Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Hello, everyone.
[00:00:02] I have been reading the book of James this week and it's short, it's five chapters long, and there are so many gems in there. You know, James is Jesus brother, and he leaves quite a few, like my husband would say, golden nuggets for us.
[00:00:20] I want to share one out of one. James verse two with you says, 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.
[00:00:45] If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.
[00:00:56] Let's just pause with that for a moment. How many times in your life have you heard people say to you to count it joy when you face trials and tribulations? And if you are anything like me, that would immediately have me, my hands stuck in my hair saying, lord, how am I supposed to be joyful through this certain circumstance I'm going through?
[00:01:19] And I think what. What I took out of it from, from my study for this week, which I really want to share with you, is two things.
[00:01:29] One, we need to respond in faith.
[00:01:32] Faith means holding on to God's promises no matter what the circumstances, no matter what it looks like.
[00:01:40] You know, there's a book written by Charles Swindle that is speaking about the goodness of God where he says, by the time that Jacob had to offer Isaac, he was so convinced of God's goodness he has traveled and he's done so many things with God that he knew a miracle was about to happen. There was no wavering in his trust. He knew that.
[00:02:05] So I think we should get to a point where we know that God is so good. And whatever he asks us for us to do, whether it's walking through the fire or counting a joy when we face trials and tribulations, we should be so certain of God's goodness that we go through it and we do count it joy. Because we do know on the other side that the Word of God says to us, we will be mature and complete. Now, I don't know about you, but I would love to get to a stage in my life and my Christian life and my walk with God where I am complete.
[00:02:44] Some of us say it's only the day that Jesus would come, and I'm going to leave that one for you to figure out. We all have different opinions about it.
[00:02:53] But today I want to say to you that at Romans about it.
[00:02:57] But today I want to say to you that Romans 8:28 says that all things works together for his good, for God's good. And if we come to a space in our life where we say, jesus, we trust you no matter what, we also accept the fact that all things works together for his good.
[00:03:19] So I don't know what situation you are facing, but my heart is to say to you that James said to you many years, many, many, many, many centuries ago, that you should count the joy when you're facing these trials and tribulations, because you, my friend, are on your way to complete completeness in Christ Jesus. How awesome is that?
