James 1:1: James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. 2: My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 3: Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 4: But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

A LETTER TO BRETHREN. James is writing to spiritual brethren in the Lord. This is important to note because unbelievers will not, nor can not, understand, believe, submit and heed the instruction God gives in this word. (I Co.2:14; Ro 8:5-8)

BE THANKFUL FOR TRIALS. The word "temptations" means trials. All God's children encounter a variety of trials. Trials are never pleasant to endure. Yet, for the believer, whatever the trial, the end result will be the same.

First, trials prove that the believer's faith is true. (I Pet. 1: 6-9) Trials prove to us, to our brethren and to the world that our faith is the fruit of our full, complete, sufficient, reigning and ruling Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. True faith's approval before God is Christ, its object. Trials bring those with true faith to Christ's feet while those who are playing a part are openly made manifest. (I Co. 3: 12-15; 11:19)

Secondly, every trial results in the believer's spiritual growth. The believer becomes more steadfast, more willing to endure persecution because God teaches him by experience the vanity of turning from Christ. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal. (Mt 28: 18-20; 2 Co.10: 3-6; 12:19) This fruit is the product of the Holy Spirit working God's will and good pleasure within the believer. (Ro. 5: 3-5; Php. 2:12-13) Trials convince the believer that faith is given, kept, and made immovable from Christ by the sufficiency of God's grace and by the power of Christ resting upon us and in us. Trials always leave the believer amazed at the Father's wisdom. Through trials the believer sees that this vital union with Christ can never be severed. No matter how hard the devil and his servants attempt to divide and conquer the brethren, Christ's blood guarantees us it will never happen. (Ro 8:38-39; Nu 14:9; De 33: 29; Jer 1:19; I John 4:4) What a reason to be thankful for trials! But the Spirit of God teaches us something else here.

BE PATIENT IN TRIALS. When the believer is faced with a new trial God is repeating the lesson learned from the last trial all over again. Did not God prove to me that my faith is of him and kept by him? Did not Christ teach me it is better to wait on the Lord than to take matters into my own hands? After all the confusion created by my impatient attempts to remove the last trial, did I not end up seeing the foolishness of being drawn away from Christ toward my own selfish understanding? Where did the last trial end? Was it not at the feet of Christ from where I know I should have never strayed? In the last trial, did my Intercessor not teach me that his continual prayers for me were the reason that my faith did not fail? Did the last trial not teach me that his throne of grace is where I am safe? Yes, he taught me these lessons through the last trial so that I might be less apt to waver from him in this new trial. Yes, he taught me that patient endurance is looking nowhere else, hearing no one else, depending upon no one else but the all-victorious, Captain of my salvation.

But remember why it is that we joy in trials. Because when, in the midst of my new trial, I react as if everything depended upon me, my faithful Counselor brings me back to his throne of grace, teaching me once again that everything about me depends upon him. He teaches me the same lesson over and over, "wait on the Lord." (Ps 27.14; 37:34; Pr 20:22) The Hebrew word for wait means "to expect". When faced with a trial, the believer whom God has grown in the spirit realizes there is much he could say, much he could do, but he expects his Lord will save him from the trial, just as the Lord saved him from sin and wrath. So he patiently waits with great expectations. And he is never disappointed. May God teach us once again to be patient.