I’m so sorry I’ve been MIA for a little. Life has been so crazy which I’m sure you guys understand. We are struggling to get a good routine with school and mom being the teacher (for me being the teacher!). Just hanging on to Gods promise for us and trusting in His word.
Back to the book of James. Again I have loved digging deeper into this instruction on how we are to live once we ask God into our hearts. It’s amazing how you can look at a book and new things stick out to you. I’m going to break it down so it’s going to be a bit long.
Now this is my findings from a bible study and then a devotion that I did. I pray that it kind of puts things in view for someone that reads this 🙂
JAMES 1-11: God says the trials will come, that’s a definite, but the part you have control of is the way you react to them. God wants us to greet them with joy. Yes I know the first time I read that it was like how do you handle them with joy?! Things are farthest from that during those struggles. What I learned is He doesn’t mean that struggle should be joy and we diminish our real feelings, He is saying despite that struggle we need to focus on what God can do because of it. God is our joy. He’s our freedom.
This is a constant learning but after awhile it becomes easier to do. Trust me this is my theme song for the past couple years. I have felt I was at the bottom, life keeps throwing things at me…and at this moment it hasn’t slowed down. I still fall short. I’ll admit it. I focus on the obstacle instead of Gods goodness. But I don’t last as long in it. I come back to the truth. Gods truth.
One story that I heard and wanted to share is how they test silver. They take pure precious metals and put them through extreme heat to remove impurities. They keep doing this until you can see your reflection. Then it’s completely pure. Just like when we are in trials we have to go through heat over and over until we are pure or complete. Keep focus on the end result.
Another story to show comparison. The steps into baking the cake is similar to our life. You have to add all the right ingredients in the bowl, which some of those takes a bit of a beating or maybe even heat to match the recipe. Then you pour it into a pan and in the oven for so much time. I’m sure you know what the end result is, a very yummy cake! When we bake the cake we are so focused on the yummy end result. We should be focused on our end, life with God.
We are going to begin with the first 8 verses. The following is a summary and then I will follow up with a post digging deeper into the words James wrote.
In James 1:1-5 it summarizes the trials will come and we need to encounter them with faith and joy. Live out the doctrine. Prove you are followers.
A good question to ask yourself is can people see you believe in God the way you act? James tells us we can’t just talk we must act like we believe too. Our actions should match our words.
Patient endurance is attained when we continue to try our hardest at matching our actions to our words. Another thing that comes from the trials is spiritual maturity. All we need to do is focus on Gods goodness and truth when an obstacle comes our way. Joy is the knowledge that we are never alone or forgotten during those hard times.
Verses 5-8 focuses more on having a heart change. If we do then our actions will liven up as well. I mean think about it, look who we love. There you will find where your thoughts are and your heart is. We should not doubt either. It leads to instability and indecision.
I pray my friends that you allow God to change your heart. For your words and actions to match and to align with Gods commands. Thank you for taking the time to read these words and my only hope is that they help that one person.
Angie 💜
Warrior for Christ 