TRIALS TRANSFORMATION
First of three devotions in Crown of Life series
First of three devotions in Crown of Life series
James
1:2,5: “Consider it pure joy, my
brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, … If any of you lacks wisdom,
he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it
will be given to him.”
God’s Very Special Spirit Agent has a big job to do. He’s to transform Believers into Christ
likeness.
But no one said anything about trials!
Unfortunately, though, no one learns anything when life
cruises along smoothly. People tend to take
credit, thinking they’re “all that” when everything goes according to their
plan. They become satisfied,
comfortable. They eventually accept
glory when providing everything for their families. New home, two cars in every garage. Life is good.
God is good!
The sun shines on their sailboat, gliding effortlessly up
the river of life. Their family attends worship
every week. They tithe all finances to
the Lord. Then one family member gets
sick. Now their boat bounces across
ripples in the water, everyone holding on tight.
White knuckled, family members strain taking every
breath. The one family member isn’t
getting better. This is when people
inspect their lives. Something is
out-of-whack. They try to fix what’s
broken. God hasn’t turned His back. God isn’t snarling at them from heaven. Jesus remains right where He promised He’d be:
watching and waiting for Believers to call upon Him during trouble. Nothing major is broken. People just need a new nature.
WHAT?
God’s Very Special Spirit Agent begins chipping away.
WHO gets the glory?
Has pride replaced our righteousness?
IF we cooperate with God’s indwelling Spirit, our boat soon returns to gliding
up the river of life. But if we refuse
to cooperate with God…well…lessons still need to be learned. Sculpting us into the image of Christ takes
as long and will be as painful as necessary.
We can be confident that “He who began a good work in you
will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6). See the lesson, linked below.
Take Home Nugget
Praying through trials just makes
sense. We hate trials. If we don’t learn from them, they WILL
return—until we grow past making the same mistakes! But first, we must take our eyes off
trials.
Lock eyes on Jesus. Praise
Him for this chance to learn the lesson.
Repent whatever sin blocks the
path from learning. Ask Him for understanding from His perspective. Yield
lives to His direction.
Like a photograph developed in a darkroom,
God develops a beautiful photograph of Christ likeness in us after transforming
us through trials.
Thank
You, Father, for the chance to get life right through trials. Help us, Jesus, to see things through Your
eyes. Hasten our trails transforming us
into Your likeness! Amen.
Adapted from “Transformed by Trials” and “Pray Through Your
Trial.” Dr. Tony Evans. April 13 & 15, 2016. The Urban Alternative at LightSource.com or OnePlace.com.
J.D. Griffith
Most Recent eBook by J.D. Griffith: Click here to purchase a copy
of Your Salvation is Jesus' Passion eBook only $2.99
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