Parents and Students, As we continue to study the Word this week, think of it as your daily dose of fuel that will keep you going throughout the day. God’s Word will keep you growing in grace. Ask God to give you a hunger for His Word and an unquenchable desire to spend time with Him. Be encouraged by God’s Word today and find your satisfaction in Him! As you read todays passage, look for these words or phrases: joy, trials, testing, and endurance. Passage for the day: James 1:2-4 (NASB) 2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Questions for thought: Take a few moments to answer these questions before you go on to the next section. According to verse 2, what should our response be to trials? What is your first response to the trials you face in your life (no Sunday School answers – be honest!)? How is it possible to have joy in the midst of pain or difficulty? When God tests your faith through trials, what is the result? How is God testing your faith right now? Read Romans 5:2–5, 1 Peter 1:6–7, and James 1:4. If God continues to build endurance into your life as you submit to God by faith, what will happen? Meditate on this: It is clear from these verses that God uses the trials in our lives to accomplish His purpose. And, we are told that our response to these trials should be joy! I don’t know about you, but this did not make sense when I first read this. In fact, I wondered how it could be possible, since joy is not my usual first response when tough times come. What I often fail to see is that my focus is on the wrong thing! Joy is not the product of good circumstances but rather, joy is the most basic and essential expression of faith. You and I can consider a horrible situation to be a reason to rejoice because of our faith in an all-powerful God who is in control and who is always good. James is writing this to encourage us! Remember, the believers who first read this were going through incredible pain and suffering – and God was not going to be silent. God told them then and tells us now to embrace our trials – not for what they are, but for what God can accomplish through them. As in the passages of Romans 5:2–5 and 1 Peter 1:6–7, James here teaches that trials serve as a test for genuine faith. This is clearly seen in the story of Abraham and his son Isaac (Genesis 22). God tested the genuineness of Abraham’s faith by asking him to do the unthinkable – kill his own son. How would you respond to this? Being in that circumstance would be so difficult! However, Abraham had such a great trust in His God that he obeyed Him completely, even when he could not understand – and God blessed him for it. Trials form an essential part of God’s plan for us and it will prove whether we have a faith that is real or not. We can have joy because God is maturing us in our faith and preparing us for the trials that come. It is God who makes us strong and prepares us to serve Him. God will always be faithful and promises to take us through the trials we face (1 Corinthians 10:13)! It is my prayer today that we would all possess a real, genuine faith that is fully resting on God’s grace. Praying for that you would Love Christ PASSIONATELY, Know Christ DEEPLY, and Enjoy Christ FULLY!!! Pastor Stephen
Posted on: Wed, 05 Feb 2014 17:49:54 +0000
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