The Patience of an Established Heart
Behold the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. (James 5:7, 8)
James 5:7-11; Heb. 6:11-12, 15; Col. 1:11-14; II Tim. 3:10-11; Rev. 3:10-11
What Is God Saying?
James gives us two examples to bring home, two great essentials of our faith—patience and prayer. Job is our model for patience. Elijah is our model for prayer. Patience and prayer are closely tied together in James' letter, and in life they flow together down the same streambed.
Prayer and waiting for God's timing is like the farmer (a third example) who sows the seed and waits for the ‘precious fruit of the earth’ (5:7). This is why prayer is so often regarded as waiting on the Lord (Isa. 40:31, Ps. 27:14, et al). The ability to wait with patience for God's answer to prayer depends upon whether or not our hearts are established (5:8). The established heart, in turn, is derived from ‘being rooted and grounded in God's love’ (Eph. 3:16, 17). With that, we have the patience to wait for God's answer to prayer and Christ's return in power and glory. Patience in prayer, patience in tribulation, patience in everything is the fruit of a heart that is established in God's love.
How Does This Apply To Us?
In this day of agribusiness, most of us seem far removed from farming. Still, it is good for us to remember that even machine-sown and machine-harvested crops require patience during the growing period. ‘The precious fruit of the earth’ will come. The fields will be white unto the harvest. Prayers will be answered. Jesus will return. When we pray, when we sow the seed, when we claim the promises, with hearts established in God's love, we must wait through the sunshine of joys and the raindrops of tears, until the time is right and the harvest is ripe. This calls for patience and patience comes from the established heart.
Pray With Me
Eternal God, the Source of all good and only good, give me the patience of an established heart. Let me trust that You are working out Your purpose in my life and the world. Let me believe that You are doing this according to Your timetable. When my heart is established in Your love, I will have the patience to accept Your purpose and Your timing. When my heart is established in Your love, I will experience the joy of Your presence in everything and despite everything.
To know beyond all doubt, to believe beyond all fear, to accept Your promises with unquestioning trust, this is what I want. By Your Spirit bearing witness within, this is what I want. By Your Spirit within, this is what I may now have. Established in this truth, I can be patient to the end of any long, dark corridor into which You lead me.
O Christ, King of kings and Lord of lords, I look for Your return. I long for Your appearance. Ever since You came to my heart in that first dawning of faith, I have been waiting for Your coming to the world in glorious triumph. Seeing evil deeply entrenched and securely enthroned in the hearts of men and nati0ns, I have often prayed, ‘Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus.’ Nevertheless, today I pray for the established heart that can wait with patience until You come. In that patience, I know I shall discover Your peace which passes all understanding and possess that divine strength that is made perfect in human weakness. Come quickly, Lord Jesus, but until You do, give me the patience of an established heart.
For the sake of Your glory. Amen.
Moving On In The Life of Prayer
Every time we listen for the Father's timely word in prayer and every time we raise our petitions to Him, we should feel that we are coming closer to the established heart. Prayer is when we share our joys and lift our praise. Prayer is when we ask for miracles and look for thrilling answers and they have often come. Remember? Prayer is also the time when above all else, beyond all else, and through all else, we find the established heart. Do we have the patience of an established heart? It is one of prayer's great by-products. Don't miss it.
