It's Just A Test of Your Faith (2)

James 1:2 - KJV - My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

NRSV - 2 My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; 4 and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.

How many want to be blessed? You want things to go your way. You want what you ask for. You want the promotion, the house, the car, the title, the position…you want.

Well be careful what you ask for, because with the blessing comes some testing.

In this world we live in, there are processes. If you want a certain job you must first find the listing so you know what the qualifications are for the job.

If you believe you have those qualifications or skills you must apply. The application process may entail submitting a resume’. It may be filling out an application, or both. Then there’s typically an interview. This is to establish whether you can really do all you said you can do in your application or resume’. Then if you make the cut, you may have a second call back. Now this is a more in depth conversation about how you will “fit” into the company. How will you will help to advance their organization? How will you help them reach their goals?

This is the process whether you are in the corporate or secular world applying for a job or position, as well as in the religious community being elevated, assigned, ordained or consecrated to deacon or steward or pastor or elder or overseer or bishop. Perhaps you’re being made a trustee or treasurer or secretary or board member. There is a process.

If you want to advance in school, you must go to class, do the homework and learn the material. Then you must take a test to prove that learning has taken place. Once you pass the test, complete the project, finish the dissertation, you are elevated to the next grade level; you are awarded the degree.

Now I have a question for you. Who likes trouble? Who likes trials? Who likes temptations? One translation says to count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations, another says, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.

In this life, in this Christian journey, the Apostle James, the half brother of Jesus, a prime-minister in Christ’s kingdom, yet who refers to himself as a servant of God, tells us not only will we have troubles and temptations, he tells us to count it all joy when troubles of any kind come your way. Wait what?

James, what do you mean count trouble as something to be joyful about, consider them an opportunity. Why are troubles, how can various temptations be an opportunity? I know…

There are those who want to be blessed, but they don’t want the temptation.

There are those who want to lose weight, but they don’t want to work out.

There are those who want to be healthy, but they don’t want to change their diet.

There are those who want forgiveness, but they don’t want to repent of their sins.

There are those who want the reward, but they don’t want to endure the trial.

There are those who want to go to heaven, but they don’t want to die.

As human beings, it is our nature to sometimes want certain things but we don’t want to do what it takes to get them.

We don’t want to put in the work.

We don’t want to endure the trial.

We don’t want to face the temptation.

We want things given to us, sometimes we even want them without asking. We want others to know our thoughts, we want them to read our minds. That can especially be true in relationships sometimes.

There are times we just expect our partners to know what we want, and then for them to do or give us that thing. There are other times when our partners think they know what we want or are going to say and act on that belief. Then they’re disappointed or upset when they don’t get the response they wanted. Trouble.

Count trouble as an opportunity? Come on now really?

But how many know if you never have downs, you won’t appreciate the ups. If you’re never in the valley, you’ll never know what it means to reach the mountain top. If you never experience failure, you won’t really know the significance of success

By it’s very definition, an opportunity is a chance for success. Most people want to be successful in what they do. I don’t think there are many who set out with a goal to fail.

But what we must understand is when troubles, when trials and divers temptations come, there is a way to look at them, a way to handle them and a way to overcome them, so that when you get to the other side you can have joy, you can rejoice because

…you made it through.

…you now know you can.

…you now know God will.

So that the next time, and there will be a next time, because the enemy never gives up, but the next time trouble comes your way, the next time you’re tested your faith has now grown to another level.

When your faith is tested, your confidence in God increases.

When your faith is tested, your trust in God grows.

When your faith is tested, you’re on your way to maturity.

When your faith is tested, you’re on your way from milk to meat.

When your faith is tested, you can encourage a brother or sister and let them know, “If I made it through so can you, let’s do this thing together.”

When your faith is tested, you know that God is real.

So let patience have her perfect work, let it grow so you can be fully developed.

Wouldn’t that be great! When I think of being fully developed I think of a baby, not yet born. The baby goes through stages of development.

Before you even know you’re pregnant

There is conception.

In the first week cells begin to divide and make their way to the uterus where they will develop and grow for the next 39 weeks or so.

In the third to the eighth week major structures begin to form, to include the brain and spine. The head and mouth form. The heart develops around week six and buds that become arms and legs form. By the end of the eighth week, most of the organs and systems take shape.

Starting around the ninth week and going until birth the assigned sex is determined, major organs continue to grow and mature. Fingernails, eyelashes and hair begin to grow. It’s during this stage where the baby is developing, gaining weight and length. The fetus is able to move its limbs, although the woman may not feel it until 20 weeks of pregnancy. The majority of growth — in both weight and length — happens in this stage of the pregnancy.

The baby is preparing for life outside the womb once they are fully developed.

If they are born too soon it’s called a premature birth and they could face many challenges in life to include death. But, on the other end of the spectrum, if they stay in the womb too long they can suffer harm because bodily functions begin to operate that weren’t meant to take place inside the womb.

The very thing that sustained life for them, the placenta, does not work as well, possibly now depriving the baby of oxygen and nutrients. The baby gets too large, it no longer fits in the space that once kept it safe. This creates danger for the baby and mother.

It’s time to go to the next stage, life outside the womb.

That ministry you started in may not be the one you stay in for your whole life. The work you’re doing right now, may not always be what you do. It was just the place you were supposed to start.

That person you started your journey with may not be someone who is with you the last mile of the way. Some people come into your life for a reason, some come for a season and some come for a lifetime. Don’t try to assign a lifetime relationship to a person who is only there for a reason or a season.

Be patient. Let the Lord lead you to where you’re supposed to go. Let him determine your path, then you’ll know you’re on the right track.

Let patience have her perfect work, let it grow so you will be perfect. To be perfect is not to say you’ll never make a mistake, nor that you’ll always get it right, but you’re striving for that result. You’re striving to get to the place where your times of repentance begin to lessen, because your drive to please the Father becomes stronger than your desire to satisfy the flesh.

The voice of the Holy Spirit begins to drown out the voice of the enemy.

The way you think begins to reflect the attitude of Christ rather than the way of the world.

You no longer submit to those things of the flesh. In essence you grow up, you mature.

Let patience have her perfect work, let it grow so you can be complete. When you are complete, you recognize you are whole in God. You don’t need another person to complete you. God already did it so you can be happy in Jesus alone.

You will know that although you’re single you’re not alone, hence you don’t have to be lonely.

You don’t have to go looking for love in all the wrong places. You can control your flesh, instead of allowing your flesh to control you.

And finally, let patience have her perfect work, let it grow so you can need nothing. You get to a place where you don’t want anything because all your needs are met. God has supplied all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. He has given you exceeding, abundantly above all you could ask or think according to the power that works in you.

You’ll get to the place where you can go to God and just say thank you.

Thank you for life, health and strength.

Thank you for waking me up this morning, clothed in my right mind, with the activity of my limbs.

Thank you, Lord, for your many blessings, seen and unseen.

Thank You, Lord for my family.

Thank You Lord, that my children are safe.

Thank You Lord, that I have, not just enough, but more than enough.

Thank you Lord for watching over me day and night.

Thank you Lord that you’re there late in the midnight hour

Thank you Lord, that you never sleep nor slumber.

Thank you Lord that there is no sickness you cannot heal, no mountain you can’t move, no valley so deep you can’t reach down and pull me out, no way so far out you can’t reach me and bring me back. No path so rocky, you can’t smooth it out.

Thank you Lord that you put the sun, moon and the stars in the sky and they each stay in their own orbit.

Thank you Lord that the seas stay in their place.

Thank you Lord, that you are mighty, mighty to the pulling down of strongholds.

Thank you Lord, that your mercy endures forever.

Thank you Lord, that you’re never late, you’re always on time.

Thank you Lord, that you put food on my table.

Thank you Lord, for the clothes on my back. They may not be designer, but they cover all the areas they should cover.

Thank you Lord, that the rocks don’t have to cry out for me.

Thank you Lord, that you are my deliverer.

Thank you Lord, that you are my strong tower.

Thank you Lord, that I can put all my trust in you.

THANK YOU LORD!

Thank you Lord, that you sent your Son to die in my place.

Thank you Jesus for taking the beating that should’ve been mine.

Thank you Jesus for enduring the suffering and the shame of the cross.

Thank you Jesus that even when the Father had to look away, you didn’t call ten thousand angels to take you down off that cross.

Thank you Jesus that you stayed on that cross from the sixth to the ninth hour and when all our sin had been taken care of you gave up the ghost.

But you didn’t stop there. Jesus, you went to the depths of Sheol and you preached salvation to the captives, setting them free. Then at the appointed time you left, snatching the keys to death, hell, and the grave so the end is not the end for us.

Lord thank you that we have the opportunity, a chance for eternal life if we would only repent, if we would only turn from our wicked ways, if we would only admit we are sinners, believe that you are the Son of God, that you came and died for our sin, and confess with our mouths that you are Lord. Then Lord, ask that you would come into our hearts, be Lord of our life. And to the glory of God we will be saved.

That’s all it takes to spend eternity with God, just a prayer. He is just a prayer away. Talk to him in the morning, talk to him in the noonday, talk to him late at night. Invite him into your dreams so they don’t become nightmares.

Tell him the secrets you’re afraid to share because you feel someone will think less of you. He already knows them anyway. Invite him into your inner circle, your inner thoughts, your inner life. That one you think no one sees, that one you think no one knows about.

God knows all about it and guess what? He still loves you, he still cares about you and he still calls you his child, his special creation.

Even though we sinned, God still gave us dominion over what he created, he didn’t take it back. Now how are we handling it? Are we taking care of what God created to include us?

Everything we go through, every trial, every tribulation, every temptation is just a test of our faith. They come to make us stronger. They come to help us grow. They come to help us mature in our faith. They come to develop us into the beings called us to be. They come to make us perfect. They come to make us complete so that we will need nothing.

So instead of complaining about the trial. Instead of trying to pray away the trouble, embrace it, ask God what the lessen is in the trial. I was watching the Dove awards a couple of weeks ago and this brother shared he was trying to get his clothes out of the washer but the door wouldn’t open. God whispered to him, the door won’t open until the cycle is complete.

You have to finish the cycle first, then you can be the overcomer God created you to be, with joy in your heart and a praise on your lips.

Praise God through the trial and the trouble, because what you must understand is God’s praise is not determined by your circumstance.

No matter what you’re going through, God is worthy of all glory, all honor and all praise.

No matter what is happening in your life, God is still the creator of everything there is.

No matter what it looks like God is still in control.

Hurricanes may come, strong winds may blow, floods may cover places they shouldn’t, fire may destroy, but God sees all, he knows all, and he is over all.

You don’t have to worry, you don’t have to fret. He’s got the whole world in his hand, including you and me.

How’s your faith? This week when that trial begins to brew, put a smile on your face, tell the devil not today, I have dominion and authority over this, in the name of Jesus. And then walk it out.

We continue to pray for those in Maui who have lost loved ones. They’re still trying to recover and identify.

We’re working right here in Douglasville, feeding those in need and the homeless. If you can get to 3500 Hwy 5, Douglasville, GA, we can bless you with food. We’re distributing every Wed from 3:00 - 6:30 p.m. and every 2nd and 4th Sat from 1100 - 1500.

Maybe you’re not in need and would like to volunteer some time. Please come on over.

And last, maybe you can’t come help in person, but you can make a donation to support the ministry. Please go to our website www.lovechristianctr.org, click on the online giving tab and choose your method of giving. If you feel so led make your gift a recurring gift, anything you’d like to give will certainly help.

If you made the decision to give your life to God today, please send us an email to [e-mail] so we can pray with and for you.

God bless you

If you’re here in the sanctuary and you have not made that quality decision, today is a good day.

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