Triumph In Trials Part 1

Nobody warns you before a trial hits. One minute things are fine, the next — like Chippy the parakeet — you're sucked in, washed up, and blown over.

In this message from our series "A Faith That Works," Pastor Ron opens James 1:2-4 and tackles one of the most counterintuitive commands in Scripture: count it all joy when you fall into various trials. He covers the first three of five principles for triumphing in trials — a joyful attitude, an understanding mind, and a surrendered will.

A Joyful Attitude:

James doesn't say if you go through trials — he says when. And his command is to count it all joy. That word count means to make a careful, deliberate, willful decision. James is saying: choose joy. Not happiness, which depends on circumstances, but joy, which depends on Christ on the throne of your heart.

An Understanding Mind:

Verse 3 says the testing of your faith produces patience. Triumph in trials comes when we understand what God is doing — that He is using this difficulty to mature us and build endurance. God is like an archer drawing back the bow; He's aiming at something we may not yet see.

A Surrendered Will:

James says let patience have its perfect work — let God finish what He started. This is where so many of us resist. We want out of the trial before God is done with it. A surrendered will says, Lord, have your way.