{"id":6376,"date":"2015-04-15T00:52:06","date_gmt":"2015-04-15T00:52:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/?p=6376"},"modified":"2015-04-15T15:48:17","modified_gmt":"2015-04-15T15:48:17","slug":"james-511-the-impact-of-endurance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/?p=6376","title":{"rendered":"James 5:11\u2014The impact of endurance"},"content":{"rendered":"

We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord\u2019s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.<\/em> James 5:11<\/p>\n

We count those blessed who endured. <\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cBlessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ<\/em>\u201d (Ephesians 1:3). Because of your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, you are blessed, before, during, and after every trial, despite the outcome. It\u2019s a standard feature of your new birth. But there is something uniquely remarkable about the man or woman who endures to the end under hardship, oppression, false accusation, or outright persecution. God counts all<\/em> of\u00a0His children\u00a0blessed; we <\/em>count those who endure blessed. Faithful endurance seems to crank up the \u201cbless-o-meter\u201d.<\/p>\n

I think it has something to do with the thing called grace. Those of us who know the Lord are aware of how abundant His grace toward us is. We were saved by grace; we remain<\/em> saved due to the sustaining continuance of His grace. Without His grace, we would all be, as my pastor often says, \u201cburnt match heads\u201d. When we fall (I\u2019ve lost count of the spills I\u2019ve <\/em>experienced throughout my life), God\u2019s grace is there to pick us back up, dust us off, clean us up, soothe our wounds, and put us back on the path. But as James wrote in chapter 4, verse 6, \u201cBut He gives a greater grace<\/em>.\u201d Those who have endured through thick and thin have learned the secret of accessing God\u2019s greater grace. And that sets them apart from the pack.<\/p>\n

You have heard of the endurance of Job\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>No one in their right mind would want to swap places with Job\u2014at least during a certain two years of his life. The things that happened to him over a short period of time and then lingered while so-called friends accused him of bringing it all on himself would have driven many of us to complete hopelessness and despair, to the point of\u2014like Job\u2019s wife advised\u2014cursing God and dying (see Job 2:9).<\/p>\n

This woman viewed the very beginning of Job\u2019s two-year stand of endurance\u2014and despised him for it. In the same verse she raged , \u201cDo you still hold fast your integrity?<\/em>\u201d Don\u2019t be surprised if others mock your desire to stand fast in the Lord when under an attack. The natural way is to give up. The carnal method is to ditch the Word and get mad. The fleshly thing to do is to wallow in self-pity. And yes, Job was tempted to do all of the above\u2014and even dabbled in a bit of it, too\u2014but he kept coming back to his first love, God. After approximately two years, Job emerged from his ordeal. But not until he had endured the following:<\/p>\n