Trials and Believing

James the half brother of Jesus writes a letter to the Jewish believers scattered through the world.

In James 1:2-8 James talks about two important matters.

First, he talks about trials.
Second, he talks about prayer and doubting.

James 1:2-4
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Trials are going to come to all of us because we live in a world that is under the domination of sin. In other words, we live in a fallen world.

According to John 10:10 the enemy Satan kills, steals, and destroys. Satan wants to disrupt our lives through many different kinds of trials.

God wants to use these same trials to test our faith so that we can develop perseverance.

God wants the perseverance to make us mature and for us, as His children, to lack nothing.

Galatians 6:9 says, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

When we persevere we allow God to produce the character or image of Jesus in us. When we are allowing the Father to form us into the image of Jesus, then we will not lack anything. We will be mature.

The are two key things.

First, how we view trials.

James says that we are to consider it joy. The joy is not in the trial itself but in what God will produce through it.

Thess trials are not:
God’s Punishment
God’s Being Mean
God’s Idea of a Joke

They are used by God to grow us. They are bad situations that God uses for our good. So we can view the whole process with joy.

Second, is trusting God in the midst of the trials.

We have to be like Peter as he walked on the water in the midst of the storm and keep our eyes on Jesus.

If we keep our focus on Jesus and not the trial we will persevere and God will accomplish His work in us.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls  is allowing God to develop perseverance in us through choosing to trust and obey Him in the midst of the trials.

James 1:5-8
If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

If we are going to persevere in our trials then we will need wisdom. The wisdom we need comes from God. We get this wisdom by asking God.

We are given two promises and one condition when it comes to asking for wisdom.

Promise #1: God gives generously to all who ask.

God will not just give us a little wisdom to enable us to get through a trial. God will give us all that we need to be victorious over the trial.

Promise #2: God will not find fault with us when we ask Him for wisdom.

I hear many talk about asking God for something like we are bothering God by going to Him and asking Him to meet our needs.

Jeremiah 33:3
Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.

Matthew 7:7-8
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

God says in those passages that He will listen and answer us when we ask. So we are not bothering Him when we ask for our needs.

God will also not condemn us when we realize that in ourselves we don’t have what we need and thus come to Him and ask. He knows that we don’t have what we need and He wants us to come and ask Him for whatever it is.

The Condition: We can’t doubt; we have to believe God.

James compares a person who comes to God and asks for wisdom but doesn’t believe that God will give it to wave in the ocean that is blown and tossed about by the wind.

God does not require that we have huge faith. He does require that our faith be in Him and be steady.

James calls someone who prays and doesn’t believe that God will do it a double-minded person. God says that people who do that are unstable in all that they do.

Psalm 40:1-2
I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.

God will gives us stability as we call out to Him and believe, not just in Him, but really believe Him.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing that God hears us when we call out to Him, that He will answer us, and that we can fully trust Him in all circumstances.

We live in a time of increasing violence, disunity, and confusion.

Many see the times we live in as bad and hopeless. I believe that we should approach them with joy and faith that God is at work and that He will use these difficult times to bring revival and spiritual awakening if we as His people DON’T GIVE UP!

In Joy and Faith Raising The Roof and Removing the Walls
                                       Joe