Thoughts on James 5:7-20

James is finishing his letter and wants to remind us of one two very important things: patience and prayer.

Patience
On my way home today, the taxi driver was talking to me. He said that no matter how well a taxi driver can drive, if he gets impatient with other drivers, he loses all his skill. I was thinking about how teaching is the same way. If I as a teacher lose my patience, I make unwise decisions. I think this is true in whatever we do.

This is why I think James writes about how important patience is in the end of his letter. James writes that just like a farmer, we will receive a reward when we are patient. The difference is that our reward is so much greater than any prize we could think of. I was just watching this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdUGoFTfP7w&feature=related. It is a boy and his parents talking about when he got really sick and almost died. He went to heaven and then, because of his dad's prayers was sent back to earth. In the movie, the boy says "I learned that heaven is real, and you're going to like it." I don't know about you, but I am really excited to go to heaven! Now I just need to be patient and work to get more people to come with us to heaven.

When I get impatient, for something, I tend to get angry at other people, even if it is not their fault. James tells us to be careful not to fight with others. He says the judge is standing at the door. This reminds me of being a kid and not wanting to get in trouble when my parents were around, so when I fought with my sister it was usual when my parents were not around. God is around us all the time, and he will judge us if we are angry with those around us.

James tells us to look at the prophets from the Old Testament as examples of patience. Job was a man who served God with all his heart. Satan said he only did this because God gave him good things, so he asked God if he could test Job. Satan destroyed Job's fields and home, killed his family, and gave him a painful skin disease. Job just kept worshiping and serving God. In the end God rewarded Job with much more than he had in the beginning. James uses Job as a great example of patience.



Prayer
James gives lots of examples of when we should pray and talk to God. God always wants to hear from us, no matter what we are going through. He wants to be our closest friend and know all our thoughts and feelings.

Then, James boldly says that anything we pray and believe will happen, will actually happen. If we have confessed our sins and told God that we want to change and be like Him, he makes us righteous. "The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." Once we have been made righteous, we can ask God anything and he will answer us, because if we are really trying to be like God, we will ask for things God wants.