Day 1 - Week 66 - Let's look at another joyful Scripture!

We are starting the 66th week of our journey.  It just amazes me how fast the time is going and just how many Scriptures we have already looked at.  Along the Appalachian Trail, we are now somewhere around Williamstown, Massachusetts.  Can't you imagine being in this picture on this early June morning?  Absolutely beautiful, isn't it?  But just because I throw in pictures of these beautiful places along the Appalachian Trail (which I'm using as a metaphor for our long trek of 100 memory verses), I don't mean to take away from the beauty of exactly where I am today, or where you might be.  Every place that God has placed us on this earth has some element of His beauty to behold, I really believe that.  Everywhere we can see His hand in the creation process.  Not far from where we live in Amarillo, Texas, is the beautiful Palo Duro Canyon, the second largest canyon in the United States.  Whenever I view it, I picture God's hand of creation carving out the canyon walls and causing the most beautiful colors of rock to be exposed.  I know that scientists explain that the canyon has been caused by thousands of years of water erosion, but that doesn't take the thought away from me that it was God's hand directing the waters in just the right manner to create a place so beautiful.  And, even though geologists would probably scoff, I still have the thought that maybe God just made it that way from the start!

So, let's review and start again down our trail....

Obedience (10)
2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people who are called by My name humble themselves, pray and seek My face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.
Lamentations 3:40 Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.
Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern the good, pleasing and perfect will of God.
Romans 12:11 Do not lack diligence; be fervent in spirit; serve the Lord.
Romans 12:12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in affliction, be persistent in prayer.
Romans 12:18 If possible, on your part, live at peace with everyone.
2 Corinthians 9:7 Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
Hebrews 10:25 "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching." (NKJV)
Proverbs 1:7 "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction."
Proverbs 15:1 "A gentle word turns away anger, but a harsh word stirs up wrath."

The Holy Spirit's Role in our Lives (6)
Ephesians 5:18 "And don't get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless actions, but be filled with the Spirit."
Ephesians 5:19 "Speaking to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making music in to the Lord in your hearts."
Ephesians 5:20 "Giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Ephesians 5:21 "Submitting to one another in the fear of Christ."
Galatians 5:22 "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control."
2 Timothy 1:14 "Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you...guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us."

Joy: God's Kind of Happiness (12)
Psalm 118:24 "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."
Philippians 4:4 "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!"
Philippians 4:5 "Let your graciousness be known to everyone. The Lord is near."
Philippians 4:6 "Do not worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God."
Philippians 4:7 "And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."
Romans 15:13 "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope through the power of the Holy Spirit."
James 1:2 "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds."
James 1:3-4 "Knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. But endurance must do its complete work, so that you will be mature and complete, lacking nothing."

Diverting just a bit from Robert P. Morgan's trail to add John 15:11.  I love the verses that come straight from Jesus' mouth, don't you?

John 15:11 "I have spoken these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be complete."

Can't wait to talk about this one as we journey down the trail beside each other!  Have a beautiful Sunday!!

Day 4- Week 65 - James 1:3-4 "Knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance, and endurance. But endurance must do its complete work, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.

In Robert J. Morgan's book, 100 Bible Verses Everyone Should Know by Heart, he would have us follow these verses up with next week's verse being James 1:5.  It is another great verse, but I feel we need to continue in our study of joy and will substitute another verse.  But....I do love what Morgan says about the linkage between James 1:3 and James 1:5 (which is exactly where we are!)...

This verse is a link in the chain connecting our worries (v.3) with God's wisdom (v.5).  When facing trials of various kinds, we shouldn't view them as bad luck or as random misfortunes.  They may be consequences of regrettable decisions or unavoidable debacles.  They may appear as tragic accidents or be sent by Satan.  But there is a Savior who embraced all our struggles while stretched on the crossbar of Calvary.  He not only redeems our souls from sin but our circumstances from despair.  He promises to wrest everything into conformity to His will and turn all things for good in our lives.

Now those words cause me to have great joy!!  When I can look at my current situation, no matter how good or how bad, and know that no matter what comes, God is on my side working things together for my good, then I have no reason for discouragement. 

I say, "no matter how good or how bad" because sometimes when things are going so very well, we have a tendency to become apprehensive about what might be around the corner.  We've lived long enough to realize that good times don't last forever here on planet earth, so anxiety can set in about what may lie ahead.  But we have no cause for anxiousness when we trust in our God for His provision and His care. 

I also love the phrase that Morgan included above, "He not only redeems our souls from sin but our circumstances from despair."  We always hear that while God forgives, He does not always lift the consequence of our sin, that there are results that have to be reckoned with.  But He redeems those circumstances from despair when we can see His hand working through those consequences to mold us into a more Christ-like being, learning from the consequences and circumstances that we are going through, and knowing that "next time" we will not fall for the same ploy of Satan to pull us off God's designed path for our lives. 

We have cause for joy because we have a God who loves us through thick and thin.  He uses our mistakes to grow us when we lay them at His feet and ask for His forgiveness.  He brings to us His wisdom when we ask for it.  For that's what James 1:2, 3 & 4 lead us to...James 1:5, "If any of you lack wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without criticizing, and it will be given to him."

James tells us that when we bring our brokenness and our ignorance to God and ask Him, "What do I do now?", He is ready to answer us with His absolute wisdom, without criticizing, (don't you love that!), ready to set our feet on the solid ground of His path for us.   Working our way through the circumstances and consequences of wherever our path of error has taken us, we know that He is walking right beside us, encouraging us to stay strong and to endure, and to keep walking home.

Day 3 - Week 65 - James 1:3-4, "Knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. But endurance must do its complete work, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing."

From Charles Spurgeon's sermon on this verse:

Look at the weather-beaten sailor, the man at home on the sea.  He has a bronzed face and mahogany-colored flesh.  He looks as tough as oak and as hardy as if made of iron.  How different from us poor landsmen.  He can go out to sea in any kind of weather; he has his sea legs on.  How did he come to this strength?  By doing business in great waters.  could not have become a hardy seaman by tarrying on shore.  Now, trial works in the saints that spiritual hardihood which cannot be learned in ease.  You may go to school forever, but you cannot learn endurance there:  you may color your cheek with paint, but you cannot give it that ingrained brown which comes of stormy seas and howling winds.

Isn't that a great word picture?  Can't you just see in your mind the crusty old sailor that Spurgeon is describing? 

"Spiritual hardihood"...that is our goal!  Or as Robert J. Morgan states it, "Endurance is the ability to undergo a period of stress and strain with the inner strength of Christ, emerging from it stronger than when we entered.  It's looking squarely into the face of discouraging circumstances without despair.  It's assuming that God is going to work all things for good.  It's acting as though it's already done though yet unseen.  This seems to be a quality the Lord values beyond almost all else.  It's one of His secret formulas in developing the chemistries of our Christian personalities."

Wow!  I want to be able to look squarely into the face of discouraging circumstances without despair.  That, to me, is true spiritual hardihood!  Becoming strong enough not to crumple when things look bleak; better yet, not to even blink an eye because I know that my God is working on my behalf.  That I have a faith confident enough to rely on my God's ability, that the good result is already in the works.  I can look tough times square in the eye, just like a weather-beaten sailor, and say, "I'm ready for the storm, the calm that follows will come."

I think I've described counting our trials as joy...it is not that we want hard or bad times.  It is that we know God is with us and He will use them for our good, and for our growth. 

"My old eyes get dimmer.  The specialist says the light will fade altogether.  So I gird myself for darkness, quote James 1:2 to 4, shout Hallelujah and go on."  - Salvation Army hero, Samuel Logan Brengle, facing old age and blindness

Day 2 - Week 65 - James 1:3-4 "Knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. But endurance must do its complete work, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing."

Knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance....

I love the way Robert J. Morgan explains this phrase:

The term "testing" is akin to the idea of exercise.  If faith never goes to the gym, it becomes flabby.  As we encounter trials, our faith is put to the test, exercised, put thought its paces.  As our faith develops muscles, we become people of greater stamina and inner strength.  That gives us maturity and proven character.

Morgan's explanation reminds me of Pauls' words in 1 Timothy... "Physical exercise has some value, but spiritual exercise is much more important, for it promises a reward in both this life and the next." 

So now I'm thinking of exercising...you know how good it feels when you're finished?  (I think I remember how that feels!)  And you know how you get excited about starting an exercise program because you know you will feel better because of it?  I think that's how we should feel when we are facing trials...rather than focusing on the temporary pain, we look forward to the eternal gain.  We know that there is purpose in the pain, we are becoming stronger in our faith and in our understanding of God's plan for our life....our earthly life and our eternal one!

Run the race, start out slow, but run.  Build your strength, and before you know it you will be soaring like an eagle!

Isaiah 40:31  But those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not faint.   

Day 1 - Week 65 - The reason for our joy!

We add to our joy verses today the verse following last week's verse of James 1:2, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you are faced with trials of many kinds."  This week we'll add to that the reason that we are to consider trials joy...because of the result of going through the trials.  If we go through trials, even joyfully, without any good coming from them, the next time a trial comes around we may not embrace it so easily.  But when we go through a trial, and then a promised result occurs, we grow in faith...we know God has been with us. 

So what is the result we should be expecting?

James 1:3-4 "Knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. But endurance must do its complete work, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing."

(Did you notice that I snuck two verses in this week?  I just couldn't separate them...you have to have 4 to make 3 work!)

The expectation that we should have when we face a trial of any kind is that God is at work in us, prodding us to an endurance that we formerly did not know we were capable of, and when we get through that test, seeing that we have endured through God's strength, we have grown.  We find ourselves looking at life through more mature eyes, we are more complete in our faith, and eventually...yes with the perfection of our resurrection when we have truly endured to the end...we will lack nothing!

When we know that our trials are up to something in us, that they can make us better Christians, that we have an opportunity to share God's power in our lives with others, then it makes a lot more sense to consider them with a joyful attitude, doesn't it?

I hope today when you encounter a trial, big or small, you say a little prayer and ask God to use it to mature you, to grow you, to strengthen your faith...and to know that He is there beside you.

Review to date!

Obedience (10)
2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people who are called by My name humble themselves, pray and seek My face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.
Lamentations 3:40 Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord.
Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern the good, pleasing and perfect will of God.
Romans 12:11 Do not lack diligence; be fervent in spirit; serve the Lord.
Romans 12:12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in affliction, be persistent in prayer.
Romans 12:18 If possible, on your part, live at peace with everyone.
2 Corinthians 9:7 Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
Hebrews 10:25 "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching." (NKJV)
Proverbs 1:7 "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction."
Proverbs 15:1 "A gentle word turns away anger, but a harsh word stirs up wrath."

The Holy Spirit's Role in our Lives (6)
Ephesians 5:18 "And don't get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless actions, but be filled with the Spirit."
Ephesians 5:19 "Speaking to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making music in to the Lord in your hearts."
Ephesians 5:20 "Giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Ephesians 5:21 "Submitting to one another in the fear of Christ."
Galatians 5:22 "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control."
2 Timothy 1:14 "Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you...guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us."

Joy: God's Kind of Happiness (12)
Psalm 118:24 "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."
Philippians 4:4 "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!"
Philippians 4:5 "Let your graciousness be known to everyone. The Lord is near."
Philippians 4:6 "Do not worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God."
Philippians 4:7 "And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."
Romans 15:13 "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope through the power of the Holy Spirit."
James 1:2 "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds."

I just couldn't resist adding this picture today.  Life gets sour sometimes, doesn't it?  But we've been told to consider the sour moments part of our joyful life.  For we know that without the sensation of sour, we'd never fully appreciate the wonderful taste of the sweet!  So we will "consider it pure joy when we encounter trials of many different kinds", trusting in God, things will get better...He has great plans for us....the greatest of which is our eternal homes that are being prepared for us in His presence!

I think we, the "we" being most 2012 Americans living in relative comfort, tend to trivialize "trials". I am not saying that we do not encounter times that truly test us, we have health issues, family issues, financial issues, relationship issues, all of which can range from minor to very major on our trial scales....but when James was talking to the scattered Jews of the first century A.D., they were encountering t-r-i-a-l-s!!

When we read James 1:1, he says, "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings."  When we read a verse like this, we tend to dismiss it...it is just the "lead in"...let's get to the meat of the message!  But to truly understand the intensity of James message, we need to linger on this verse for just a minute.  James identifies himself as a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.  He served God well during his earthly life...he was one of the stalwarts of the early church in Jerusalem.  But he didn't start out that way.  During Jesus' ministry on earth, James was not one of his followers, he was not the disciple, James.  That was John's brother.  No, James, this James, started out as a doubter of Jesus...this James was Jesus own half-brother, son of Mary and Joseph.  And he was a scoffer of his older brother.  Until Jesus came to him as His resurrected Savior.  In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul tells us,

"Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James..."

This is when James' life turned around...180 degrees.  And he never stopped preaching the message that he received from His brother Jesus until he died, a martyr of the faith, thrown from the top of the temple and then stoned and clubbed to death.  Do  you think he encountered trials along the way?

Now, back to the message...James addresses his letter to the scattered tribes throughout the nations.  These scattered tribes are Jews who have left Jerusalem and the surrounding areas, their homes, due to persecution.  Ever since the Babylonian exile, the entire twelve tribes of Israel had never been reunited.  At this time, further scattering occurred due to Roman persecution of both Jews and the growing number of Christian Jews.  As in the centuries since, the Jewish people have undergone persecution and scattering for various reasons under various regimes.  Not only were they being forced from their homes to move to lands unknown, to cultures very different from their own, along the way they faced the possibility of being imprisoned, beaten, or killed.  For those who stood firm in their faith in the face of the opposition, life indeed carried with it the possibility of "many kinds of trials."

Now - James presents to this audience, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds."  Are you crazy, James?  "Pure joy at the hands of my oppressor?  Pure joy when I may be beaten today for no reason at all?  Pure joy when my home and possessions are taken from me and I am forced to tell my wife and children that we are walking to...I don't know where...to do...I don't know what?" 

It puts a little different perspective on considering trials joy, doesn't it?  And yet, James says that these trials are not encountered without purpose.  Our next verses explore the result of trials, and just why we can embrace them with joy...no matter how intense. 

Thank You, God, that You are with us through every trial, through every moment that we are pushed to our limits.  You are there.  You know and You give us strength.  We can smile knowing that You are working within us to make us more like You and that no matter how dark the night, joy will come in the morning!  Thank You, Thank You, Thank You for Your continued faithfulness! 

Day 3 - Week 64 - James 1:2 "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds."

I'm having to work on my joy this morning.  Even though I am again sitting outside, on a beautiful spring morning, listening to the birds sing, my heart is not joyful.  It has been weighed down the past few days with a feeling of sadness about the world we live in, and the world in which my grandchildren will grow up. 

I long for the world as I knew it as a child, when things were so much simpler.  And I don't mean they were simpler just because I was a child, they were simpler for everyone.  The rules were plainer and there was no so much divisiveness.  I fully realize that not everyone lived in an "Ozzie and Harriet" kind of world, but I really believe that anyone born after 1970 cannot understand how different our times are. I also realize that I was brought up in an environment not like everyone else's of that time.  My world was that of a nuclear, white, Christian family.  My hometown was a small, German, farming town in southern Illinois where there was only one church and one school in town, and they were both Lutheran.  We were taught the Bible not only on Sunday mornings, but in school each day. 

The longer I dwell on the past, though, I realize it's flaws.  People who did not fit into my nice little world were probably not nearly as happy as I, and had no accommodation.  It was a time of major civil unrest and I, not aware of those struggles, didn't understand (and still don't) how people could label anyone a lesser person just because of the color of their skin.  It didn't make sense to me. 

Viet Nam came and brought with it a whole other level of rebellion.  My world was changing quickly and it would never be the same. 

Now we find ourselves in a world where everyone speaks their mind about any subject.  We have so many different opinions about so many different problems and they are all broadcast 24-hours a day via CNN and FOX.  It is hard to stay joyful when you are being confronted on a moment-by-moment basis with so many reasons not to be!

But yet we are told to "consider it pure joy whenever we face trials of many kinds."  That's just where we are, isn't it?  Trials of many, many different kinds.  So where does our joy come from?  Our joy comes from the Holy Spirit, with the message that we have been given (1 Thessalonians 1:6). Our help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth (Psalm 121:2).  We do not have a God who doesn't see what we are going through, either in our own personal lives, or in the life of our country, or of this world that we live in.  He knows - He understands - and He sees the end, which is actually the beginning! We have faith in God who is the Victor!

Right now it is raining in my little world --- always a beautiful thing in the Texas panhandle.  It is refreshing my soul, and I am joyful.