If you are born again, no doubt at one time or another you have heard the Holy Spirit admonish you. This week while looking at Facebook, I was about to make a comment, and the Holy Spirit convicted me not to do that. And while my comment would have been correct, given the way things are going these days, the LORD obviously didn’t want me to make that comment, so I didn’t.

Before going to bed, I always read from Proverbs, and meditate on it until I fall asleep, but the other night after reading in Proverbs the LORD told me to read from “Jacob.” I happened to be reading my “One New Man Bible”, which has Hebrew roots, and the English transliteration of “Jacob” is “James”, so therefore I read the book of James. Man, oh man, the Holy Spirit was speaking to me from that Book, and there was no doubt about it. I read all five chapters, and there was something for me in all of it, but my spirit was really convicted by a few portions, and it was no accident He sent me there.
In James 4:1-12, it is written,

1 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?
2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.
3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
11 Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.
12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?

Often, when reading stuff on Facebook, I’m stirred up when reading articles about illegal immigration, heathens wanting all references to God removed from our Country, Muslims wanting to take our Country over and replace our Contsititution with Sharia Law, and certain politicians promising if they’re elected to take away our First and Second Amendment rights. And NONE of these things are right and lawful, so why did the LORD discourage me from speaking up? Well, I was letting myself be distracted from which Kingdom I really need to be focused on. And while it’s good to be aware of events around us, we can get ourselves pulled into the world way too easily, and out of the Kingdom of God. And that makes us easy pickings for the enemy.

In James 5:7-20, the focus is PATIENCE. As children of God, we’re IN this world, but not OF this world. It’s so easy to get caught up in the fray, and lose focus of our assignment to spread the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.
8 Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.
9 Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.
10 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.
11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
12 But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.
13 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.
14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.
18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.
19 Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him;
20 Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.

That part about confessing our faults one to another is a hard pill to swallow, but I must humbly admit to not walking in love to the degree that Jesus would, when I read about all this illegal immigration going on in America, about corrupt politicians, and about those who would erase God from America. In fact, I get downright upset about it, and the Holy Spirit convicted me to just walk in love, and let HIM sort it all out. Times ahead for Christians may get pretty rough. If we let our love fizzle out, how will we endure “to the end”?

What I take away from this is one thing in particular: are my words and deeds drawing people closer to Jesus, or driving them away? The Bible talks about loving your enemies and doing good to them, and turning the other cheek. I find it’s easy to want to take up your cross and smash your enemy over the head with it, but not so easy to PRAY for those who despise you and all you stand for, and ESPECIALLY when they despise God. But if we’re going to be God’s children, we must stand together in love, encourage one another, pray for one another and not allow ourselves to get in the flesh and let the devil put our light out.

Pray for me to love others, not as I think they deserve, but as the LORD would love them, to stand firm for what God stands firm for, to call good, good and evil, evil, and for the strength and courage not to back down. And I’ll do the same for you. Society is spiraling down the drain, and we must not let it sweep God’s people down with it. Be sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit, for He wants to lead us in the way we should go, and to help us to lead others to Him along the way.