Study Desk

For there is no permanent city for us here on earth; we are looking for the city which is to come.

Keep on praying for us. We are sure we have a clear conscience, because we want to do the right thing at all times.

I beg you, my friends, to listen patiently to this message of encouragement; for this letter I have written you is not very long.

for you know that when your faith succeeds in facing such trials, the result is the ability to endure.

and the rich Christians must be glad when God brings them down. For the rich will pass away like the flower of a wild plant.

If we are tempted by such trials, we must not say, "This temptation comes from God." For God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one.

For the same one who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not commit murder." Even if you do not commit adultery, you have become a lawbreaker if you commit murder.

For God will not show mercy when he judges the person who has not been merciful; but mercy triumphs over judgment.

My friends, what good is it for one of you to say that you have faith if your actions do not prove it? Can that faith save you?

Where do all the fights and quarrels among you come from? They come from your desires for pleasure, which are constantly fighting within you.

You want things, but you cannot have them, so you are ready to kill; you strongly desire things, but you cannot get them, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have what you want because you do not ask God for it.

And when you ask, you do not receive it, because your motives are bad; you ask for things to use for your own pleasures.

You don't even know what your life tomorrow will be! You are like a puff of smoke, which appears for a moment and then disappears.

Your life here on earth has been full of luxury and pleasure. You have made yourselves fat for the day of slaughter.

Be patient, then, my friends, until the Lord comes. See how patient farmers are as they wait for their land to produce precious crops. They wait patiently for the autumn and spring rains.

You also must be patient. Keep your hopes high, for the day of the Lord's coming is near.

We call them happy because they endured. You have heard of Job's patience, and you know how the Lord provided for him in the end. For the Lord is full of mercy and compassion.

Are any among you sick? They should send for the church elders, who will pray for them and rub olive oil on them in the name of the Lord.

So then, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you will be healed. The prayer of a good person has a powerful effect.

Elijah was the same kind of person as we are. He prayed earnestly that there would be no rain, and no rain fell on the land for three and a half years.