3 Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience.
4 But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing.
5 If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of [b]the giving God [Who gives] to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or faultfinding, and it will be given him.
6 Only it must be in faith that he asks with no wavering (no hesitating, no doubting). For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the billowing surge out at sea that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind.
7 For truly, let not such a person imagine that he will receive anything [he asks for] from the Lord,
These scriptures start by telling us to understand why trials and tribulations come about in our lives. Tests come to make us stronger in faith and character. Have you ever trusted a person with something valuable and they ended up destroying it? Let's just say that you loan your car to a dear friend and that friend of yours discombobulates your car..LOL!! Needless to say, you would probably feel angry and betrayed. It's the same way with God. He trusts us with blessings such as: good paying jobs, other material things, and spiritual gifts. Everytime we fail to continue to be consistent in our faith it hurts him and it makes him not trust us. Therefore, he allows certain things to happen to us in order to see how we'll respond under pressure or scrutiny. Will we continue to live right or will we become cowards and bail out. Many times our blessings are not delayed because of God, they are delayed because of our inability to be trusted with little things see Matthew 25:21 {KJV}.
Going back to James 1:4 (see above) is telling us to allow God to prove us. If we ever want to be trusted with more, we have to do it God's way and in his time. I've already said this in my previous posts, you wouldn't give a 2 year old child the keys to a Mercedez Benz would you? I certainly hope not. So why would you expect God to bless you with more this and more that if you can't even be trusted with what you already have. We must endure hardness as a good soldier (see 2 Tim 2:3). Don't faint when trouble comes, just realize that God must have great things in store for me.
James 1:6 (see above) really explain another aspect of why it is so hard to get breakthroughs. There is a song that says, "If you're gone pray don't worry, If you gone worry don't pray". This is a very true song that basically tells why certain prayers don't get answered. You can't be double minded. Don't get on your knees and pray, "Lord I place my life in your hands, I place my kids in your hands, I place my husband in your hands....", and then turn around and go crazy when problems occur. You just prayed for God to take them in his hands. So what are you worried about? If God can't take care of your family, who in the world can? We mustn't allow circumstances to block our purpose and suffocate our faith. No matter what TRUST GOD!!! Verse 7 says that a double minded person can not receive anything from God. Why? Because you haven't made up your mind yet.
Can God trust you? Can God trust you with a good paying job? Will you continue to allow good character and integrity to carry you or will you get relaxed and start cutting corners? I used to get angry with God because I felt like I was ready to advance in my career, but for some reason I kept getting turned down. Finally he told me Chevonne I can't even trust you to get to church on time, I'm not about to send you out there in my name to cut corners. OUCH HALELUJAH!! That knocked the wind out of my sail. After that, I started working harder to get to church on time and I started making sure that I took care of the little things. Many times we do the big things that make us stand out but we allow the little things to go undone and those things will surely come back to bite you later. Proverbs 15:19 {Amplified version} says: The way of the sluggard is overgrown with thorns [it pricks, lacerates, and entangles him], but the way of the righteous is plain and raised like a highway. Notice the part that says: it pricks, lacerates, and entangles him. Why? Because he left things to chance and this is what happend
How can you see where to walk in a mess like this? It's the same way when it comes to spiritual matters. Messes like this can be prevented if we clean up daily and don't allow things to pile up and come back to haunt you later. I remember seeing a show called "Wedding bloopers". The groom was dressed in his nice white tuxedo and the whole wedding was like a dream. While he was in the process of marrying the woman of his dreams, the police burst in and arrest him for past warrants. I could never imagine how embarassing that must have been to him but it could have been prevented if he had taken care of business at the appointed time. So the moral of this story is that we mustn't have things impeeding our view of God. Would you trust a blind person to drive you to the mall? NO WAY!!! So if you can't see the path that God set for you how can you be trusted.
I've already said this many times but its very important to understand that God has our best interests at heart whenever he makes decisions concerning us. Sometimes we may think that we're ready to move up but God is the only one who knows the intentions of our hearts. He knows that there are things inside of us that must be dealt with before he can trust us with his blessings. Again you wouldn't trust just anyone with your car, money, house, kids, spouse, etc...so don't expect God to trust just anyone with his miracles and blessings.
No only does God want to trust us with blessings, he also wants to trust us with trouble. If you've read the story of Job you know that God allowed the devil to afflict Job because He (God) trusted that Job would never leave him nor forsake him. At the end of the story, Job received double for his trouble because he did not faint at the sight of trouble. Did he make mistakes? Yes!! Did he give up on God? Absolutely not!!
Can God trust you?
Ask yourself:
Am I responsible in front of people and behind their backs?
Do I treat other people's property with great care and respect?
Do I panic when things don't work out the way I plan them?
Am I a doer of the Word or am I just a hearer only?
Can I be trusted with valuable gifts of the spirit such as: prophesy, interpreter, prayer warrior, etc?
Do I allow the few comments I get, go to my head?
Do I compromise my salvation in order to fit in?
These questions must be answered before any promotion or breakthrough can come. So make up your mind today and decide once and for all to allow God to have his way in your life. Don't allow anything to shake your faith and your resolve. Take care of your business and don't leave anything undone. Become a sold out Christain who doesn't waver no matter what. Grow in the spirit so that God will be able to trust you.
Remain blessed
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