James 1:2-3 NIV
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, and sisters,[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
Backstory:
James, brother of Jesus, wrote this to encourage believers to have faith during the difficult times. These Christians were dealing with many adversities; fear, rejection, sickness, poverty, loss of life, loss of their homes, and much more. They suffered and were ridiculed for even following Jesus. James wants them to put faith into action. Not having an empty cup, but an overflowing cup of faith. Don’t resent hardships, embrace them, learn from them, use them as wisdom, help others through your story. Love others enough to fill their cup every day. Pass on to help others press on with faith.
What is pure joy?
Joy=coming to peace with where you are, what you are doing, where you have been, who you are.
Happiness=is triggered by emotions and experiences, it waxes and wanes, shifts from one state to the next. Not constant. Happiness is based on what happens, what our thoughts are, who we are with, what is going on.
Pure joy is the true joy; your cup runneth over joy even when you are at your wit’s end. It is what we can have because the reality of it all is that Jesus overcame the world. He took our sin; he destroys the evil that lurks in the shadows. Pure Joy is when we can be in the middle of a trial and have faith to know that something good will come from the situation.
WHENEVER:
I love words. When we dive into scripture, we see that James uses the word whenever. He chose not to use the word IF. Why did he use whenever? We will all have trials. None of us are immune to situations that try to steal our joy. We all will go through something in our lives. Some situations will be more difficult, BUT we all will have trials. There are no if’s and’s or but’s about it- whenever trials occur they occur.
WITH THAT BEING SAID:
How are we able to keep our cup full of joy while facing trials? FAITH
Yesterday at FUMC Stuttgart our pastor’s sermon dealt with FAITH.
How do we grow our faith so that whenever trials occur He carry’s us?
- Acknowledge that God is God
- Make an appointment with God every day to have the conversations through prayer
- Listen to what God is telling you
Years ago, Jesus wanted to do much more, He wanted to work miracles, but the lack of faith from those around Him hindered Him from following through. It wasn’t because He could not It was because of the lack of faith.
Faith is the green light for God to do His work. When we have faith, God works within us. He leads us through the trials of life. He never leaves us. He prepares us for the days ahead. He enables us to endure the trials and PERSEVERE through them.
It is by showing up at our “GOD APPOINTMENT” daily and listening to Him that our faith grow’s and we stay connected to the vine.
Let’s face it when we face trials at first, we are probably mad, angry, have self-pity, complain, take it out on the ones we love and that is ok, however we must make a change. To embrace a life of true wholehearted faith a person must produce that real-life change. We must face trials God’s way and not our way. We may have to take a step back away from the trial and process. It is when we do this that we realize that through the trials He is developing us, forming us into the people that can be FAITH FIRE STARTERS and not just Pew Warmers.
Increase your faith, believe in the miracles and your cup will be overflowing with joy. It is then and only then when we can pass on pure joy by filling other cups.
Jesus isn’t an IF guy He is a WILL DO guy- BUT you gotta have FAITH!
WEEKLY CHALLENGE:
- Show up to your daily appointment with God
(this will fill your cup so that you can fill another cup)
- Fill someone else’s cup
- What are your 3 LITTLE WORDS that bring you JOY and LIGHT YOUR FIRE OF FAITH?
Additional read on how 3 LITTLE WORDS can make a difference
BOOK SHARE:
How Full Is Your Bucket
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