Wiregrass Church
Jesus told his followers that unavoidable trials aren’t aberrations; they are expectations. They can actually serve a beneficial purpose. Why? Because God can redeem, use, or work through the undeserved, unavoidable, circumstantial trials in our lives. But in order for that to happen, we have to believe and persevere.
What do you do when there is nothing you can do?
In The Meantime
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- I'll never be happy again.
- Nothing good can come from this.
- There's no point in continuing.
The people who brought us the New Testament - the narratives of Jesus, the teaching that make up the Epistles - these were men and women who were not unfamiliar with adversity.
How in the world did the message and the story of Christianity survive?
Between the authority of the temple and the authority of the Roman Empire, it should have just squeezed this little itty-bitty silly narrative to death.
James came to the conclusion that his brother was his Lord.
What convinced him? It wasn't the teaching of Jesus, it wasn't the miracles of Jesus, and it wasn't the crucifixion of Jesus.
It was the resurrection of Jesus.
James 1:1 NIV
James 1:2 NIV
James 1:3 NIV
Trials put your faith on trial. Trials put God on trial.
Trials test our confidence in God.
Trials produce persevering faith.
Faith that always gets a yes from God, no one is impressed by that.
The faith that impresses you the most, the faith that impresses us the most, is the faith that gets a no from God or gets no answer from God and continues to endure anyway.
James 1:4 NIV
The greatest tension right now in your life can be the focal point of God's activity in your life if you choose to trust.
Your persevering faith is going to bring more honor to God and it's going to bring you and leave you in a better place.
James 1:4 NIV
Let perseverance complete its works so you will be complete.
Spiritual maturity is always measured in terms of persevering faith, not perfect behavior.
What God does in the life of a man or a woman who stays there and allows perseverance to finish its work, it is inspiring.
James 1:5 NIV
Wisdom
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The ability to see current circumstances within a broader context.
Give me wisdom to see as you see.
James 1:6 NIV
James 1:7 NIV
The only way to build enduring faith is the only way you build a muscle: you stretch it and rest it, you stretch it and rest it, you work it and rest it.
In The Meantime
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Believe God is at work
in you
to mature you.
Endure to Mature.
Believe God will use what he may not remove.
"Heavenly Father, I believe You will use this until You choose to remove this. grant me wisdom to see as You see and strength to do as You say."
