my job. Or are we like instead of just like chasing, chasing, chasing? This is like what my my series is on TikTok right now about stewarding my home because I'm so I get so caught up in chasing the next best thing. Like, well, now I need new pillows. Well, now I need a new couch. Well, now I need new decor. Now I need a new TV stand. Now I need a new rug. Now I want to repaint. No, we God has given me a couch and pillows and frames and decor and a TV and everything I need. My house is painted. There's no chips. There's no reason to have to repaint it, right? Just to keep up with whatever I think is the aesthetic right now. Okay. Again, everything we have here is temporary. And I should not be building my entire sense of security around what I have or what I look like or what my house is. I should be stewarding what God has given me. And remember in James 4, it says, you do not know what tomorrow will bring. So we shouldn't live as though the world is all there is. We need to be focused right now on what it is that we can bring, the treasures that we have stored up in heaven. Right? All of the things in our soul that will come with us. Um, going into patience and endurance. So going back to our Bibles. Okay, that was enough for the beginning of chapter five. Dear brothers and sisters, be patient as you wait for the Lord's return. Consider the farmers who patiently wait for the rains in the fall and in the spring. They eagerly look for the valuable harvest to ripen. You too must be patient. Take courage, for the coming of the Lord is near. Don't grumble about each other, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. For look, the judge is standing at the door. For examples of patience and suffering, dear brothers and sisters, look at the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. We give great honor to those who endure under suffering. For instance, you know about Job, a man of great endurance. You can see how the Lord was kind to him at the end. For the Lord is full of tenderness and mercy. But most of all, my brothers and sisters, never take an oath by heaven or earth or anything else. Just say a simple yes or no so that you will not sin and be condemned. Be patient in suffering. Patience and endurance. That's what this section is all about. So James gives us the image. Okay, like the analogy of a farmer waiting for a harvest. Waiting is not the same thing as God doing nothing. Let me say that again. Waiting is not the same thing as God doing nothing. The farmer can't see what's happening underneath the soil, but that doesn't mean that nothing is happening. And James says, you also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts because the Lord's coming is near. That was in verse 8. When we are uncomfortable, like I feel like our instinct is to fix it or run from it, escape, rush it, like just assume that God's forgotten about us. When we get uncomfortable, when we feel like we're just like, like imagine just standing in a field waiting for a harvest and it just looks like nothing's happening because everything is happening, but it's happening underground. You're just looking up, like assuming God's forgotten about you. But biblical patience is continuing to trust God. This is when it gets hard, guys. This isn't easy. It's not easy to trust. It's not easy to have faith. Okay, that's why we have that's why we get the what am I trying to say? Like the treasures that we get and the harvest that we reap. I can't, I'm saying harvest because it's on my mind, but you know what I mean? Like that is such a privilege and a gift because it comes from doing something so hard that is trusting God. Okay, when we don't have the outcome yet. Then James points to Job. Do you guys remember the story of Job? I don't think I've ever really read it on here, actually. I know I've done a I know I've done a video on it, but maybe we could go to Job next. I was actually praying about where I should go next. So that could be good. Um, Job is so good, okay. And in the story of Job, I won't spoil it if we're gonna go there, but he didn't understand why he was suffering and he didn't get immediate answers, which I'm sure we can all relate to. It doesn't always come immediately, right? Yet James specifically reminds us of the Lord's compassion and mercy for Job in this chapter. That's why I freaking love the Bible so much, you guys. Like there are so many connections and references, and it's just like, I don't know how anyone could sit here and call this like fake or like a storybook. It's it's not, I mean, it's a book of stories, yes, but it's not a fairy tale. Like, I oh my gosh, I'm gonna get so heated. Um, I've just like literally had people look me in the face and be like, that's like a bunch of made-up stories. Yeah, no. How how? How would that ever make any sense? Like the amount of connections in this book, you guys, it gets me so fired up. Jesus is so real, he's so real, and he lives in me, and he lives in you, and he lives in every believer, and it's just he lives in everyone. He lives in everyone, and it's just so incredible. It's so incredible. Okay, let's not get too off topic. You know me and my side quests. Um so yeah, Job didn't understand his suffering and didn't get immediate answers, but you know, the Lord, the Lord is merciful, he really is. Sometimes you're not gonna understand what God's doing while you're living through it, while you're standing on top of the soil, right? You're not understanding what's going on underneath because you can't see it. But God's character has to become more trustworthy to you, then your circumstances are understandable. Okay. Let your yes be yes, he says at the end here. Um, I accidentally flipped the page. Hold on, let's reread it again. Um, but most of all, my brothers and sisters, never take an oath by heaven or earth or anything else. Just say a simple yes or no so that you will not sin and be condemned. So let your yes be yes. This is only one verse, but I think it's important because it connects really beautifully to James 3. So let your yes be mean yes and your no mean no. Do you remember in James 3 when we talked about watching your mouth, controlling your tongue? Okay. Essentially he's saying, be a person whose words can be trusted. You should not need to elaborate your promises or oaths to convince people that you're telling the truth. It should just be your character. Like your character should just give your words credibility. And I think that that's what we need to be working on as Christians is your our character overall, right? James is not done talking about our mouths. We talked about it a lot in three, but I think this is a way, because I think right now in this moment, it it seems kind of random to throw in there. But you know, don't grumble about each other or you will be judged. Let your yes be yes, your no be no. He's he's grouping himself back to what he said in chapter three. And I think that um, I think that that's that's really cool. Our faith should change how we speak about people. We learned that in James 3. In James 4, we learned it should it should change how we speak to God, and now we're hearing it should change whether people can trust what we say. So again, our faith should change these things and it should have an effect on our mouths and the things that come out and the words that we use and our character. That is what faith is about. Faith changes you, it really, really, really does. Um, all right, moving on to the power of prayer. He says, Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. I actually love, oh my gosh. Okay, so I read this a couple days ago, like before I'm sitting down to film it, because I like to just sort of prepare. And this section made me smile because if you guys know me, you know that I love Paul. And I feel like I love Paul, which is like Romans, Corinthians, Ephesians, Galatians, yada, yada, yada. I love Paul because when he's writing the letters to these churches, he's he's is talking so like matter-of-factly. I literally feel like he's a friend texting me. Like the, like sometimes like there are just chapters in the Bible, as we know, books in the Bible, that are that are kind of hard to decipher, right, and to understand. And I feel like James, Paul, like they're just writing in such an easy way to interpret. I know that it could be the translation I'm reading, but I just it made me smile, and maybe you guys will understand why. Just the way that it's written. Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises. Are any of you sick? Well, you should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven. Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. Elijah was a human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years. Then when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops. I actually feel like this one is very powerful. Um, it it feels like the heart of the chapter, actually. James is giving literally an answer for every single season. Are you suffering? Pray. Are you cheerful? Pray. Are you sick? Pray. Are you have you sinned? Pray, right? Confess and pray. You know, if you're sick, call on the church and pray. I have a neighbor who um is sick and they go to the same church as us. And I was out there yesterday talking to her and um just getting like some updates, and she was like, Yeah, father came in um, you know, to the hospital and did the anointing of the sick. You know, Danny has had the anointing of the sick done on him before, believe it or not. We've actually weirdly enough, Danny and I both went through weird like medical things when we were younger. Mine, I was really young. I was in eighth grade when I had, and I think this is why I have such bad medical anxiety. I never had anointing of the sick done on me, though, I don't think. I don't know. I was in the hospital for like two, two and a half weeks, and I was pretty knocked down, if you're if you know what I mean. Um, just like really drugged up, but I had pneumonia. I should like talk about this maybe in an episode. I had pneumonia that turned into like a MRSA infection. It was in my lung. Um, then I got like a blood clot in my jugular vein because after my surgery, the IV was left in too long. There's like a whole thing, okay? I I was down bad. I had to go to school with a pick line in and I had to wear like a basketball sleeve. Do you guys know what I'm talking about? Like one of those like sleeves that they wear like in bat, like boys wear at basketball haul. Well, girls probably do too, but like because my pick line, like if anyone were to tug it or it got pulled out, like I like air would get in there and you can't get air in there, or you'll like literally die. Um, because it's a pick line, like it's like a line leading to your heart. I don't even know if they do those anymore. I'm sure they do, but like I just feel like technology is advancing so much. But anywho, I had that really weird thing happen to me, okay, where I really, I like literally needed emergency lung surgery. Um, Danny had, I never, I never remember what it's called, but Danny had this weird autoimmune thing happen to him. He was older. He was like maybe 22, 21. Um, and had this like again, just like a freak like medical thing happen to him. And it's just like scary. I think that's just like why I have medical anxiety because I know that literally in the instant, like you could be a healthy person and things can just turn. You could just get something weird. You could catch a weird virus or get a weird infection, and it's just scary to me. I think that's why I struggle so much with it. But I would actually love to do an episode on that. So maybe I'll talk more about that. Maybe I can bring Danny on for that. I know you guys really liked that. The last episode I brought him on for. He loves it. He likes to act like he doesn't love to like talk and oh my gosh, but he's so good at it. Like, I loved when I had him on for the QA. I think he just talks so like eloquently. It's so funny too because he talks on the phone all day for his job. And whenever I'm doing a podcast with him or like a video with him and he talks, I'm like, stop. Like, put your business, like, why are you talking like your business voice? Like, he's just so like, I don't know, so grand, I feel like. So I like when he's on the podcast. But, anyways, um, yeah. And I think that that could have been like that season too, like eighth grade is so transformative. And I feel like, you know, talk about being in the world and trends and just wanting your friends to like you and just how hard like middle school to high school transition is. That could have been like a really pivotal time in my faith. And I remember, okay, no, guys, we're gonna do a whole episode on this. We're gonna do a whole episode on this. Wow, thank you, God. I feel called to speak on that. Um, so we'll get there. We'll get there. We'll get there soon. Um, because I have a lot to talk about actually about that, and maybe how it could have been pivotal in my faith a little bit, maybe more than I realized. Anyways, what were we what okay, side quest. What were we talking about? Oh, anointing of the sick. So my neighbor got um the anointing of the sick done, and then I was talking. Talking about how Danny had gotten that done too when he was really sick. But anywho, um, praise God for that. Praise God for our priests, our pastors, those who have the power to just pray over us and and do that. Um, in other words, wrapping it all up, whatever season you're in, bring it to God. All right, and then verse 16 is huge. The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its in its effect. Um, then James brings up Elijah. What's beauty, what's beautiful is that he specifically says Elijah was a human being as we are. And I think that that's worth like really paying attention to because we sometimes read biblical stories and think, well, yeah, like of course Elijah's prayers were powerful powerful. He was Elijah, but we're like, we're forgetting that he was a human just like we are. Okay, he's a person just like you, just like me. And the power wasn't that Elijah was some superhuman Christian, the power was in the God that Elijah prayed to, and that God still lives today. Okay. Christianity was never supposed to be about pretending that you're doing great and hide everything you're struggling with, because guess what? God sees it all. So it's not performative. It should never be performative. It should be about confession and humility. Okay. James says, confess to one another, pray for one another. Here goes my dog. If you're new, my dog uh really tends to ruin the pot every once in a while. Or maybe he just adds dramatic effect. Um, but yeah, confess to one another, pray for one another. There is healing in bringing things into the light rather than letting shame convince us that we have to like struggle privately. There's nothing worse than that. Nothing worse. Um, all right, we're ending with restoring wandering believers. My dear brothers and sisters, if someone among you wanders away from the truth and is brought back, you can be sure that whoever brings the sinner back from wandering will save that person from death and bring about the forgiveness of many sins. What a mic drop! I love when a book ends with a mic drop. Like, I love it. I love that James ends here. After five chapters about what genuine faith looks like, he's not finishing this book with, okay, now make sure you're doing all this perfectly. He decides to finish the book by turning attention towards other people and how we can now take what we've learned and all of the wisdom of these five chapters and turn it into restoring wandering believers. Okay, people who are maybe straying away. Um, he says, My brothers and sisters, if any among you strays from the truth and someone turns him back, faith isn't only about my relationship with God, okay, it's about what I can do for others. We should care when someone we love is wandering. We really should. We should. And we should help bring them back in a gentle way, of course. Um restoration isn't condemnation. Restoration isn't condemnation. What do I mean by that? Well, when James talks about bringing someone back who has wandered from the truth, the goal is just to restore them back to God, not shame them for wandering. Okay, we don't want to condemn them. We don't want to like that's that's oh my gosh, stuttering. That's why I said um do it gently, right? We don't want to go and condemn them and be like, what are you doing? That's not what God says, that's not what the Bible says. No, no, no. We want to just restore them back to God. Okay, so there's a difference between conviction and correction and condemnation. So we want to maybe gently correct them or maybe have that conviction reach them from God in a gentle way, but we don't want to condemn them because condemn condemnation looks like, look what you did, you're terrible. How could you call yourself a Christian? That's not what the Bible says, right? But restoration says, hey, I love you and I see where this world is taking you, and I just really want to, you know, help you come back to the truth because condemnation is focused on punishment and shame, but restoration is focused on repentance and forgiveness and reconciling with God. And that doesn't mean ignoring or minimizing sin, because like James literally says in chapter 5, 1920, like sin is should be taken extremely seriously. Seriously enough that if you see someone wandering, you shouldn't just watch them go. But the motivation for confronting them should be from love. Okay. Ay, ay, aye. That bone is going to be the end of me. It really is. Biblical correction isn't about catching someone in their sin so we can condemn them. So check your heart. Like, actually, check your heart. Are you going over to someone who may be a wandering believer because you just want a little spike of dopamine? I mean, you're like, oh, I know the truth. I get to go and condemn them. No, because it that's check your heart. Like, just check your heart. It's not what it's about. It's about loving someone enough to call them back to the truth. Because restoration says, I'm not going to pretend this isn't a sin, but I'm also not going to pretend that you're beyond the grace of God. Okay? That's important. We don't call people out just to prove that they're wrong. We call people back because we want them to be close to Jesus. Our job here on earth is to get as many friends and family and people and strangers and enemies even to heaven, just with us. That is our job. That is our job from God. We should care when someone that we love or maybe even someone we don't love is wandering. Okay. Again, the goal isn't look how sinful you are. It's I love you too much to walk away from something that's destroying you. Um I'm gonna love you and leave you right there, right there. I feel like that's a perfect way to end, just like James, the end of five mic drop. Next episode, I don't know what we're doing because I have a couple different ideas. We could just wrap James up all together in a nice little bow. We could talk about my medical history. Or we could go to Job. I don't know. Do we do story time? Do we maybe maybe I'll read Job? Maybe I'll, I don't know. Maybe we can find a way to like group it all together because that would be lovely. That would be so, so lovely. Um, but let me know. I am kind of sad that James is over, you guys, because I loved it. I loved doing this with you guys. And I know that this is like kind of new. Like I used to not read um the Bible straight up, like on this podcast. I used to kind of just like pick a topic, and then we would like go back and forth between, you know, verses and stuff that that sort of um support it. And, you know, I just don't want to do that anymore. I I want to read straight from the Bible. I want to read the truth, I want to read God's word, and I want you guys to hear it. I think that it's I think you guys are loving it because it's just it's kind of a fun way to connect as believers. And I love it. I'm like literally just reading, I'm reading it. I'm just reading it, and it's here on paper, and we're just emphasizing it and talking about it. And I love the discussions we have in my DMs. As a reminder, any of you guys who felt something from the podcast or have questions or anything, please DM me on Instagram. I love, love, love talking about the podcast with you guys. Um, throw it in the comments. Like, I love it. I want to hear it. I want to hear what you guys are like thinking, um, what you guys are learning. Any revelations that you had that I didn't, like, let's hear them. Let's hear them. I love it. I love the discussion. I would love to like think, I don't know, I don't know, guys. I would love to have like a community. Like, I don't want to do like a Facebook page, but like, how could we have is there like a discussion group I can do like on Substack? Like, what do we? I don't know. I don't know, guys. We need to like, we need to really pick it up here because I am like, I would love to have like a community where we could like all talk to each other, right? Anyway, um, wow, my voice is going. Um, but anyway, I love you guys so so much. Share this podcast with a friend or a believer or maybe someone who's struggling. I would love that. Um, please go spread the word. Go spread the gospel, go spread what you learned today. Talk about a verse or James or anything. Anything. Um, praise God. He loves you, and I love you, but Jesus loves you so much more. I'll see y'all next week. Until then, be safe, be healthy. Love Jesus, go in peace.