Count It All Joy

“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 NKJV

If right now, you are…

– Struggling to make it through
– Wrestling with your circumstances
– Fighting for your life or someone else’s life
– Arguing with your thoughts
– Drowning in emotional turmoil
– Confronting addictions or bad habits
– Battling demonic oppression…

Take heart and remember this:

Count it all joy that God is warring for you!

If there’s a spiritual war happening in your life, both good and evil are trying to win you over… but God never loses!

This verse doesn’t talk about “lessons” that are produced from trials. No. James mentions faith and patience.

So, let’s break some illusions that human beings created around “suffering” so we can get back to God’s joy, regardless of our current circumstances:

– If God’s timing is perfect, there is no “waiting season,” is there?

– If God fights our battles for us, there is no “conflict season,” is there?

– If God already won the war, there is no “failed season” is there?

James calls us to have faith in trials; therefore, the patience which is produced becomes a spiritual virtue, not a worldly lesson. There’s a difference…

The world measures our success after trials on how much we learned from them, but God simply asks us to have faith in Him during difficult times.

If we have unwavering faith in His plans and abilities, we might then think, “What else is there for me to do?”

Be joyous of course!

It sounds simple because it is. The enemy takes pleasure in watching us writhe in pain, so refuse to live like that!

James says that our patience alone will make us perfect and complete, lacking nothing! Imagine that…

Imagine laying down your struggles and letting God work it all out. And while you’re letting Him work His plans for your good, your only job is to embrace joy every day.

Why does this work?

Because human suffering is a construct of the devil and is the exact opposite of God’s design for us. And while our pain stems from fear, it just so happens that…

Everything we are afraid of is afraid of God.

That’s why it works.

With Love, Michelle