ENDURANCE - James 1:2-6
My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind; for the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord. - James 1:2-6
A prayer circle: endurance strengthens faith and faith endures the storm. When it seems too much to bear, thank God for endurance, and smile at what grows you up, fills you up and gives you all you need. When you don’t know what to think, ask God for wisdom, and wait for it with a faith that never doubts and never wavers in the wind.
Circular logic never makes sense to those who do not get the premise. I endure that I may believe and I believe that I may endure. Take the faith out of that and suddenly enduring simply to endure becomes joyless, hopeless, or the word Paul used twice here: lacking. But with faith, and a prayer for that endurance, it is as Paul wrote in Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”
Same with praying for wisdom: we should pray when we don’t have an answer, but if we doubt we won’t have a prayer. Take prayer out of the circle and we are left answerless and doubtful, or as Paul says here, driven and tossed and unstable in every way. But there is an answer waiting for us, and in that answer, ours for the asking, we find endurance and gain wisdom and have a reason for joy and hope. As David sang, in Psalm 39:7: “And now, O Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in you.”
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
enjoying one moment at a time;
accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
that I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
forever in the next.
Amen.
- Reinhold Niebuhr, 1951
Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. - Romans 5:1-5
Dear God, you give us all the endurance and wisdom we need. Thank you, too, for the joy and fulfillment, the stability and hope, that is ours for the asking.
A prayer circle: endurance strengthens faith and faith endures the storm. When it seems too much to bear, thank God for endurance, and smile at what grows you up, fills you up and gives you all you need. When you don’t know what to think, ask God for wisdom, and wait for it with a faith that never doubts and never wavers in the wind.
Circular logic never makes sense to those who do not get the premise. I endure that I may believe and I believe that I may endure. Take the faith out of that and suddenly enduring simply to endure becomes joyless, hopeless, or the word Paul used twice here: lacking. But with faith, and a prayer for that endurance, it is as Paul wrote in Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”
Same with praying for wisdom: we should pray when we don’t have an answer, but if we doubt we won’t have a prayer. Take prayer out of the circle and we are left answerless and doubtful, or as Paul says here, driven and tossed and unstable in every way. But there is an answer waiting for us, and in that answer, ours for the asking, we find endurance and gain wisdom and have a reason for joy and hope. As David sang, in Psalm 39:7: “And now, O Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in you.”
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God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
enjoying one moment at a time;
accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
that I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
forever in the next.
Amen.
- Reinhold Niebuhr, 1951
---
Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. - Romans 5:1-5
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Dear God, you give us all the endurance and wisdom we need. Thank you, too, for the joy and fulfillment, the stability and hope, that is ours for the asking.
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