HANG IN THERE

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Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com

In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations:

Greetings.”

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

James 1:1-4, 12

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

My writings from the gospels have brought me to Gethsemane’s garden and so I plan on pausing for a short period of time and pick back up with Jesus’ journey to the cross on March 21^st with the message titled “Remain Watchful”.

So what will I write about until then?

Well, I’ve decided to bring you a series of messages from the Epistle of James and I have chosen this for two reasons.

First, you have to go way back to 2007, yes 14 years ago, to see where this writing ministry began. Then, I happened to be in 1 Peter doing personal Bible study when the Lord called me to begin writing as I worked my way through the scriptures. Since then, the journey has taken me through the end of the New Testament and all the way through the Old before starting the beginning of the New with the gospels, where I am presently. The goal is to work all the way back to where I began, and thus writing messages from every single word in the Bible. It has not only been a calling but the legacy I leave behind when my life here is over and I go to be with God and Jesus forever. I want these messages, granted to me by the Lord Himself, to continue ministering to generation after generation to come until that day when Jesus returns.

The second reason I chose James is that the author is none other than Jesus’ half brother, and as we see, he has a lot of blessed wisdom to share as well. We start looking at this wisdom in today’s first passage from James, chapter 1, verses 1-4, a passage that holds a timely message for us in the midst of our current world and national circumstances. Look again at these words here:

“James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings.”

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:1-4

Who was James?

Well, note that he doesn’t hang his hat on his genealogy. Rather, He makes it clear he was a servant, a servant of God and his half-brother, Jesus.

What do servants do?

Well, they serve of course and so James did just that through his willingness to share the words in this letter which was sent to the “twelve tribes scattered among the nations”. As we study through his writing, we will also see him provide guidance and direction in regard to serving as he was but as we see in today’s passage, the focus is solely on the matter of perseverance.

You see, the human condition hasn’t varied at all since the dawn of mankind. From the scriptures, Old Testament through New, we find people going through trials in life. If you haven’t faced on in your life, just wait because it’s inevitable they will come. Maybe you can relate all too well to this truth.

Yes, we all go through trials and I think I can honestly say that I haven’t ever heard anyone invite them to come.

Have you?

No, we tend to want life to be trouble free, right? We pray for difficulties to stay away from ourselves and others we care about because we see the hardships as negative events.

But as we see in our verses for today, James has another slant on the matter. For he writes that we should see joy in our trials, a proposition that is completely counterintuitive because no one would normally look at their sufferings as a good reason to be happy. The world would say that there’s little reason to enjoy tribulations.

Obviously, the Lord has a different view of things than the world and here we find Him sending us all a message through James:

We’re to consider it pure joy when we face many kinds of trials in life.

Why in the world would we do that, you might ask?

The word of God gives us the answer.

Because life’s dilemmas test our faith and then work to refine it as we wait for the Lord to work things out. This waiting teaches us trust but it also develops perseverance but this amazing work the Lord is trying to do within us can’t finish unless we allow it to. In other words, we only learn to persevere if we have patience, which is one of the fruits of the Spirit because we don’t have the strength on our own to persevere. We need the power of the Holy Spirit to help us do what we can’t do for ourselves.

Okay. So we are to consider it pure joy when we are afflicted by life’s trials because those trials help us grow in faith as we persevere and trust the Lord will work things out in His perfect time. The word of God is instructing us to do so. But note that there are additional rewards for being obedient to what God is telling us to do here.

For when we allow perseverance to finish its work, we reap the blessings of greater spiritual maturity and wisdom. We feel more complete in life because we maintained faith in the only One who can make us so. And we learn that we have all we could ever ask for in our Lord who can do all things, including helping us through our troubles in life.

Friends, we serve a Lord who is good, a Lord who loves us, a Lord who is always interested in working things out for the good of those who love Him in accordance with His purposes for them (Romans 8:28).

And so as we open our study of James, we find ourselves challenged immediately with a series of questions to self reflect on.

Do we consider it pure joy in the midst of our trials of many kinds in life?

Do we embrace our faith being tested and the ensuing perseverance that develops through that faith?

How well do we allow perseverance to run its course and finish so we might reach greater levels of spiritual maturity and completeness in our Lord?

Three main questions and even if self reflection exercise unveils weaknesses in one or more of these actions the Lord is calling us to, the good news is that we can improve and get better so when the next trial comes, and trust me it will, we’ll be better equipped to handle it because God’s word has helped us to that end.

As we open up in our study of this epistle, the Lord sends us clear messages.

Troubles will come but hang in there and allow Me to do a great work in and around you. I am with you, I am for you, I love you, and there is nothing I can’t do to help you.

Just trust Me.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com