GODS INTENTION IN OUR SUFFERING

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GODS INTENTION IN OUR SUFFERING James 11 - 12
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• James is intensely practical and believers
  looking for specific guidance in the Christian
  life naturally appreciate such an emphasis.

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• James is intensely practical and believers
  looking for specific guidance in the Christian
  life naturally appreciate such an emphasis.
• Conciseness. James rarely develops the points he
  makes at any length, being content to make his
  point and move on quickly.

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3. James lavish use of metaphors and
illustrations makes his teaching easy to
understand and follow. The billowing sea, the
withered flower, the image of a face in the
mirror, the bit in the horses mouth, the rudder
of the ship, the destructive forest fire
- Douglas Moo, The Letter of James, pages 1-2
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Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a
cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every
weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let
us run with endurance the race that is set before
us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter
of our faith, who for the joy that was set before
him endured the cross, despising the shame, and
is
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seated at the right hand of the throne of God
Consider him who endured from sinners such
hostility against himself, so that you may not
grow weary or fainthearted.
- Hebrews 121 - 3
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God wants us to joyfully endure our trials as he
purposefully uses them to purify and perfect us.
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CONSIDER IT JOY WHEN YOU ARE TRIED
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet
trials of various kinds
- James 12
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CONSIDER IT JOY WHEN YOU ARE TRIED
The greatest discovery that I have made in the
midst of all these difficulties is that I can
have joy when I cant feel like it - artesian
joy. When I had every reason to feel beaten I
felt joy. In spite of everything, God gave me
the conviction of being loved and the certainty
that nothing could separate me from him.
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CONSIDER IT JOY WHEN YOU ARE TRIED
It was not happiness, gush, or jolliness but a
constant flow of his Spirit through me. At no
time did he give me the easy confidence that
everything would work out as I wanted it on my
timetable, but that he was in charge and would
give me and my family enough courage for each
day grace. Joy is always the result of that
- Lloyd Ogilvie, Drumbeat of Love, pages 176-177
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TESTING PRODUCES STEADFASTNESS
You know that the testing of your faith produces
steadfastness
- James 13
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TESTING PRODUCES STEADFASTNESS
In this you rejoice, though now for a little
while, if necessary, you have been grieved by
various trials, so that the tested genuineness of
your faithmore precious than gold that perishes
though it is tested by firemay be found to
result in praise and glory and honor at the
revelation of Jesus Christ
- Peter 16-7
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TESTING PRODUCES STEADFASTNESS
suffering produces endurance
- Romans 53
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TESTING PRODUCES STEADFASTNESS
like a muscle that becomes strong when it faces
resistance, so Christians learn to be faithful to
God over the long haul only when they face
difficulty
- Moos, page 55
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TESTING PRODUCES STEADFASTNESS
Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the
churches of God for your steadfastness and faith
in all your persecutions and in the afflictions
that you are enduring
- II Thessalonians 14
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STEADFASTNESS PRODUCES MATURITY
And let steadfastness have its full effect, that
you may be perfect and complete, lacking in
nothing
- James 14
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• Always look for the hand of God in every
  experience of life

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• Always look for the hand of God in every
  experience of life
• Trials may sometimes be closely related to
  discipline (Hebrews 12) which should promote
  self-examination.

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• Always look for the hand of God in every
  experience of life
• Trials may sometimes be closely related to
  discipline (Hebrews 12) which should promote
  self-examination.
• Trials should drive us to the Scriptures and to
  our knees.

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Perhaps to be able to explain suffering is the
clearest indication of never having suffered.
Sin, suffering, and sanctification are not
problems of the mind, but facts of life
mysteries that awaken all other mysteries until
the heart rests in God
- Oswald Chambers