Count It ALL Joy

James 1:1-4 NKJV says this: "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."

Count it all joy. Count it ALL joy. James is very specific here. In layman's terms he is saying, "Be joyous when you encounter trials." Trials come in a variety of shapes and sizes. A trial for one may be not having enough money to pay the bills. A trial for another may be losing a job. But God says to "count it all joy."

Look at it as an opportunity to praise God. Praise God for the chance to glorify Him. Praise God for allowing you to go through something that will bring you closer to Him. Because when it's all said and done, it's all about Him anyway. He provides for your every need. If He takes care of the sparrows and the lilies of the fields, He will take care of you. He said so in Matthew 10:29-31. (NKJV). 

This word trial, also means temptations. Praise God when you are faced with a temptation. Psalm 22:3 says in the KJV that God inhabits our praise. When you praise God during a trial or temptation, He gives you the strength to resist. James 4:7 (NKJV) says, "Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you."

When you follow God and stand for His statutes and precepts, you will encounter persecution as well. Check out the blog on the end times. But Jesus said in John 16:33, (NKJV), "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

So trust in Jesus. He has overcome the world. He allows us to go through trials so that we can glorify Him and become ever closer to Him. I will leave you with a couple of quotes from a book by E.G. White entitled, Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing. 

"Jesus does not present to His followers the hope of attaining earthly glory and riches, and of having a life free from trial, but He presents to them the privilege of walking with their Master in the paths of self-denial and reproach, because the world knows them not.

He who came to redeem the lost world was opposed by the united forces of the adversaries of God and man. In an unpitying confederacy, evil men and evil angels arrayed themselves against the Prince of Peace. Though His every word and act breathed of divine compassion, His unlikeness to the world provoked the bitterest hostility. Because He would give no license for the exercise of the evil passions of our nature, He aroused the fiercest opposition and enmity. So it is with all who will live godly in Christ Jesus. Between righteousness and sin, love and hatred, truth and falsehood, there is an irrepressible conflict. When one presents the love of Christ and the beauty of holiness, he is drawing away the subjects of Satan's kingdom, and the prince of evil is aroused to resist it. Persecution and reproach await all who are imbued with the Spirit of Christ. The character of the persecution changes with the times, but the principle--the spirit that underlies it--is the same that has slain the chosen of the Lord ever since the days of Abel.

As men seek to come into harmony with God, they will find that the offense of the cross has not ceased. Principalities and powers and wicked spirits in high places are arrayed against all who yield obedience to the law of heaven. Therefore, so far from causing grief, persecution should bring joy to the disciples of Christ, for it is an evidence that they are following in the steps of their Master.

While the Lord has not promised His people exemption from trials, He has promised that which is far better. He has said, "As thy days, so shall thy strength be." "My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Deuteronomy 33:25; 2 Corinthians 12:9. If you are called to go through the fiery furnace for His sake, Jesus will be by your side even as He was with the faithful three in Babylon. Those who love their Redeemer will rejoice at every opportunity of sharing with Him humiliation and reproach. The love they bear their Lord makes suffering for His sake sweet.

In all ages Satan has persecuted the people of God. He has tortured them and put them to death, but in dying they became conquerors. They revealed in their steadfast faith a mightier One than Satan. Satan could torture and kill the body, but he could not touch the life that was hid with Christ in God. He could incarcerate in prison walls, but he could not bind the spirit. They could look beyond the gloom to the glory, saying, "I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." "Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." Romans 8:18; 2 Corinthians 4:17."  -- Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, pg. 29, 30.

"In every age God's chosen messengers have been reviled and persecuted, yet through their affliction the knowledge of God has been spread abroad. Every disciple of Christ is to step into the ranks and carry forward the same work, knowing that its foes can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. God means that truth shall be brought to the front and become the subject of examination and discussion, even through the contempt placed upon it. The minds of the people must be agitated; every controversy, every reproach, every effort to restrict liberty of conscience, is God's means of awakening minds that otherwise might slumber." Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, pg. 33.

Praise Through the Hard Times

Have you ever fallen on hard times? Whatever the case may be. The wife of Jacob had a problem. Leah could see that Jacob favored his other wife, Rachel over her. Rachel, after all, was who Jacob wanted to begin with. But because of the custom of the day, Leah had to get married first, being the older of the two sisters.

In Genesis 29 we find the story of Leah beginning to have sons by Jacob. She has one son. She named him Reuben. And she says, in verse 32, "It is because the LORD has seen my misery. Surely my husband will love me now." But Jacob still didn't show her the affection she wanted.

She has another son. This time she named him Simeon. She said, in verse 33, "Because the LORD heard that I am not loved, he gave me this one too." But again, Jacob isn't showing her the affection she wants from him.

She has a third son. She names this one Levi. In verse 33, she says, "Now at last my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons." Except he didn't.

She has a fourth son. She named him Judah. But something different happened this time. She stopped feeling sorry for herself. She realized her worth didn't lie in her husband. She realized her worth was in God. God helped her to understand that praising Him is what it's all about. She said in verse 35, "This time I will praise the LORD."

And you know the cool part about this? When she finally decided to praise God instead of throwing a pity party, God blessed the lineage of that son. It was Judah that the promised Messiah would one day come to rescue Israel and the world.

You see? When we praise God, He does great things. Yes, it may take a while to see them. But this is a hard learned lesson sometimes. Trust me. I've had to learn this the hard way.

I've had such troubles over the years with finding a job. But I began to realize that praising God is step one. Focusing on my relationship with Him is the priority. And when I realized this, God began to bless me in ways that still dumbfound me.

And yes, I'm still learning this lesson. It's an every day, often multiple times a day, battle. The devil isn't going make things easy for me. But as long as I keep my eyes on God, the world around me can fall apart. But my God will supply all my needs, according to His glorious riches.

So when you're tempted to feel sorry for yourself, do yourself a favor, and don't. It only hurts you. Trust me. I know from experience. God is all that really matters. Rise, take up your cross, and follow Him.

Man Up - Part 1

This one goes out to the men. I've been thinking about this topic for a while. I'm just now getting around to writing about it. I know as a man I've got a lot of work to do. I fill a lot of roles. I'm a husband, a father, a brother, an uncle, a friend, and most important, a child of God. Specifically I want to write about the role of husbands in this post.

Husbands, we've got work to do. Yea, I know. I said that already. But it bears repeating. We've got work to do. Ephesians 5:22-33 talks about the role between husbands and wives. Now too many men read the part about wives submitting to their husbands and stop there. If there's one thing you need to know, it's never to take a scripture out of context. Especially one like this. Or you may be sleeping on the couch for a very long time.

Read further. Verse 25 says, "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her..." As husbands, it's our duty to love our wives in such a way that they will want to love us back. Not so much because they made a vow to do so. Vows can be broken. Love your wife as Christ loves the Church. How does Christ love the Church?

He died for us. He served us. He gave us the example of being a servant leader. Gentlemen, here's the answer. Be the servant leader of your family. Lead in a way that you are serving them. By doing this, you will be an example to the rest of your family, perhaps most importantly for your kids. But we'll get to that in the next post.

Love your wife as Christ loves the Church. Christ did not oppress the Church. He does not force His love on us. He does not make us do things because He said so. He never tells us to do something and not give us the help necessary to accomplish it.

The story is told of a man and wife who went to a seminar on this very subject. However, the speaker preached very heavily on the wife submitting part and hardly at all on the husbands loving their wives part. The more he talked the more upset the wife became and the happier the husband became. So on the way home the wife was in the passenger seat fuming.

The husband finally broke the silence and said, "So what did you think?" No answer from his wife. They kept driving. Till he asked again.

"Well, what'd you think? I thought it was great." His wife sat silent staring angrily ahead. Finally they arrived at home. He decided to put his foot down, so to speak.

"Listen here woman! The Bible says you're supposed to submit to me! From now on I'm the captain and you have to listen to me and do what I say! Is that clear?!"

He didn't see his wife for about two weeks. Finally, after two weeks, one eye opened up just enough so he could see his wife a little bit.

My fellow men, let's love our wives in a way that they love us back as much if not more than we love them. Let's help them clean the house. Let's help them take care of the kids. Let's take them out every so often. Let's buy them flowers. Let's love them.