 |
| JAMES LESSON #14 When you are in the heat of the fire there are three areas that you really need to pay attention to because they will determine your �journey.� Pay attention to what you feel- Pay attention to what you think � Pay attention to what you desire � and line them right up next to God�s Word. Glance down through James 1:2-17 We talked about the word �Endurance� yesterday. Endurance = Hupo Mone in the Greek, which means, �abiding under.� When I first started studying this I really didn�t understand what �endurance� meant � other than �stick it out baby!� I didn�t understand why that was so important. It almost sounded self-inflicting. My thought was � ok � so I stick it out? What�s the point? To prove to everybody I�m some strong unemotional secure person who has it all together � when in actuality I am feeling every emotion in the world and trying to manage my life at the same time? It made me tired to even go there in my head. I was missing the point. It�s not about �me sticking it out,� it�s about the fire galvanizing inside me what is already there. Galvanize? What�s that: To stimulate strongly as if with powerful electric shock. So many times when the fire hits we forget who we are � we forget what authority is ours � we forget who the battle belongs to � we forget who�s in charge � and we let the fire overwhelm us instead of coming back at it with the roar we possess. It�s in the areas of �feel, think and desire� that we get into trouble. Our normal tendency is to want to bail out rather than abide under � usually a response to what we �feel� �which influences what we �think��which influences what we �do.� The key to �endurance� is not found in burying emotion, ignoring, or pushing it away: the key to �endurance� is found in learning how to �harness� emotion so that you control it, it does not control you. IMPORTANT NOTE: �Controlling it does not mean �not feeling it �ignoring it.� � The word joy as we found yesterday is in the �middle voice:� which means that it happens in cooperation �with� the Holy Spirit. The �galvanizing� happens when the �joint� effort (my effort and God�s together) has engaged. Pay attention when you�re in the fire and watch how what you think, feel and desire attempts to turn you away from the �joint effort� by convincing you that A) God isn�t there B) God doesn�t care C) God doesn�t love you D) It doesn�t matter if you pray or don�t pray E) God doesn�t hear F) God doesn�t help G) God has abandoned you H) You are �alone� I) Nobody else understands All of those things, plus many more that you encounter in the fire will work hard at making sure that the �joint effort� NEVER engages. Question is, how does the �joint effort� occur? Prayer. I recently listened to James Dobson debate with Bruce Wilkinson over the issue of prayer and my ears perked up when the question came up: �If God knows all, sees all, hears all, is over all � understands where everything is going � directs my life � is in charge of everything I encounter �and has full understanding of everything that�s about to happen�why pray? It�s not going to change anything..right?� Wrong. It changes a lot. It does not manipulate outcome- what it changes is my journey. �There is no relationship in eavesdropping� When we don�t pray we reduce God to nothing more than a peeping Tom in our lives. GET THIS NEXT LINE DOWN: The normal thing to say next is: We don�t include God in our lives. WRONG WRONG WRONG. Truth? When we don�t pray we don�t allow ourselves to be included in HIS LIFE. Think about it: Why would a sovereign, all knowing, totally sufficient in Himself God want to be included in my life? My life has nothing to offer �Rather, His offer is one to include me in HIS life � which if the �joint effort� engages � becomes an unbeatable team. Why would there be such an extensive effort to distract, and convince you that God doesn�t care- He doesn�t hear- He�s abandoned you..and on and on? Because the minute your HEAD believes that, the rest of you will fall right in line. Your emotions and your actions will respond in agreement and the trial will defeat you, not galvanize what�s already been given to you a �team opportunity of power.� It�s critical when you walk into the fire to ASK GOD FOR WISDOM � and work WITH HIM in prayer to harness your emotions so that your decisions will not be merely a response to what you are �feeling� � but will be a response to �His direction.� BIG BIG BIG KEY. Where�s your focus in the heat of the fire? On His heart. You don�t look ANYWHERE else. REMEMBER: Your battle ground is in your HEAD. If you ALLOW your mind to start asking, �Why?� instead of �Who?� � if you focus your attention on what you can see � what you hear � (four empty walls, creditors at your front door, test results from the doctor that are worse than the previous results, your husbands girlfriend, your wife�s boyfriend) instead of God�s heart � your emotions (which will already be in high gear) will control what you �DO� �and you will end up in sin. Sin � ends up in death. Look at James 1:13-15 This �death� is not referring to eternal �death.� It�s referring to death of what could be- overcoming, being galvanized inwardly and learning to roar back, standing in strength and taking the authority that�s rightfully yours, death to the influence of God�s strength in the lives of others � death breeds itself in many forms. Counting it all joy requires your will � a choice � a determination�to bring yourself into prayer no matter how it feels: allowing yourself to be included in what GOD wants to do in your situation. When you�re in a trials remember Who God is: Sounds like a Sunday School 101 statement to me � but honestly, if I were to ask you �Who is God?� � support your answer with scripture- Could you? Ok � so let�s take a side trip for a minute and use scripture to clarify �Who God is.� I�d mark these verses if you haven�t already: Or somehow list them in your Bible so you can find them as reminders: John 4:24 God is Spirit. I John 4:8 God is love. Hebrews 6:18 He can not lie. Psalm 145:18,19 He�s near those who call on Him in truth- He fulfills the desire of those who fear him- He hears Psalm 145:20 He keeps all who love Him Psalm 145:14 He sustains those who fall Ephesians 2:13, 18 He gives each of us total access to Him through Jesus Hebrews 4:16 He gives us grace and help in time of need Psalm 94:14 He will not cast off His people or forsake His inheritance (us) Psalm 103:17 His mercy is forever for those who fear Him and his righteousness unto children�s children � it moves on down through your family line: obedience effects more than one generation in a family- I Corinthians 1:13 He is faithful � will never ever allow anything to come into your life that He has not previously equipped you to handle: II Corinthians 1:20 His promises are forever � unchangeable II Timothy 2:13-19 He knows who are His � and even when we fall short and are �faithless, HE is faithful� � Isaiah 9:6 He�s the best Counselor there is: but you have to allow yourself to be included in HIS life by giving Him yours- He�s your Father forever (abandonment, neglect, abuse..won�t happen with this Father) �Psalm 68:5 He�s a Father to the fatherless Romans 8:15 no fear comes from Him � we are adopted sons Ephesians 1:3, 17 He gives us the spirit of wisdom and revelation concerning Himself � He doesn�t leave us in the dark about Who He is �Psalm 86:5 He�s good- ready to forgive- full of mercy unto all men that call on Him ---and the list goes on. So look at this: God is: Accessible-Compassionate-Creator-Eternal-Faithful-a Father-All knowing- All seeing- All hearing- All present-Good- Full of Grace-Friend-Leader-Incomprehensible-All powerful-Sovereign-Holy-Self-Existent-Truth-Love And God is: Abused-Neglected-Abandoned-Resented-Maligned-Misunderstood-Avoided-Lied about-Falsely accused-Blamed for things He�d never even think of doing-He talks but isn�t listened to- He�s written, but isn�t read- He calls- but the response never comes- He waits and waits and waits � and no one shows up � His struggles with great disappointment- and this part of Who He is didn�t stop at Calvary. Hmmm- there are definitely two sides of the coin here. Ok � now that we�ve �defined� in a really minute way �God� � let�s line up next to what God has to say about who He is, what everything we see and hear has to say about who He is: When we�re in the fire what do we see? What do we hear? God�s far away. He�s not compassionate. He might be the Creator but He certainly isn�t doing anything with this physical situation- so He�s probably not really able to do anything- He doesn�t hear-He doesn�t see- He�s against me-He�s not there for me-He doesn�t love me � I am alone. Hopefully you�re beginning to understand that the �attack� is on your thinking. Once you buy into that thinking you will fall into category number two in terms of what you �DO� �you�ll neglect Him, exclude Him, Resent Him, Malign Him, Avoid Him, falsely accuse Him and the list goes on: Question is: Do you drown or swim when you allow what you see and hear to control your thinking? YOU DROWN. When James says in James 1:2 that the testing of your faith produces endurance and let endurance have its perfect result- the perfect result is when you endure (stay under it) long enough that you can correctly identify the lies and fight back with the truth. Remember: It�s not the CIRCUMSTANCES you�re in that�s the �trial.� It�s your �RESPONSE� to those circumstances. God wants you to learn how to stand � not just �stand- but stand STRONG� against the enemy. He wants you to remember who He is in the heat of the fire- and fight back in your HEAD to claim your territory. This gets into powerful material when we move into temptation. That�s where we�re heading next. For today I want you to remind yourself of who God is: look at your situation- and ask, �What is this situation attempting to say regarding God to me?� Identify it and then start to retaliate with truth. THAT is the beginning of �ENDURANCE.� There�s more to come. Love to all of you, Robin �copyright 2001 Jim and Robin Hibschman |
|