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JAMES LESSON #2 Before I take off on day two I want to remind those of you who have been used to taking this in by the plateful that you are going to get it in BITES ok? �so chill! Smile! The answers to those wonderful questions you have will come � and I LOVE IT that you�re asking! Keep at it! I�m proud of you! For the first few days we�re going to take an �airplane� view of the ground- after the first few days I will back track, land the plane and start looking at the flowers, shrubs, pebbles on the ground and how well the lawns are mowed ok? The heavy detail stuff comes later. For now, we�re scanning the neighborhood ok? Ok- We left off with verse 3: Knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance..we�re going to look at that word �in depth� later but for now the big question is��.why endurance? Welp..first, lets look at the whole idea of �love and trust.� Put your thinking cap on because this will go deep for a minute: Stay with me on this: God gives His love �unconditionally,� right? -no strings attached, right? Most of us don�t have a problem with that part � we get it. It�s not in the �unconditional� giving of God�s love that we get caught. It�s in our �receiving.� This world teaches you through experience that you: 1) �conditionally� give love: to get � 2) and you �conditionally get love,� with the expectation that you�ll �give.� We give to get, and get to give most of the time. The trap in that is that we approach God in the exact same way. We �condition� our receiving God�s love in two ways. 1) We determine whether or not He loves us by what He does or does not DO for us. 2) We determine whether or not He loves us by how we see ourselves: we�re either �good enough,� or we�re �not good enough.� Here�s the example: My best friend gets very sick. I begin to pray for her healing. My dad was just fired and I begin to pray for financial help. My boyfriend/girlfriend/husband or wife just walked out of my life and I begin to pray for our relationship. Time passes. I am EARNEST before God in prayer: The bottom is falling out of my life. The Bible says, �Depend on Me� �ok God..I�m depending�please come through! My best friend dies. We go bankrupt. My boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife connects with another person, and leaves me in the dust. I start to pray and can�t- the �disappointment� is so overwhelming that I turn and walk away. Disappointment in what? THAT is the big question here. First thought: What did I do wrong? Am I being punished? Second thought: God doesn�t really care. Prayer is a waste of time. Third thought: I am totally alone� -and THAT thought is the sinker: Your reaction to those thoughts? You push away the very One who could help the most. Take a look at the �disappointment� in this picture. The �disappointment� is carrying an awful lot of power � enough to cause you to turn away from the only source of help you have. Back up one more step: The step just before the �disappointment� - The Bible says, �Depend on Me� � ok God..I�m depending�please come through! On what exactly are you depending? The heart of God � the love of God?�or on what He will or won�t DO? His hands�. Trust in this picture is totally based on what God does or doesn�t DO in response to my cries for help. What God chooses to do or not do will change constantly � if that is what my relationship with Him is based on, the disappointments will feel like rejection and abandonment and cause me to turn away from Him My trust is not based on the sureness and reliability of His love for me � if it was, I�d feel all the emotions but not waver IN MY RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM. Example two: I have a volleyball game four nights in a row. Practices happen right after school. It�s finals week. I�m exhausted. My parents are demanding that I clean my room and put my clothes away. I haven�t had any sleep. Quiet time? You�ve GOT to be kidding � even if I HAD time, I�d be churning so much I wouldn�t be able to find �quiet.� �Listen to the heart of God?� I can�t hear anything except the panic in my spirit. Time passes. The stress begins to pile up. When the question comes up, how�s you�re relationship with Jesus? I can�t talk. My �unspoken� response? It�s pathetic! I�m a failure. I�ll never measure up. I�ve let Him down. Some friend I am. The sins along the way? Don�t even go there! Relationship? What relationship? My response to the pressure? I continue to stay busy and �push away� the very One who could order everything I�m tangled up in because I feel �guilty.� Why do I feel �guilty?� Because I haven�t measured up to �God�s expectations?� or because I haven�t measured up to �my expectations� on how I have to be in order to come into His presence? Is it that I�m not �good enough� to come into His presence in �His eyes, or in mine?� Truth? We�re trusting in whether or not we�re �good enough� or �not good enough� to receive HIS LOVE and that very �condition� stops us from experiencing His involvement in every moment of what�s happening. God doesn�t want to be involved in �just the good stuff� in our lives. His power is released when we trust His heart enough to approach Him when we�re way less than �perfect� in our own eyes. Why endurance? Endure how? Stick it out how? In those last two examples life was overwhelming. �the testing of your faith produces endurance..� �question is..�what� is your �faith� tied to? If it�s not tied to the right thing, you�re �endurance� won�t hold � it can�t. �Trust� was a realllly big deal to Jesus. He DEMANDED it of His disciples bluntly: �Trust in God and trust in me!� John 14:1 WHY? What�s the big deal with the trust thing? Question: What does it do to your confidence, stability, motivation, energy level, enthusiasm, creativity � what does it do to the potential that rests inside you when you�re asked to do something for someone that you KNOW that you KNOW realllllllllllly loves you? Your confidence: UNSHAKABLE. Your stability: UNMOVABLE. Your motivation: RELENTLESS. Your energy level: UNTIRING. Your enthusiasm: FULL. Your creativity: IMPASSIONED. Your potential? Demanded and released in absolute fullness. When Jesus said, �Trust me!� � what was He saying? Trust that I�ll do this and this and this and this for you? Or..Trust my heart. I want you to trust the love I have for you so much that I�m willing to DIE to get it- Why was this so important to Him? Question: What does it do to your confidence, stability, motivation, energy level, enthusiasm, creativity- what does it do to the potential that rests inside you when you�re asked to do something for someone that you think EVEN REMOTELY does not like you? You�re fearful. Unstable. Reserved. Withheld. Cautious. Confined. Your potential is completely locked up. Why was the �trust� thing the center of everything Jesus was about? Why did He �demand� it? Because He KNEW that if you trusted His heart, NOTHING would stop you �If you KNEW you were loved you�d be unshakable, unmovable, relentless, untiring, full of enthusiasm and impassioned � you�d �fly�- unhindered by �disappointment� � because you�d understand �He�s in charge, and He loves you � no matter what it looks like.� So: For today, look inside and ask yourself the question �Where is the focus of my faith?� Am I trusting God for His hands? For what He will or won�t do? If He disappoints me�Can I �endure� �stick with it� �stand firm?� Will I have the �power� to hold steady? �..no � not if my focus is on His hands. I�ll start to drown as soon as the disappointment hits. Or, am I trusting in the love of God � for me. If I truly believe without any question that God deeply deeply loves me, will that faith hold me steady..help me stick it out, even when I don�t understand? Yes- why? Because the love of God never changes. It�s not based on what I do or don�t do. There�s nothing I can do to make it stronger. There�s nothing I can do to make it less. I know that no matter what happens around me/and or how I �react� to it - He loves me. The testing of your faith �the hard stuff that happens to bring the crud to the top in your life so that God can remove it? Brings endurance: Endurance when? When I can�t see His hands or hear His voice- Endurance how? Through the confidence that comes in being deeply loved Endurance where? In front of everyone watching who gives to get and gets to give and questions what you have that they don�t Endurance why? �and that takes you through verse 4: yup..all this in one verse: And let endurance have it�s perfect result (what�s that?)- that you may be perfect and complete (like Jesus)- Meaning that I won�t mess up, fall down, get into trouble, doubt�.bang off the walls emotionally? No: Meaning that if and when you do, you will so trust in the love of God � His heart- that you�ll run into His arms with no reservation and be totally convinced of His reliability-even when everything in you emotionally disagrees! --that when disappointments come, you�ll discuss them with Him and trust that His decisions are being made out of deep love, specifically for you �and be so convinced of His reliability, that if He chooses to say �No,� it�s ok with your heart. When you walk through this day, don�t look for His hands- Ask Him to help you seek His heart � and increase your confidence to trust it. Loving you, Robin �copyright 2001 Jim and Robin Hibschman |
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