Surrendered Mind - James 1:4

James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings.  ² My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, ³ knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. ⁴ But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. ⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. ⁶ But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. ⁷ For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; ⁸ he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. ⁹ Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, ¹⁰ but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away. ¹¹ For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits. ¹² Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.--James 1:12


Dear Suzanne, Rebecca, Anna, and Mikayla,

We are moving right along in the book of James and have reached verse 4 after only three posts! (I am holding up a sarcasm sign)  Verse 4  reads like this:  "But let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete lacking nothing." The third attitude necessary to have victory through a trial James says is a surrendered or submissive mind.  (Let) I know you hate the sound of it...I did too, until I realized that the alternative (rebelling) hurt way worse and caused the trial at times to go on endlessly and become unproductive.  It truly is better to LET God work in us than to get in the way in an attempt to make the situation less painful.  We are after all dirt and He after all is the Potter.  He truly does know best. His plan for us is from His heart of love.  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.--Jeremiah 29:11
 
We resist the Lord's will and the clay or vessel is marred in the hand of the Great Potter, and He has to begin all over again.  We submit and He works us into a thing of beauty.  The most beautiful thing about submitting is that it is an act of faith and whenever we walk in faith we access His grace.  Walking along the path then that God has laid out for us, however, painful, is actually the easiest because His God's grace or unmerited favor is poured out.  I LIKE THAT! WHAT AN INCENTIVE!! I mean how can unmerited favor be bad??    On the other hand, when we do what it is right in our own eyes and jump off the Romans 12:1 altar, we resist Him.  We resist God.  How silly ..how far can you get resisting God?  God does not pour out His grace on the proud but on the humble. In fact,  "God resists the proud (those of us who think we know better) but gives grace to the humble. (those of us who know we are dust)

Do you see how these three attitudes are coming together girls...We can COUNT it all joy and make a conscious effort to face our trials with joy because we KNOW it is HE working in us and through us and HE loves us and has our best interests at heart.  Therefore, we can LET HIM work knowing we have nothing to fear.  When we do that we become perfect and complete and lack nothing.  It is important to note that the word perfect there does NOT mean sinless perfection.  It means mature...and remember that is the goal of the book of James...to increase our spiritual maturity.  Our trials drive us into a deeper relationship with our Lord in which we trust Him more and more.  A deeper relationship with God and a immersion in His word enables us to be like that tree planted by the rivers of water.  Spiritually stable and mature.  Not much can throw us and when it does we look up and into His word and are once again on a Rock.  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.  Jehovah God is the Becoming One...He becomes for us whatever our need may be.  As we surrender our hearts to Him and by the power of His Spirit inside walk in obedience allowing Him to have His way, we are perfect and have need of nothing because in Him every need is fulfilled.

BEAUTIFUL...


Love
Mom