From our previous blog, Trials and Tribulations Part 1, we discovered that because Adam opened the door to Master Sin, Sin has wreaked havoc in the world around us. Jesus told us, In the world, you will have tribulations and to be of good cheer because I have overcome the world. 

 

John 16:33, Jesus said to be of “good cheer” not because of trials but because He overcame them ALL for us. Our brother, James, had a remarkably similar response to trials and tribulations in our lives. Let’s examine his words to us.

  

James Chapter 1:2-8 from the Amplified Version of the Bible says.

 
Testing of Our Faith Produces Perseverance and Endurance

 

² Consider it nothing but joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you fall into various trials. ³ Be assured that the testing of your faith [through experience] produces endurance [leading to spiritual maturity and inner peace]. 

      

• Our faith in our Lord Jesus grows when we turn to Him in our moments of need or desperation. Testing of our faith asks one question, “Will I trust the Lord or not?”

     

• Our faith matures into endurance when we walk through each trial we face with confidence and assurance that our Lord Jesus is Victorious over ALL situations. 

 

Bring Us into Maturity in Christ

 

⁴ And let endurance have its perfect result and do a thorough work, so that you may be perfect and completely developed [in your faith], lacking in nothing.

     

• We must learn to stay focused on our Lord and embrace our trials without murmuring, complaining, or running away from them. Through trials, our Lord teaches us how to remain dependent on Him instead of the strategies of the flesh we have learned living from our own resources.

 

We Obtain Wisdom from God

 

⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom [to guide him through a decision or circumstance], he is to ask of [our benevolent] God, who gives to everyone generously and without rebuke or blame, and it will be given to him.  

    

• When we don’t know what to do, we should ask the Lord, who willingly and freely wants to show us what to do and how to handle every situation through us.

 

⁶ But he must ask [for wisdom] in faith, without doubting [God’s willingness to help], for the one who doubts is like a billowing surge of the sea that is blown about and tossed by the wind.

   

• When our Lord gives us direction, we must trust Him and believe Him. The enemy wants us to doubt and intimidate us with fear so that the will of the Lord goes unfulfilled in our lives.

 

⁷ For such a person ought not to think or expect that he will receive anything [at all] from the Lord, ⁸ being a double-minded man, unstable and restless in all his ways [in everything he thinks, feels, or decides].

 

• If we doubt the wisdom of God after He has shown us more than one time what to do, we may become stuck in that area of our lives until we are willing to submit totally to God, deny the flesh, and trust in the perfect wisdom of God. 

 

 

Like all our brothers and sisters who have finished their appointed course in life, trials and tribulations will come into our lives. They come to test our faith, bring us into spiritual maturity, and obtain wisdom from God. They also teach us to neglect the ways of the world and the flesh to remain faithful to our Lord. Knowing this, our Lord uses ALL things in our lives for our good.

 

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Enjoy Christ, Enjoy Zoe, Our Life!