Joy

…when troubles come my way, consider it an opportunity of great joy, for I know that when my faith is tested, endurance has a chance to grow….let it grow…and when endurance is fully developed, I will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. ~ James 1:2-4

I am going thru the book of James in a Bible Study for the second time, and my main focus this time is to memorize the whole book of James.  I know to some that seems to be all spiritual or something, but it has been a while since I have done any scripture memory.  I was challenged and I’m gonna take it and try and do this.  Maybe my blogging will help me stay accountable.

One version of the Bible says….”consider it pure joy”.  Now one of the first things I know about this book of the Bible is that James is talking to the Christian Jews.  He is talking to believers in this book.  This isn’t even talking about trouble we look for; it is about troubles we “fall” into.  So that means…sometimes we don’t even see that bump we tripped over or that hole we fall into.  And boy are there all kinds of colorful tests we can fall into….and sometimes not just one, but many.  What are some troubles or trials we fall into sometimes?  Money (reminds me of RED with debt), Green (reminds me of envy), Blue (reminds me of the blues/depression), etc.  You probably have some you can think of.  And we are to consider this JOY…hmmm…kind of hard, but God promises that we WILL endure, and when we endure, we grow and when we grow we are made complete and perfect (achieving a goal or purpose), needing nothing.  So come on…can we consider some JOY in this?  It’s all mental and how we picture it in our minds.

Beth Moore, showed me a neat thing in her study, or reminded me of it.  The word “trials” is “peirates” in the Greek.  Take and “e” out of that Greek word and what do you get?….PIRATES.  What do pirates do?  They ROB us.  They can take our hope, our security, our dignity, our dreams and sometimes people.  Trials don’t get to steal from followers in Christ unless we hand over the goods.  Let’s not hand over the goods.  Let’s “stand up” or as I would like to say “get our big girl panties on.”  Hold onto Jesus….hold tight while these winds and waves toss us about!  Holding onto anything, but Jesus, and the sea will swallow us up.

Oh wait, I’m getting ahead of myself.  You will have to wait until the next post and next few verses. 🙂