Bible League: Living His Word But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.— James 1:4 NKJV James begins his letter speaking to the church about the matter of trials and temptations Christians will face. He says to count it all joy knowing the testing of your faith produces patience. Other translations use the word endurance for patience. Patience and endurance are the result of faith manifested in the believer's everyday life. Trials and temptations are the mandatory lessons that develop maturity in one's faith. Someone once described perfecting patience and endurance in the Christian life like waiting for a bus at an open-air bus stop in the middle of a torrential hailstorm. I don't like trials and temptations, and I find it difficult to count them as joy, but God allows them to strengthen us in our time on earth to make us more like Jesus. They prepare us for heaven by giving us an assurance of God's goodness and an expectance of living in future glory. The perfecting work of patience and endurance is amazingly proclaimed in the testimony of Noah and his family. Prior to the flood, the Bible says Noah was a man of great faith with a real relationship with God. Noah was pleasing to God as Noah had done all that the Lord had commanded him to do. So one day God told Noah to build a boat the size of a football field, because God planned to send a massive flood 100 years later. Can you imagine the trials and temptations Noah and his family endured all those years? Mocked and laughed at, no doubt. Perhaps donkey and cart tours were showing up at the site to get a look at the family "crazy." But through all the pain and suffering, the building challenges, the family doubts, the temptations to call it a day and go back to the wages of the world, Noah and his family endured with patience and were saved. When Jesus comes again, I too want to be found in the Ark of God's grace. I want my heart to be found ready and waiting, having patiently endured the fiery trials and tribulations, the temptations, and sufferings of life. At the end of his letter, James condemns the ways of the world and exhorts believers to be patient until the Lord's coming like the farmer waiting for the fruits of the early and later rains (James 5:7-8). The righteous will always have to be patient and endure; but in time (and I believe sooner than later), Jesus will come and right all wrongs. Like the cat on the poster, "Hang in there, baby." Hang in there, beloved of God; learn the virtues and blessings of patience and endurance. By Pastor David Massie, Bible League International staff, California USA Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingPsalm 44, 45, 46 Psalm 44 -- We have heard with our ears, God; our fathers have told us NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Psalm 45 -- My heart overflows with a noble theme NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Psalm 46 -- God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Acts 25 Acts 25 -- The Trial Before Festus, King Agrippa NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won't he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders.”Insight We may be able to understand a God who would forgive sinners who come to him for mercy. But a God who tenderly searches for sinners and then joyfully forgives them must possess an extraordinary love! This is the kind of love that prompted Jesus to come to earth to search for lost people and save them. This is the kind of extraordinary love that God has for you. Challenge If you feel far from God, don't despair. He is seaching for you. Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Hosea 5:15 In their affliction they will seek me early.Losses and adversities are frequently the means which the great Shepherd uses to fetch home his wandering sheep; like fierce dogs they worry the wanderers back to the fold. There is no making lions tame if they are too well fed; they must be brought down from their great strength, and their stomachs must be lowered, and then they will submit to the tamer's hand: and often have we seen the Christian rendered obedient to the Lord's will by straitness of bread and hard labor. When rich and increased in goods many professors carry their heads much too loftily, and speak exceeding boastfully. Like David, they flatter themselves, "My mountain standeth fast; I shall never be moved." When the Christian groweth wealthy, is in good repute, hath good health, and a happy family, he too often admits Mr. Carnal Security to feast at his table; and then, if he be a true child of God, there is a rod preparing for him. Wait awhile, and it may be you will see his substance melt away as a dream. There goes a portion of his estate--how soon the acres change hands! That debt, that dishonored bill--how fast his losses roll in! where will they end? It is a blessed sign of divine life if, when these embarrassments occur one after another, he begins to be distressed about his backslidings, and betakes himself to his God. Blessed are the waves that wash the mariner upon the rock of salvation! Losses in business are often sanctified to our soul's enriching. If the chosen soul will not come to the Lord full-handed, it shall come empty. If God, in his grace, findeth no other means of making us honor him among men, he will cast us into the deep; if we fail to honor him on the pinnacle of riches, he will bring us into the valley of poverty. Yet faint not, heir of sorrow, when thou art thus rebuked; rather recognize the loving hand which chastens, and say, "I will arise, and go unto my Father." Daily Light on the Daily Path Psalm 16:11 You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.Jeremiah 21:8 "You shall also say to this people, 'Thus says the LORD, "Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. 1 Samuel 12:23 "Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you; but I will instruct you in the good and right way. John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. Matthew 14:19 Ordering the people to sit down on the grass, He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food, and breaking the loaves He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds, Proverbs 4:12 When you walk, your steps will not be impeded; And if you run, you will not stumble. Matthew 7:13,14 "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. • "For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it. Isaiah 35:8 A highway will be there, a roadway, And it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it, But it will be for him who walks that way, And fools will not wander on it. Hosea 6:3 "So let us know, let us press on to know the LORD. His going forth is as certain as the dawn; And He will come to us like the rain, Like the spring rain watering the earth." John 14:2 "In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. 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