Inspired by . . . Day 13: Count it all JOY
Inspired by . . . Day 13: Count it all JOY
This post is part of a 31 day series on JOY
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My brethren, count it all JOY when you fall into various trials,
knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.
But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. James 1:2-4
This is a hard word from James to us today. But if we want to receive the JOY that Jesus prayed for us to have, then we must bend our will to it. The process of becoming Christ-like is not an easy one. We have been crucified with Christ, and so to enter into His JOY means that we must also enter into His suffering.
The sanctified life means that we begin to understand God
and to manifest the life of the Son of God in our mortal flesh. ~Oswald Chambers
To endure suffering is hard enough, but to be patient with it is truly a test of our faith.
Remember when the Satan took Jesus to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in all their greatness, and offered to give Jesus all of it, if He would just bow down and worship him? Curious, isn’t it that Satan was offering Jesus what He already possessed. Have you ever wondered about that?
What the Devil was offering Jesus was the opportunity to forgo the cross. All this can be yours, he was saying, without the suffering, without the humiliation of the cross.
Don’t be fooled, dear one, Satan offers us the very same thing today when we are suffering! He may whisper it to you quietly, “There is another, easier, way.” Or he may shout it out, like Job’s wife, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!”
Either way, I pray we respond as Jesus did: "Go away, Satan! The scripture says, 'Worship the Lord your God and serve only Him!' "
Stand strong in your faith, dear one.
Let patience have its perfect work.
The JOY of the Lord is your strength.
All that lies dark and obscure just now is one day going to be as clear,
as radiantly and JOYously clear, as the bit we have seen.
No wonder God counsels us to be patient.
Little by little everything will be brought into the light
until we understand as Jesus Christ understood.
If we understand God on any one point we will know something of the JOY that Jesus had.
It is a wonderful possession, it is the very characteristic of Jesus. ~Oswald Chamber
Blessings,
Quotations taken from Our Brilliant Heritage, © Discovery House Publishers
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