How many of you have actually delighted in these verses from James 1:2-4?
2 Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort or fall into various temptations. 3 Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience. 4 But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing.
The KJV says "count it ALL joy"! And YES, "all" really means ALL right here! We are to consider it with great joy when we face tests, temptations and trials! Why? Because it is a perfect time for others to see just how big our God really is! I LOVE this portion of "My Utmost For His Highest" by Oswald Chambers today:
Patience is not indifference; patience conveys
the idea of an immensely strong rock withstanding all onslaughts. The vision of
God is the source of patience, because it imparts a moral inspiration. Moses
endured, not because he had an ideal of right and duty, but because he had a
vision of God. He "endured, as seeing Him Who is invisible." A man
with the vision of God is not devoted to a cause or to any particular issue; he
is devoted to God Himself.
So many people are caught up in "causes" today, but are these causes REALLY of God? Yes, we SHOULD help the poor and feed the hungry, but how much better to introduce them to the God Who is MORE THAN ENOUGH! We CAN do both, but we must FIRST desire for them to know HIM! It is all in vain otherwise, for this life is so very short compared to all of eternity! Let's concentrate on the greatness of our God and present HIM to the world so that they, too, can know the SOURCE of all good and all provision! Increase YOUR vision of Who He is to you and you will be better able to be PATIENT and to be victorious! AMEN! Here is Hillsong with , of course, "The Greatness of Our God":
Shalom in Him!
