You know that bit in James 1 when he says "My brothers, consider it pure joy when you fall into various trials...." and then we stop reading because it doesn't seem like a good thing to read. The fact is that it is a barometer if you like of where our heart is regarding the truth of God and our relationship with Him. Jesus promised that will all encounter difficulties on the way through life, simply because we live in a fallen world or because we do something wrong which gives the enemy opportunity to steal from us, or because we do something good and the enemy wants to stop us, but remember that Jesus said He has overcome the world and because we are one with Him, we also are over-comers.....if we believe and respond in faith. So when we read James 1 and continue to read we can see that God will use those opportunities and circumstances to work into us and through us His character. It's all part of training us (remembering that God never causes us grief, hurt, pain, suffering or inflicts illness, sickness, poverty or hardship on us...He is good all the time!) so that we grow stronger, we learn to trust Him, we walk by faith in Christ and in what he has already achieved for us, not in our own strength, wisdom or understanding.
So when those things come against us, it is a good thing to see how we respond or react to them....do we get fearful? do we get anxious? do we get worried? do we lose heart? do we panic and lose all concept of how big God is? do we forget who we are in Christ? Those responses will show us where our heart really is because out of the heart flow the issues of life, and as we think in our hearts, that is who we are.....but all is not lost. When we see those responses and cry out to God, He will always take us on a learning journey to establish the truth and over time our hearts and therefore our responses will change and we will not be blown by every wind of doctrine, we will not allow our feelings and emotions to rule our actions, we will not speak out fear, unbelief and death but we will respond in faith, speak life, speak the truth and not merely factual words...Jesus responded every time to the devil when He was tempted, "it is written...!" The Word of God established in our hearts when spoken out in faith will always, always, ALWAYS overcome all the fiery darts of doubt, unbelief and temptation of the enemy.
James says the testing of your faith produces patience, and patient faith produces perfection! It causes us to stand in the face of adversity and hold our position in Christ. It produces life when mixed with the Word and it will cause the enemy to run from us. Every weapon formed against us will fail, every word spoken against us we will rebuke and we will see the victory of God in every area of our lives.
The battle for us is in the battle for the mind or heart. The way we think, the way we believe, the way we respond when the enemy comes against us, when circumstances try and steal our peace, when trials and temptations seek to take our joy....when the Word of Christ abides in us and when we use the sword of the Spirit we will always see victory, even if it takes time, a bit of effort and some bruises.
We need to get to that place like Paul when he says he is CONVINCED that nothing can stop the love of God towards us, and when we really know that God loves us, is for us and fights our battles then we can actually sit and eat in the presence of our enemies with the confidence that nothing can stand against us. The devil is like a roaring toothless lion, all noise and no teeth but he will try and stop us, steal from us an intimidate us, but greater is He that is in us than he who is in the world.
Even as I write, there seem to be many things working against me, and things do not look great and if "God doesn't come through I'm stuffed," and in the past I would have melted in the heat. It would have taking weeks or months to stop worrying and see that God is able. The reason I am sharing this right now is because I want to give glory and thanks to my God, my Father in Heaven who loves me with an everlasting love , because my response is so different this time and that is all down to Him. Where I used to panic and worry, now I get indignant at the thief who has the audacity to even try and rock the boat (you know, the one Jesus is in with me, the one He is piloting). God has taken the time to invest into me and He has brought me through fires and difficult times and He has used them in the very way James describes...He is perfecting me (some way to go, I know. I haven't arrived but I have left) and I get excited when I see Him working in and through me. I fully expect to come out on top every time now because I know He is able to do exceedingly above and beyond all I can ask or imagine according to the power of God that works in and through me.
It's all about Him, but I believe He gets excited when we get involved and walk by faith because that releases everything that is of Him to me and through me and affects every one I come into contact with.
God is good, He has a good life and plan for all of us and when we take the time to get to know Him, know His love and faithfulness, know the power of His Word and learn to walk in the light of it, then we will see God at work in us, for us and through us without us having to do anything except believe. If you abide in Him and His Word abides in you then ask whatever you will and it will be done for you. It's good isn't it....Thanks be to Him.
0 comments:
Post a Comment