November 12, 2020
It’s so mind-blowing that if you’re in the middle of a trial right now, God’s Word would say this to you:
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:2-4)
If you’re in the middle of it right now, isn’t it something that God would bring you that particular word of encouragement on this particular day, when you’re going through everything you’re going through?
It says, if you’re in the middle of something right now, if you’re facing resistance right now, consider it pure joy. In other words, you should thank God for it! Because that trial does something to you – it produces perseverance. And that perseverance is going to make you mature and complete, not lacking anything. What does it do? I’ll tell you what it’s doing: It’s preparing you for your future. It’s preparing you for your purpose.
Listen to me. Could it be that God’s preparation comes packaged as pain? Could it be that the very thing you’ll need to excel in the future, He’s preparing in you right now?
You say, “Jeff, it all feels pointless. I’m feeling so discouraged. I’m feeling so beat up.”
Put your confidence in God. He’s doing something in your life.
Sometimes I tell myself, “It’s not pain. It’s preparation. It’s not what’s happening to me, it’s what’s happening in me. God is making me strong. God is making me mature. He’s preparing me for what’s coming.”
You’ve just got to change your perspective. You’re not being turned down, you’re being toughened up. Let me tell you something about me. I’m a lot stronger than I was twenty years ago. But let me tell you what made me strong. It wasn’t all the success. It wasn’t all the compliments. I wasn’t all the love you gave me. It was the hard times. It was the failures, the disappointments, the losses. Now, I see: I wasn’t being turned down, I was being toughened up. I don’t view it as pain, I view it as preparation.
Preparation for my God-given destiny.