James, a bondservant (one who is bound to service without wage) of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings.
vs 2-8 My brothers, count is all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally without disapproval, and it WILL be given to him. But let him ask in FAITH, WITHOUT DOUBTING, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let that man not expect to receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man (divided in his interests or loyalties, wavering, uncertain, two-faced, half-hearted), unstable in All his ways.
Wow, so much to get out of this passage. James is one of my favorite books of the Bible. We ALL face trials. Trials of many kinds. Your trial may be just your day in general. Your trial may be one of your health. Your trial may be fighting the emotions inside you. Your trial may be your marriage. Whatever your trial, we all have them. A lot of times, we have many more than just one.
James tells us to "consider" it or "count" it joy when we are dealing with our trials. Who thinks that it is a joy to be in a trial? Certainly not me! He tells us this because our trials will ALWAYS produce patience. The purpose of patience is to make us perfect and complete, not lacking in anything.
James goes on to tell us to ask God for wisdom in our trials without doubting Him. How hard is it for me (and you) to not doubt our God when we are being tested by trials?
Faith- being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
How do we know what we are to put our hope in? Of course we do not want to put our faith in something that does not exist or something that is going to fail us in the end. So the only things that I know as truth and things that are promised are things that God has given me from His word. These are the things I MUST put my Hope in. These are the things I must set my mind on. Especially in the midst of a trial. I must ask with confidence. God will give me these things FREELY. He actually wants to give them to me!
Well these are my thoughts for the day:) Feel free to post your thoughts on this or even how this passage has spoken to you. I love to see how God is working in others' lives.
1 comment:
True we all have trials, but how is someone going to learn how to deal with them if it feels like they never stop. And to me for someone who is trying to lead a good life and walk down the right roads comes to a place where they have no idea what direction they think should take. And when they do decide to make a choice will it be good or bad and while most people are hoping for the best are thinking they are going to get the worst. So what i get from that is we are all going to deal with horrible stuff some people will break and some will not, and can we try and help the ones who are about to break and can we pin point them out before hand.
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