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I want to welcome you to day two of our look through James chapter 1 in daily
drive time devotions. We started out yesterday taking a look at how this letter
from James, the half-brother of Jesus Christ, talks to us about how faith works,
how it works in our daily lives to make a difference. In James chapter 1 verses
2 to 4, the verses we're going to be looking at today, talk about how faith
works when you have problems.

In fact, these are some of the most powerful verses in all the Bible when you're
facing problems. I'd say this, if you're going through a problem right now,
these verses are why God has you listening to this study on James. James chapter
1 verses 2 to 4.

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

Faith works to put problems in their place. When it comes to problems, and who
doesn't have problems, we all have strategies, ways that we use to try to put
problems in their place. We try denial, we try escape, we try optimism, but
denial in the end is destructive.

If you deny a problem, pretend it isn't there, it just gets bigger and bigger
and bigger. It doesn't work. Escape isn't effective.

Why isn't it effective? Because most of my problems have to do with me. I can
try to run away from my problems, but when I do, I take me with me, and I'm the
source of many of my problems.

So escape isn't effective, and optimism isn't enough. I know a lot of people,
they just say, "It's a sunny day, everything's fine, I'll just smile in the face
of problems, I'll be optimistic," but in the end, that even isn't enough,
because our problems need more than a smile. Our problems need solutions, and
our problems need to do the work in us that God wants to do in us.

Sometimes optimism is just another way of denial. What does God want to do in
our lives through problems? What is God's strategy for facing problems?

Well, it's going to surprise you. It does me every time I read this. James
chapter 1 verse 2 says, "Consider it pure joy.

" There it is. Count it all joy. Consider it pure joy.

That's God's strategy. Now wait a minute, isn't that just another form of
denial? Consider it pure joy.

How can I be joyful about the fact that I have problems? Well, you can't,
obviously. You don't count it all joy, or consider it joy that you have a
problem.

The joy is in what God does through the problem. You see, these verses teach us
four things about problems. Problems are inevitable, problems are unexpected,
problems are used to develop us, and growth requires both problems and
perseverance.

Let's walk through those. First of all, problems are inevitable. Notice it
doesn't say if you have problems.

It says whenever you face trials. It's assumed that you're going to face trials.
Everybody's called problems life's daily quizzes and periodic final exams.

You just have them every single day. How do you know if someone has an unsound
philosophy of problems? You use the words "why me" a lot.

Why is this happening to me? How could this be happening to me? As if somehow
you're going to get a free pass.

You don't deserve to have problems while you're in this world. Well guess what?
Everybody has problems in this world.

Now some of them we bring on ourselves, no doubt about that, but some of them
just come our way whether we do anything to bring them on or not. We cannot
escape problems while we're in this world. We're going to face them.

Heaven is a place where there are no problems. We are looking forward to an
eternity there. I am certainly, but while we're on this planet we are going to
have problems.

Problems are inevitable. So the idea that somehow you can build a life that
doesn't have problems is just a lie. Problems are inevitable.

Not only are they inevitable, but, and this bothers some of us even more, they
are unexpected. This idea of many kinds, that the variety of problems, you never
know what's going to hit you next or from what direction. Some of us think it'd
be okay if I had problems if I could just schedule them into my schedule.

It'd be okay if I had problems if I just knew which ones I was going to face
next. But I keep having different problems and they keep coming at the wrong
times. It's not convenient.

It's not the one that I've already learned to face. It's interesting that this
New Testament word for trials or problems gives us our English word for pirate.
And problems are like that.

They ambush us from unexpected directions and unexpected ways at unexpected
times. That's what makes them problems. They're inevitable and they're
unexpected.

You can't plan for them. But then James reminds us of this. Problems are used to
develop us.

We know that the testing of our faith develops perseverance. And perseverance
finishes its work so that I can be mature and complete. You know, as I look at
my own life and how I've learned to deal with problems, I can see my thoughts
changing as I grew as a believer in Christ.

When I was a brand new believer in Christ and problems would come my way, I
would think, "God, what are you doing to me? Why would you do this to me? I'm a
new believer.

I love you. Why would I have to face problems? It seems like you could do
something about this.

What are you doing to me? " I grew a little bit more as a Christian and I
realized, "Oh, there's an evil one at work in this world. There's Satan at work
in this world.

" And I began to ask, "Satan, what are you doing to me? And God, why are you
allowing Satan to do this to me? " So it was just a more theologically correct
way to say, "God, what are you doing to me?

" But then as I've grown more and I'm learning this in my life. I'm learning
more and more to say, "God, what are you doing in me? What are you doing?

What do you want to do in me through this problem? How do you want to change me?
How do you want to grow me?

" I'm learning that my faith is tested for a reason or that God brings reason
out of the tests of our faith. My problems, your problems are not just random
events. God is using them.

He can use them to grow you, to be the person, to be the man, to be the woman
that he wants you to be. God grows us through our problems. If I didn't have
problems, I'll just be honest with you, I'd be a selfish snob.

I'd be just thinking about myself and I'd just be so prideful that everything
had worked out like I wanted it to because we tend towards selfishness. In this
world, God works with selfish people and the way he develops us is he takes the
problems that we go through and in our perseverance in those problems, he grows
us. And that's the fourth thing about problems.

Both requires both problems and perseverance. Problems alone are not enough to
grow us. Otherwise, we'd all be full grown and mature because we all have
problems.

But you've seen it. There are some people, they face problems, the worst
problems in life. And out of that problem grows a gentleness, a peace, a
strength of character that you haven't seen in anybody else.

And then you look at somebody else and their problems seem to pale in
comparison, but they crumble and they're mean and they're nasty and their
problems have soured them. What's the difference? The difference is in this
word, perseverance.

The Bible says the testing of your faith develops perseverance. So first I have
to have faith, I have to have trust in God. But even amongst believers, some
believers who have trust in God, they don't seem to grow through their problems.

Why is that? Because they don't have perseverance. They're continually trying to
escape their problems instead of grow through their problems.

They're continually blaming God for their problems or thinking somehow that
somebody else brought this on them instead of recognizing, "God, you can grow me
even through this. " So you see God's formula here. What's God's formula for
growth?

Well, step one in the formula is this, get a problem. That's not too hard. Most
of us have a pretty easy time with step one.

We can get a problem. In fact, some of you listening to this right now, you're
facing some horrible problems in your life right now. God's speaking to you as
I'm talking right now about considering it all joy.

Not the problem. It's a terrible problem. But what God can do even through that
evil that Satan has thrown your way.

God can work even through that. First you get a problem, but then you add to
that patient trust over time. It takes time for God to grow us.

It takes more than one prayer. "God, I'm patient. Now hurry and grow me.

" No, it takes patient trust over time. And I don't know about you, but it
always takes longer than I want it to. That's where the trust comes in.

If it happened at my timing, it wouldn't be trust. No, it's trust over time. And
as I patiently trust God over time, he develops my character.

He helps me to recognize that the things in this world are not the things that I
want to hold on to the most. He helps me to recognize that what he's doing in me
to grow me is more important than anything else that I'm accomplishing. He helps
me to see that the fruit of the Spirit, the fruit of love and joy and peace and
patience and kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, the
fruit of what he wants to do in my life comes out of even my response to these
problems.

But to do this, it all starts with that first phrase in verse two, "Consider it
pure joy. " Not the problem, but what God is doing through the problem. Let's do
that in prayer right now.

And it's a great prayer of faith. For you, it might be the greatest prayer of
faith you've ever prayed. God, this problem I'm going through right now, I count
it joy.

I consider it joy. Not the problem, but what you want to do in my life, even
through this. God, I'm going to have problems the rest of my life, and I don't
want to turn into a bitter person.

I don't want to turn into a person who's trying to escape problems, who's living
my life in denial. God, I want to grow to be more like Jesus. I want my
character to change.

And so I consider it joy, what you can do in me. And I trust you. I don't
understand this problem.

I don't understand why it's happening. I'm going to have some questions about it
when I get to heaven. But God, for this moment, I trust you.

I trust you more than the problem. I trust you to develop me and grow me. I put
my life once again in your hands, Jesus.

I pray this in your name. Amen. Tomorrow, we're going to talk together about how
faith works when we have doubts.

Join us tomorrow for drive time devotions.