Being brought up in a christian home and raised in church, you hear everyone's life verse. They sign a card or their emails/letters with the verse they deem fits them and their lives. One that speaks to them.
I never had one. I had a few verses that I liked, but never one that spoke to me in such a way that I would make it MY verse. Until I found these ones... Let's go verse by verse, shall we?
"My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;" - James 1:2 KJV
I'm a happy person. But it took me awhile to find joy, the joy found in Christ. When trials came in my life I would always turn into Eeyore and be a mess. Let me tell you...ugh. So, this is why I chose this to be my verse. I finally have one!
James wasn't writing this saying 'if' you fall into temptations, but 'when'. We will go through temptations in are lives, they are inevitable, living for Jesus was never meant to be easy. Temptation translated here means 'trials'. Not something tempting you into sin, but trials and troubles in your christian walk/life.
Trials, temptations, testings...they are meant to bring us out of our comfort zones and provoke a reaction out of us. This reaction will tell us a great deal about our spiritual walk with God. How close to God are we? Will we react the way Jesus himself would react? Or are we going to be a depressed little Eeyore and complain about every thing that is getting thrown at us? How about we stand tall through our 'temptations' and give God the glory through it all.
"There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." - 1 Corinthians 10:13 KJV
See, right there? God won't give us more than we can handle. If you're saved then the Holy Spirit dwells within you and he's your pilot. You, my friend, are the co-pilot. God will fly and direct you through any trials and storms there is. He's right there with you and will never abandon you to drive on your own. Although, we tend to try taking the wheel from Him most times. I know I'm not the only back seat driver, am I right?
But He is with us. Our strength when we are weak. We are weak but he is strong. God will give us the strength to make it through. Look at Job for example...
He lost everything! His stock, his livelihood, his home, his health, his family. He had NOTHING. And what did Job do?
"Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord" - Job 1:20-21 KJV
Job worshiped God! Even though he went through more trails in a day then we have gone through in a few months. He praised God.
James also said to 'count it all joy'. He says to have joy when you go through the trials.
"..for the joy of the Lord is your strength." - Nehemiah 8:10b KJV
"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." - Phillipians 4:13
Christ is our strength, Christ is our joy!
"Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." - Hebrews 12:2
Jesus himself was joyful in his own trials. His suffered the cross for each and every one of us. And guess what?... He was joyful/glad/happy because of it! He willingly suffered every beating, cursing, mocking, nail and thorn for you... "who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross" He had joy through every bit of suffering he endured for us. Knowing that we could be saved because of his death and resurrection, he found joy in that! And we can't stop complaining because sister so and so sat in our pew on Sunday morning, so you had to sit on the front row and get spit on from the pastor preaching his sermon. Oh, the trials and tribulations there! That doesn't compare to Jesus' sufferings in the slightest. Jesus never complained once. He counted it all joy, for him to die for our sins, so we could have life through him. Counted it all joy!!
James encourages us to have joy 'when' we fall into temptations. These trials aren't designed for God to see how we are doing on our walk with him. They are designed to let us know how far we've come in our walk with Him...or failed to come.
No matter what you're going through, count it all joy. Because God is with you and that's what he would do. Wanna be like God, then we gotta start acting like him.
Deny the flesh of its Eeyore tendencies and be joyful through it all!
"My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;" - James 1:2 KJV