Transformed : Vocational Health - Day 6

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. James 1:2-3 (NIV) 

People are like tea bags. You don’t know what’s inside of them until you put them in hot water. Stress and problems have the uncanny ability to reveal what’s inside each of us. 

God says to, “Considered pure joy, whenever you face trials.” The word “consider“ tells us that we have a choice. We can’t choose our trials but we can always choose how we respond. So how does God want us to respond to these trials? He wants us to consider it joy. In fact, “pure joy!“

Author and speaker Kay Warren says, “Joy is the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life, the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be alright, and the determined choice to praise God in all things.”

When we choose to face our trials with joy, the Bible says the test of our faith produces perseverance.

Noticed that James says, “when [not if] you face trials…” Storms in life are inevitable. If you’re not in a storm right now, just wait—you will enter one soon enough. Nobody sails through life easy from the cradle to the grave. What’s most important is how you choose to face your storms.

If you allow it, God will use storms to work off the rough edges of your personality, to help you regain perspective of who and what is most important, and grow you up to spiritual maturity.

So the next time you find yourself in a storm, choose to focus on God and not your problem. Consider that there might be something even greater at work in your life than just the trial you’re facing. And decide daily to choose joy in spite of your circumstances.

Next Steps. Write down your answers to these questions. 

188. What did you hear?

189. What do you think?

190. What will you do?

191. Now talk to God...

Work Cited

Warren, R. (2014). Daily devotions: Transformed: How God Changes Us. Rancho Santa Margarita, CA: Saddleback Church.