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Reflections of Grace 132: Can I Consider It Pure Joy?

Reflections of Grace 132: Can I Consider It Pure Joy?

Last updated on: September 21, 2016 at 4:15 pm by Christian Podcast Central

Reflections of Grace 132: Can I Consider It Pure Joy? 2016-09-21T16:15:46-08:00 Christian Podcast Central

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Feeling sorry for myself one day, I started asking myself some hard questions. Have I been caught up in looking at the depth of pain and the depth of trials and sometimes pure craziness in my life, and thought, “Why the heck me, Lord”? Have I not sown into your Kingdom? When is my time coming?

Yes, I am really being transparent here.

“Haven’t I served you all my life? Why so much suffering? Starting from my childhood of abuse and ending up here, years later… still struggling for a reprieve.”

Woe is me.

Don’t we just get so wrapped up in ourselves sometimes?

I like what Michelle Perry says*: “Storms are invitations to dance with Jesus. When you get high enough above the squall, even the most turbulent storm has beauty. And every storm has lessons.” Michelle Perry!*

The scripture is actually in James 1:2-4:

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

The answer is yes, I have, at times, been caught up in feeling sorry for myself at times and even justifying my right to do so.

We have these preconceived notions in our heads as to how our lives will be, and when it doesn’t fit our pictures we feel frustrated and defeated. Have we ever considered that the Lord has a different plan for us than what we thought?

Maybe the very trials we are in now are what is training us for the journey right into His plan for us in the next season…

“And let us not lose heart and grow weary and faint in acting nobly and doing right, for in due time and at the appointed season we shall reap, if we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint.” Galatians 6:9

Jesus tells us over and over in this life we will face many adversities and trials and temptations.

We cannot get through this life without Jesus, friends. I don’t know how people who have no trust in Him do it. Do they just give way to fear?

Yes, I think so.

Without our faith in Jesus to guide, protect, and rescue us…without Him to rush to in times of pain and grief… without knowing His extreme love for us, who do we turn to?

And what about this scenario? When it looks like everyone around you is being blessed and seeing the fulfillment of God’s blessings in their lives and yet, you are still struggling and nothing is happening. What do you do with that? Well, in Psalm 37: 1-11 it says:

Do not trouble yourself because of sinful men. Do not want to be like those who do wrong. 2 For they will soon dry up like the grass. Like the green plant they will soon die. 3 Trust in the Lord, and do good. So you will live in the land and will be fed. 4 Be happy in the Lord. And He will give you the desires of your heart. 5 Give your way over to the Lord. Trust in Him also. And He will do it. 6 He will make your being right and good show as the light, and your wise actions as the noon day.

So, we hold on and bear up under the pressures of life and make a choice to put on perseverance… which is a fruit of the Spirit that He freely gives us when we ask for it.

Image: Mary Morrissey

We WILL reap what we have sown if we don’t give up!

And look at this as Psalm 37 continues:

Rest in the Lord and be willing to wait for Him. Do not trouble yourself when all goes well with the one who carries out his sinful plans. 8 Stop being angry. Turn away from fighting. Do not trouble yourself. It leads only to wrong-doing. 9 For those who do wrong will be cut off. But those who wait for the Lord will be given the earth. 10 A little while, and the sinful man will be no more. You will look for his place, and he will not be there. 11 But those who have no pride will be given the earth. And they will be happy and have much more than they need.”

Do we believe this? This is why we have to be diligent in His word and in talking to Him.

It boils down to a choice. Not a feeling!

I choose to believe that in due season I will reap if I faint not…

I can feel it in my very bones. How about you?

Are you ready to give up?

Hebrews 12:2 in the Message says it this way*: “Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!*

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