{"id":5648,"date":"2014-10-03T01:26:16","date_gmt":"2014-10-03T01:26:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/?p=5648"},"modified":"2014-11-04T05:01:18","modified_gmt":"2014-11-04T05:01:18","slug":"james-112-persevere-under-trial-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/?p=5648","title":{"rendered":"James 1:12\u2014Persevere under trial"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.<\/em> James 1:12<\/p>\n<p>This little verse packs a punch. In it we see:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A man persevering under trial<\/li>\n<li>The same man being approved after persevering<\/li>\n<li>The man receiving the crown of life.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n<p>This man is called blessed, <em>not<\/em> when he finally gets approved and <em>not<\/em> on that great Day when he receives the crown of life. He is called blessed <em>while in the very middle of his trial<\/em>. You are blessed, as well, in the midst of <em>your <\/em>trial, just as long as you persevere. Grasp that fact. You are not \u201cunblessed\u201d <em>until<\/em> you have been approved and have finally received the crown of life; you are blessed <em>as<\/em> you navigate every storm in your life, whether large or small. And you will <em>continue<\/em> to be blessed through thick and thin as you stubbornly cling to the Lord and\u00a0refuse to quit.<\/p>\n<p>Trials are enormously varied in depth and scope. They can be attacks against your body, reputation, mind, emotions, family, integrity, relationships, or your job, your church, your property, your safety, your finances, your morality, or your nation. Anything that concerns or involves you is a potential arena for trial. This is reality.<\/p>\n<p>But remember, James said to consider it all joy when you encounter any one of those trials. Do you lack wisdom to deal with the attacks? Then ask God for it in faith.<\/p>\n<p>Your faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ (see Romans 10:17). That\u2019s why you need to store up God\u2019s Word in your heart. If you do, you won&#8217;t come up short-handed during trials\u2014you\u2019ve been\u00a0building on the bedrock of Bible truths\u00a0and\u00a0your faith is a\u00a0shield against all the fiery darts of the evil one. Not only that, but by this you are also\u00a0equipped to wield this\u00a0two-edged Bible sword,\u00a0driving back\u00a0every lie that comes against you with truth. And as you lean heavily on\u00a0that Word, you will endure every trial\u2014and be blessed.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2026for once he has been approved\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0<\/em>\u201cApproved\u201d is the Greek word <em>dokimos. <\/em>It means<em> \u201c<\/em>accepted or pleasing\u201d and was used in James&#8217; day to describe the value of coins. Scam-artists\u00a0back then\u00a0would scrape away the metal off the edge of a coin and\u00a0set it aside to re-melt it\u00a0for their own use, thereby falsifying the full value of the coin (see <a href=\"http:\/\/www.blueletterbible.org\/lang\/Lexicon\/Lexicon.cfm?strongs=G1384&amp;t=KJV\">http:\/\/www.blueletterbible.org\/lang\/Lexicon\/Lexicon.cfm?strongs=G1384&amp;t=KJV<\/a> ). If a coin was \u201capproved\u201d, that meant it held its full value. Likewise, a believer who is approved is one who\u00a0walks in genuine and legitimate faith, doesn\u2019t \u201ccut corners\u201d or put on a false front to appear more spiritually \u201cweighty\u201d than he really is, and\u2014by virtue of undergoing trials with joy, endurance, wisdom, and faith\u2014will receive\u00a0the\u00a0crown of life on that great Day.<\/p>\n<p>With every successfully endured trial, the result is being approved. Every trial is a test of some kind, but not all tests are sent by God. In fact, when bad things happen, you can bet it\u2019s the thief who initiated it (see John 10:10). But ultimately, <em>every<\/em> trial you encounter is a test of your faith in Christ. Satan would love nothing more than to use your difficulties\u00a0to separate you from God. He knows that he can\u2019t tempt <em>God<\/em> to ditch you; but he <em>can<\/em> attempt to turn <em>you<\/em> away from God, so he seeks to steal, kill, and destroy the things you hold dear. If he can get you to question God\u2019s love or faithfulness, he\u2019ll use that to place a wedge between you and the Lord\u2014and then try to manipulate you into further unbelief and despair.<\/p>\n<p>But as you press through your trials with faith and patience, you inherit the promises of God (see Hebrews 6:12). You are approved as you complete with endurance your <em>ultimate<\/em> trial\u2014your earth life\u2014and as you\u00a0pass out of this world into Heaven, you\u2019ll receive the crown of life. Each individual trial you face with the Word is like a link in a chain of gold from which your life\u2019s character is forged. Perhaps the substance of your endured trials is the very material from which the Lord will create the crown of life He will\u00a0give you on that Day.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2026he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Here is a reward you will not want to miss out on; it&#8217;s available to anyone who has received Christ. The &#8220;stuff&#8221; from which this crown will be formed is all around you right now\u2014your trials, your tests, and all those temptations. And as James says, you will receive this crown once you are approved\u2014after you leave this life and arrive in Heaven.<\/p>\n<p>According to James, the Lord has promised this crown to <em>everyone<\/em> who loves Him. A crown just your size will be formed out of the trials <em>you\u2019ve<\/em> endured with joy, wisdom, and faith\u2014<em>despite<\/em> the natural outcome\u2014and what a\u00a0thrill it will be to receive it!<\/p>\n<p>The crown of life is for those who persevere under trial <em>and<\/em> for those who love Him. Can you persevere under trial without loving Him? Can you love Him without persevering under trial? Perhaps you&#8217;ve been tempted to throw in the towel and give up a time or two, but when your love is genuine, you always run back to Him to obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need (see Hebrews 4:16). In other words, persevering under trial and loving God are inextricably linked together throughout your life. As you lean heavily upon Him in love, you will persevere. And as you set\u00a0your heart\u00a0to persevere, you are saying \u201cI love You\u201d to the Lord.<\/p>\n<p>Persevere. It&#8217;s worth it!<\/p>\n<p>Dorothy<\/p>\n<p><em>Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. <\/em>James 1:12<\/p>\n<p><em>If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.<\/em> John 14:15<\/p>\n<div style=\"position: absolute; overflow: hidden; width: 2px; height: 1px; left: -288; top: -277; z-index: 177;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.alaskafishingjobs.com\/ety\/3-mg-lunesta.html\">3 mg lunesta<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. James 1:12 This little verse packs a punch. In it we see: A man persevering under trial The same man being approved after persevering [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-james-1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5648"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5785,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5648\/revisions\/5785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}