Pure Joy

I have to admit something today. I've been feeling like I've just had a bad run of luck or something or that I made a mistake when I thought God called me to be a Pastor. I mean, I pick up people's recycling for a living and have been for almost 2 years for crying out loud! When I went to Bible College to be a Pastor, I never in my life thought that I would end up here. So, as you can imagine, it can be a little discouraging to feel like I'm not fulfilling my calling. I would say that my faith has been tested to some degree over this. To clarify, I still do know that my calling is pastoral ministry.

But let's read this passage in James 1:2-4 -"2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

We are supposed to consider our trials PURE Joy... nothing but Joy. A good definition of pure that I got from dictionary.com of "pure" is: "free from anything of a different, inferior, or contaminating kind; free from extraneous matter." Is that how you feel when you are going through a hard time or some kind of trial in your life? We have probably thought about this verse when we're feeling down about something in our lives, and tried to feel Joy because the testing of our faith in God creates perseverance which then finishes its work so that we can be complete not lacking anything, but with that joy we want to feel we also have feelings of frustration with God... which is not pure joy. We're like, "I'm thankful that God wants me to be complete, but why does it have to last this long!" Thoughts like that simply show us that we are not quite complete yet.

"The testing of your faith develops perseverance" - The more we stand firm in our trust in God through the hard times, the more we will be able to stand firm through the harder times that come. Life isn't easy and no one ever said it was going to be. We also don't always get what we want when we want it in life either... as hard as that is to accept most of the time. So the sooner we can claim this pure joy for ourselves and as soon as we start building our perseverance (by God's Grace and strength) through the trials of life, then when the "trials of MANY kinds" come we will be ready for them because God's strength will have been built in us.

Sounds a lot like character building to me. God is never finished with us and being able to deal with the hard times in a Godly way is part of that process; and it hurts. When God builds us and shapes us, like that potter that He is, it hurts because we have to change a part of ourselves that is hard to let go. Maybe we have been reacting to trials the same way all our lives, but all of sudden God wants us to experience Pure Joy through those trials. Our verse uses the word, "develops" when it talks about getting perseverance, so, it is a process. We don't automatically just have what we need to go through trials. It would be much easier if God would just give it to us of course, but I think we will appreciate and value it more if it is built up in us through perseverance instead.

Our verse also says "perseverance MUST finish its work so that you may be mature and COMPLETE, not lacking ANYTHING." This process gives us EVERYTHING we need. God knows what He's doing. This NEEDS to be a process for there to be completeness at some point in our journey. We simply must trust God to know what He's doing and know that He is absolutely in control and Sovereign like He promises that He is.

My hope is that we won't always look for the easy way out all the time and instead consider it pure Joy, not only because The Lord wants to complete us (which is also preparing us for a work He wants for us to do for Him) but Because God loves us enough to make us complete. He wants us to be everything we should be for Him so that we can be as effective for His Kingdom as possible. He is a good God and He loves you very much.

May God speak to you and hold you up through whatever you are going through today and may you experience PURE JOY while going through it. Trust me, I'm speaking to myself as well. I thank God that He spoke to me about this again. It's one thing to know something the Bible says, but it's definitely something else to DO what it says.

In Christ,
Bryan @ The Vine

Good to Great! - Easter

I think it's funny that we call the day that Jesus was killed "Good" Friday. I mean, I know why it's good. But when we celebrate it we are always so somber. I'm actually quite happy that Jesus died for me. He took my punishment for me. There is nothing I can do within myself to earn eternal life and God knows that. No one in the world can ever measure up to God's perfect standard. So what does God do? He comes to earth and dies for me! If it were up to me, Good Friday would be called GREAT Friday and it would be a massive party!

Have you ever wrapped your minds around the fact that THE God of the entire Universe and all that is in it came down to Earth from Heaven just to give His life for you? He left the comfort and paradise of Heaven to be here with us... to walk in your shoes and to know what it fully means to be human and to face all the temptations that we face. Check this out in Hebrews 4:15 - "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin." So Jesus knows, in every way, what we go through each day. In EVERY WAY; yet He did not sin... He did not give in. Jesus is perfect and He is God and that more than qualifies Him to take our place and die for us so that we do not have to die an eternal Godless death in Hell. Jesus was the perfect sacrifice that God needed to satisfy His anger towards humanity.

Romans 5:9 - Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!

That is so exciting! God's anger is not against me anymore because of Christ's death. Praise the Lord! Now THAT is good!

Romans 5:10-11 also continue to say - 10For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

"...how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!" Jesus didn't stay dead! He lives today! He conquered death and Hell! When Mary, the mother of Jesus and the other Mary went to Jesus' grave to see Him, this is what the Angel said to them when they saw that the humongous stone was rolled away from the front of the grave: Matthew 28:5-6 - 5The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay."

When the Angel said, "...just as He said." he was saying that When Jesus is proving that who He said he is is exactly that; who He said He is! He is not only a man, born of a woman, but He is also God, conceived by God in Mary. Jesus said He would be raised from the dead after three days and HE WAS! Praise God! The tomb is empty and He is alive!

So, the question is now: Do you believe Jesus rose from the dead? And if you do, then you not only believe He was a good roll-model, but you also believe He is God and He is alive and continues to watch over us and guide us and love us. The the only logical choice is to accept His love and salvation by telling Him that you are sorry for your sin and that you want to have a personal relationship with Him and that you accept His forgiveness. Tell Him that you believe He was born and raised to die for you and that you want to live for Him. In faith, if you do that with all your heart, you will be saved! You will have salvation from God when you do this from the heart. He wants you as you are right now. Nothing you have done... NOTHING... can ever separate you from God's love and forgiveness if you accept it. It's all up to you to accept it because it's right there for you to reach.

Happy Easter everyone. We, at The Vine, pray that this Easter will be the turning point in your life that will define your eternal destiny for the Lord Jesus. He loves you - He's proved that by coming to us at Christmas, Dying for us on Good Friday and coming back from the dead on Easter! PRAISE THE LORD!

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- Bryan @ The Vine