Suffer as HE Suffered

James 1:2. I love this verse! When we think about how God moves, he takes the foolish things of this world to shame the wise, and it gives me goose bumps. Just like the under dog story of David and Goliath (this is revelation by the way) Jesus came into this world the lowest of the low, nothing like who he truly is, which is the King of kings and Lord of lords. Jesus was born to take on the whole world and everything in it from day one. Satan, demons, sin, death, and the Kingdom of Darkness. Jesus is VICIOUS. In the book of James it puts it plain, we will be tested in our walk and if we walk like Christ did then we're in for one heck of a ride. The entire world is coming against us and when that happens we should take joy in that because we're finally doing something right. Satan won't bother what's already his, but when your God's all hell breaks loose and you're moved to the WANTED list. Praise God that I'm walking the walk of suffering like Christ did.

James 1:2
Consider it pure joy my brothers when you face trials of many kinds, because you know the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

The Lord tests but the devil tempts to evil. When we're being tested we should put it in the right perspective. God is doing this to improve our faith not to destroy it. And if your faith is secure then you can overcome anything. Jesus' faith in God gave him the PERSEVERANCE to endure HIS suffering to overcome the world. When you've matured or completed your perseverance process you will lack nothing. Some of us are so incomplete, because we haven't persevered in certain areas of our life. Let us grab hold of the hard times and breakthrough instead of giving up. If we hold onto the Lord and let him be our strength we'll win every battle that comes our way. If we're joyful in our times of distress when will we be seen as weak? NEVER!

Psalms 16:11
You have made known to me the path of life, you will fill me with joy in your presence with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

This is another great verse. God already has a set path for our life and when we embrace that and follow him, his joy will be our joy. In obedience (worship) God's presence can manifest because he's being exalted. God will not forsake us when we're in tune with him and his spirit. This verse makes me think of a treasure hunt to get our buried treasure. To get to him we have to follow his map for our life in order to get to our destination safely. Once saved the path is known to us. All we need to do is let him guide us and we obtain the joy and can finally bask in his presence.


Hebrews 12:2
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross. scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Constant themes in these verses are faith, joy, and eduring (persevering) suffering to finally make it to our Daddy. James reminds us that faith develops perseverance. Psalms is the knowledge of the path to get to the one who fills us with joy. And Hebrews affirms that we need to focus on Jesus the perfect example of perfect faith in order to endure temporal life to get to God. I believe these words are for the type of Christian who loves to take leaps in their walk to chase after God. In order to persevere our faith must be tested. If your faith is weak you can't persevere. We must be tested and we must endure all kinds of suffering. We walk like it says in Psalms in the path of life, but we don't walk by site we walk by faith. What does your walk look like? If it looks like a walk in the park it's weak. If you've been to hell and back and you're still standing firm that's the walk of Christ. Jesus was crucified, then he died, went to hell, rose on the third day, and then ascended into heaven. Let's imitate that journey in our life, embrace our cross, die to sin, overcome death, and rise to heavens to obtain the joy we've fought for. amen amen