Making the Most of Trouble - Part 2

Sometimes when we are going through a difficult circumstance, we can only think of one thing: "Get me out of this!" This passage in the book of James teaches about what it means to grow up spiritually. When a baby wants to get out of its crib, it screams to have someone come remove it. He or she has not thought about why it is there: it needs to sleep, it needs a safe place to be, etc. There is no wisdom about the situation.

James 1

² My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, ³ knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. ⁴ But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. ⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

"If we are going to turn trials into triumphs, we must obey four imperatives: count (1:2), know (1:3), let (1:4, 9-11), and ask (1:5-8). Or, to put it another way, there are four essentials for victory in trials: a joyful attitude, an understanding mind, a surrendered will, and a heart that wants to believe." -Warren Wiersbe.

3. Let -- A Surrendered Will

It's easy to be patient when things are going good and times are simple. How will we acquire patience in times of trouble, stress, need or anger? This passage doesn't tell us to try harder, it tells us to give up. Just surrender to the hand of God in it.

God cannot build character in our lives if we don't cooperate with Him. Sometimes we resist Him, and He disciplines us. What God is looking for is submission and surrender. No matter what we do, we are going to go through trials. However, we can go through them with surrendered wills, accepting God's will willingly or we can go through them argueing with God the whole time. Sometimes we act like spoiled children who are not getting their way.


Babies need to be weaned from breast-feeding, then the bottle. They may cry at first, but they know their mother still loves them. God uses trials to wean us away from childish things.

4. Ask -- A Believing Heart

The people James was writing to weren't praying right. If we are going through difficulties that God has allowed, we shouldn't be praying, "God get me out of this!" We should be asking Him for wisdom. Wisdom is needed so that we don't waste this opportunity to grow in maturity. Wisdom is the answer that we need when we are crying out to God, "This doesn't make any sense!!"

We are told in this passage not only what to ask for but how to ask -- in faith. God wants to give us wisdom, and He won't scold us for asking for it. Unbelief can prevent us from receiving the wisdom we're asking for.

⁶ But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind.

Waves are up and down. They get moved by every gust of wind. They don't stand firm in anything.

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. - Ephesians 4:14 (NIV)

James started this section with joy and ends it with joy. "Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him" (1:12). We will be rewarded when we endure trials. Outlook determines outcome. It all depends on how we are looking at our trials.

If we patiently endure, there will be a crown. The reward is greater maturity, glory to God. It wouldn't really help us to remove the tests. God helps by making the trials work for us. Satan hopes to interfere by making the tests tear us down instead of build us up.

The crown of life goes to the Christian who loves. It is because we love God that we know we can trust Him. We can surrender our will and stop trying to change our circumstances to fit our will. We can surrender and obey. We're not going to be slow to ask for help.

A Valley of Dry Bones

Sketched during church 4-12-09

Notes from church today
Mark Waters

Ezekiel 37

Breath of Life

^1-2 God grabbed me. God's Spirit took me up and set me down in the middle of an open plain strewn with bones. He led me around and among them—a lot of bones! There were bones all over the plain—dry bones, bleached by the sun.

³ He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?"

I said, "Master God, only you know that."

⁴ He said to me, "Prophesy over these bones: 'Dry bones, listen to the Message of God!'"

^5-6 God, the Master, told the dry bones, "Watch this: I'm bringing the breath of life to you and you'll come to life. I'll attach sinews to you, put meat on your bones, cover you with skin, and breathe life into you. You'll come alive and you'll realize that I am God!"

^7-8 I prophesied just as I'd been commanded. As I prophesied, there was a sound and, oh, rustling! The bones moved and came together, bone to bone. I kept watching. Sinews formed, then muscles on the bones, then skin stretched over them. But they had no breath in them.

⁹ He said to me, "Prophesy to the breath. Prophesy, son of man. Tell the breath, 'God, the Master, says, Come from the four winds. Come, breath. Breathe on these slain bodies. Breathe life!'"

¹⁰ So I prophesied, just as he commanded me. The breath entered them and they came alive! They stood up on their feet, a huge army.

¹¹ Then God said to me, "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Listen to what they're saying: 'Our bones are dried up, our hope is gone, there's nothing left of us.'

^12-14 "Therefore, prophesy. Tell them, 'God, the Master, says: I'll dig up your graves and bring you out alive—O my people! Then I'll take you straight to the land of Israel. When I dig up graves and bring you out as my people, you'll realize that I am God. I'll breathe my life into you and you'll live. Then I'll lead you straight back to your land and you'll realize that I am God. I've said it and I'll do it. God's Decree.'"

God desires to release in Ezekiel the ministry of resurrection -- of bringing Life to God's peeople. Ezekiel needs an education, but he is led not to a seminary, but a cemetary. There's a lesson to be gotten there. The people need Life, not information.

"Ezekiel, look it over. How do things look? Do you see the true state of God's people?"

"It looks like a vast army slain. It looks like something has happened. There was a battle gone wrong. God has lost his corporate Man."

Parts are separated from there parts. It is the devastation of the work of death. There is no semblance of a body. There's not a hint of a Body anywhere. The church is broken apart. God is after more than individuals getting saved. He wanst to see a coporate Man raised up.

The challenge comes. Can these bones live? Can the church be raised up to a mighty army again? Prophecy to those bones, "Hear the Word of the Lord." Spirit and Word together is what is needed.

Making the Most of Trouble - Part 1

Bad stuff happens! But good can come out of it. How can we make the most of trials? James 1 gives us four actions we need to take to make the most of the bad things that happen to us.

"If we are going to turn trials into triumphs, we must obey four imperatives: count (1:2), know (1:3), let (1:4, 9-11), and ask (1:5-8). Or, to put it another way, there are four essentials for victory in trials: a joyful attitude, an understanding mind, a surrendered will, and a heart that wants to believe." -Warren Wiersbe.

1. Count. As was mentioned in the last post, this is a financial term that means to evaluate. You've listed the liabilities and assets and in view of everything that's going on, these trials are a positive thing. We have to evaluate our situation in the light of what God is doing and not be surprised by negative experiences. "We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22). Some trials come as a result of living in a broken world -- things like sickness, accidents, and disappointments. Bad things happen to everybody and we are not immune. Other trials come because we are Christians.

²Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,

face - "encounter, come across"
of many kinds - "various, varicolored". The same word is used by Peter, "Ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations." (1 Pt. 1:6). In other words, there are all different kinds of trouble -- at home, at work, etc.

When we face the trials of life, we should evaluate them in the light of what God is doing. This is why we can have joy. We are living for the things that matter most. Jesus was able to endure the cross because of "the joy that was set before Him" (Heb 12:2).

What do we value most? If our highest priority is our comfort, then trials will be unbearable. If character is more valuable, we will be able to "count it all joy." Trials are unbearable when we are valueing the material more than the spiritual, the present more than the future.

This verse tells us to "rejoice" in trial! How is that possible? The second impertive tells us how:

2. Know.

³because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.

What is it that we need to know that will make it easier for us to face trials and get the most out of them? There are three things.

a. Faith is always tested. God tests us to increase our faith. He desires to bring out the best.

b. Testing works for us, not against us. Testing can be translated "approval".

All things work together for good for us, including trials. "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (2 Cor. 4:17).

c. If we respond right to trials, we will grow in maturity. God wants to produce in our lives patience, endurance, and the ability to keep going when things are tough.

Romans 5

³Not only so, but we^c]">[c] also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

patience- courageous perseverance in the face of suffering and difficulty.

God wants to make us patient because that is the key to every other blessing. A child who doesn't learn patience will not learn anything else. The Bible is filled with stories of men who ran ahead of God and tried to produce what He wanted in their own strength prematurely.

Patience can not be developed in our lives except by trials. As we go through the difficulties of life and trust God and obey Him, we will become patient and have character. This is why we can face trouble with joy -- we know that something can be done in us and for us and that God will be glorified.

The lie of the enemy is that this trouble we're facing is meaningless -- that God isn't providing or caring. The truth is that God has a purpose in trials and if we trust Him, He can fulfill His promises.

There's gold in them thar hills!

James 1

²Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.

"Not everyone who grows old grows up." (W. Wiersbe)

The testing of our faith develops perseverance. Other ways to say that are:

• the trial and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience. (Amp).
  
• under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. (Message).

It is when we are under pressure, that we show our true colors. When gold is found, it is impure, with a lot of mixture. To purify, a goldsmith uses fire. The heat causes the junk to rise to the surface, so that the goldsmith can remove it. Just when it looks pure, he turns up the heat. Then he sees that there was more to remove after all.

1 Peter 1
⁶In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. ⁷These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Job 23
¹⁰ But He knows the way that I take;
When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.

During times of trial, we will discover that there are aspects of our character we didn't think were there. God doesn't want us to be embarrassed or discouraged. We really shouldn't be surprised. He wants us to have an attitude of surrender. "Go ahead and remove that stuff, Lord." Let patience have her perfect work (Jm.1:4). The key is a surrendered will.

Faith will always be tested. When God sees it, he sees something of infinite value, but in its current form -- full of mixture and impurities. He tests us to bring out the best. When a prospector finds a fleck of gold, it may not be worth much, but he's excited, because he may be sitting on a gold mine!

Patience and endurance are the ability to keep going when things are tough. Patience is the courageous perseverance in the face of suffering and difficulty. Patience is the key to every other blessing. If we don't have patience we will try to run ahead of God and produce things in our own strength.

God can only produce patience and character in our lives through trials. God has a purpose in the tough things we go through. If we trust Him, He will accomplish what He wants in our lives.

The Joy of Trouble

<sup>We are God's children, but are we growing up? The theme of the book of James is spiritual maturity. The marks of a mature Christian are that he is patient in testing, practices the truth, has power of his tongue, is a peacemaker, and is prayerful in troubles. The book spends one chapter on each one of those marks.

James 1</sup>

²Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,

<sup>We can somehow take the bad things that happen to us, and make good out of it. We don't have to get a victim mentality and feel sorry for ourselves. God has allowed it for a reason. It's never hopeless. We shouldn't really be surprised that we're going through tough circumstances. We're actually told to expect them. We can't expect everything to go our way. There's going to be trials "of many kinds". Not all trials are alike.

The word consider is a financial term, meaning "to evaluate". We need to consider the trials in the context of the grand scheme of things. What's the big picture of what God is doing. If we look at each situation through eyes of faith, we can have joy.

The Message Bible says,</sup>

^2-4Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.

Carried Along

Today I was thinking of this verse,

"For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." 1 Peter 1:21 (NIV).

These words (phero- Strongs 5342) translated "carried along" are also used twice in the book of Acts, where the ship Paul was about to be shipwrecked in, because they could not sail it, they just "let it drive". They just let the waves take the ship.


The prophets of old, then, spoke as they were "caught up in the current".

Another story:

About 21 years ago, I had just returned to the Lord after running from him for several years. I guess I was afraid I was going to get sucked back into the world. I got very uptight and legalistic.

As circumstances happened, I found myself at Darien Lake amusement park. I was struggling within at this needless expense of money and time that could have been spent for God on this "innocent amusement" (thanks a lot, Finney!)

I found myself at the top of a water slide. It been some time since I'd been on one, and I was under the mistaken idea that I was going to sit on a rubber mat and steer it down the slide. Soon I was slipping and sliding and laughing and I heard God say, "THIS is what it means to be "caught up in the current'!" I was completely out of control. I was just along for the ride.


I had been trying to live for God in a way in which I was trying very hard to always do the right thing and was constantly in doubt as to if I was ever doing the right thing. I decided to start trusting God to "work in to will and to do".

I'm really not the type of person that often says, "I heard God say" anything. These times are rare. For some reason these occasions have been on my mind lately.

The Artist's Paint Box

In 1987 I had just got out of college and was working as a teacher. I wasn't a starving college student anymore, but actually had some money! I wasn't married yet and didn't have any kids. One of the first things I bought was a real artist box for paint and an easel. I felt like a real artist and everything.

A couple years later I was visiting with some friends who went to our church. One of their daughters wanted some painting lessons. She had some acrylics and I helped her make a painting. As we were working, the Lord dropped in my heart, "I want you to give her your paintbox."

I immediately started to protest. "Do I have to? Are you sure this is what you want?"

"What I want," the Lord replied, "is for people to do things for me because they want to, not because they have to."

That settled it. We had just heard a sermon about the woman that broke the alabaster box. If she could surrender something worth a year's wages, I guess I could part with this. I gave her the paint box. Not with any paint in it, just an empty box. If you're an artist you know that these aren't cheap and if you're a parent, you know you don't usually have money for extras like that.

I never said anything about this to anybody until today. There were times when I've looked around at things at Michael's Art Supplies and said, "Hey God, you own the cattle on a thousand hills -- how about you get me one of these portfolios?"

Yesterday a colleague at school told me that they had a relative that died and had a bunch of art stuff. Did I want to look at it and see if I might want it. Here is what they gave me.
Not just a paint box (filled with oil paint) but a box for carrying wet canvases, canvas panels, stretched canvas, brushes, watercolor paint,and two (count 'em), two portfolios. That's not all, just about everything a painter would want was in there. As I drove back home with my treasures, I wept a little. I was humbled and broken by the faithfulness of God.

We've been going through something that isn't very pleasant, and we've been stressing a little. But through this blessing today, God's showing me that no matter what happens, it's going to be okay. He is going to take care of us. He is faithful.