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Impartation
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Missionary-Evangelist Esther Thornton, Oregon
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“LIFE LESSONS FROM JAMES - “LIVING AN OVERCOMING LIFE“
“TRIUMPHING OVER TEMPTATION”
God wants us to live
an overcoming life so that our joy might be full.
James is the apostle
who deals with testing, trials, infirmity, affliction, poverty; and practical
Christian Living. Their church had been about these things as that is what they
were going through these things.
There was pressure,
persecution, unjust and unfair treatment by the hands of people and by the hands
of the government. They were pressed on every side.
So, the book of James
deals with practical Christianity when you are under pressure. How to respond
to it and not to react to it. They have the opportunity to react; to respond;
to question. They have the opportunity to discern, “Where is this trial coming
from?” - God, the devil, or me. Have
I brought it on myself? Is it a sowing and reaping or consequential thing? Have I sinned or done something to
provoke God? Is it a generational
curse? A generational problem? Did God allow it, permit it, send it,
use it?
In verse 5 of James,
chapter 1, we are to ask for wisdom when we lack it and we all do at times.
Should I get into a warrior’s stance; resist the devil; fast and pray and fight
the good fight of faith? Some say everything is of the devil; some say
everything is from God. Some say it is just “me” and then condemnation sets in.
James is a pastor who
is dealing with real people in a real world under real pressure. We need to
know that this trial brings the word, “knowing” that this test will produce
something in me. I’ve got to know this and this is what James is trying to
preach.
James says if you
lack wisdom to ask of God and He will give it to you.
Sometimes we try to
apply someone else’s answer to their trial, but our trial is our trial. We can
learn from how God deals with people, and in the scripture we can learn from
other’s trials. Sometimes when you are in a fiery trial someone else’s
experience will not be enough. Counsel will not be the foundation that you will
stand on in that trial. What will be the foundation will be the Word of God and
how God is dealing with you. How God is shaping your character. God deals with
us individually, even with husband and wife. Sometimes He will deal separately
and sometimes together. God puts you through things as no one else knows the
future. He knows how to perfect us. I can prophesy in part but God knows your
complete future. Only God numbers your days and directs every step that you
take.
So God puts together
tests for us that strengthens us, though it fells like it is weakening us. And,
before I am strong, I am usually weak. And, when that weakness is exposed, I
can be embarrassed; I can be reactionary. But, James is saying that it is not
for our embarrassment but for our growth and to save you from things heading
your way that you know nothing about. I’m walking in the will of God and so, in
that will, the things that happen are designed to shape my life.
I am the possession
of God. I am under the hand of God. The devil is not bigger nor smarter than my
God. No trial can reach me without His specific permission. People will mean it
for evil but God means it for our good.
As we think of
Joseph, starting with the 37th chapter of Genesis, we know that his brothers
were jealous of him because he got so much of the father’s attention. So, they
tried to do away with him. They tore off his precious coat of many colors that
his father had given him and threw him in a pit to die. But, the Midianite
Merchantmen passed by and saw him and drew him out of the pit and sold him to
the Midianites for twenty pieces of silver who sold him to Potipher, an officer
of Pharaoh and captain of the guard in Egypt.
Joseph became
prosperous and the Lord was with him. And, he found grace in the eyes of his
master and he made him overseer of all his house. Then the Lord blessed the
Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake as Joseph was a goodly man and well favored.
From there Joseph was thrown into prison, being falsely accused of making
passes to his master’s wife. Potiphar’s wife became a slave to her passion as
Joseph was so attractive. On one occasion, she supposedly made a dinner
inviting 40 of the most beautiful women in Egypt who, when they saw Joseph were
so moved with admiration that they exclaimed with one accord that he must be an
angel.
Joseph refused
Potiphar’s wife’s advances and his character stands out as one of the purest in
all history. He allowed no temptation to affect his high morality, no calamity
to shake his implicit faith in God, no adversity to depress him, and no power
or position to make him proud and haughty. But, then Joseph was thrown into
prison. But in the midst of the adversity, the Bible says that the Lord was
with Joseph.
What more can we ask
for? The King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, The Lion of Judah that breaks every
chain, The Lord God of Hosts - If God be for you, who can be against you?
But, while in prison,
God gave him the interpretation of dreams of the butler and baker, who also had
been thrown into prison. When Joseph heard he said, “Do not interpretations
belong unto God? In the interpretation, He said that in three days the chief
butcher would be returned to his place but in three days the chief baker would
be hung. This happened as Joseph had said.
But, then the Pharaoh
had a dream and Joseph was called upon to interpret it which he did. It was
about seven years of famine and that Pharaoh was to store up food then for that
time.
Then Pharaoh said,
“Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is? There
is none so wise and discreet as Joseph is. And, he placed him over his house
and as a ruler over the people. He said that only in the throne would Pharaoh
be greater than Joseph. There were seven plenteous years where Joseph stored
food to be ready for the seven years of famine. Joseph was only thirty years
old when he was promoted.
Joseph is the most
glorious type of Christ.
Several things open
up to us in the 40th chapter of Genesis:
1. There is no record
that Joseph every murmured or complained.
2. God speaks to
people, godly and ungodly through dreams.
3. The closeness of
Joseph to God so that God could speak to him even in prison.
4. Joseph served the
prisoners, a type of Christ who became a servant to all.
In chapter 41 of
Genesis, the dreams of Pharaoh interpreted by Joseph not only marked out the
future of Jacob and his family, but even in more graphic detail marked out the
future of the nation of Israel. Possibly upon this world will be seven years of
great harvest of souls, immediately followed by severn years of tribulation
that has never been before and shall never be again.
As we close upon the
account of Joseph, we see that his family came to receive food from his hand.
It is a tearful account at the end where they find out who Joseph really is and
he forgives them and brings them to Egypt to live for the rest of their lives
in prosperity.
John Hagee wrote a
book entitled, “Life’s Challenges - Your Opportunities”. Sometimes we ask
ourselves, “Why do I have all these problems?” It is imperative for God’s
children to discover the principle for transforming the problems of our lives
into the provisions of God? Adversity is God’s university.
There are more than
3,000 promises in God’s Word.
Promise, problem, and
provision is a supernatural principle based on the Word of God that will give
you wells you did not dig, houses you did not build, and vineyards you didn’t
plant. It will turn your darkest night to golden day; it will fill your driest
desert into streams of living water. God has given you a problem; you’ve come
into a problem; How you respond will determine how quickly the provision comes.
The quickest way to
go through a mountain is to go straight through it. How you conduct yourself in
the problem determines how long you stay in the problem. Trouble does not
develop character; it reveals character.
Many times we, as
believers, go round and round the mountain instead of passing through it. We
need to allow God, through our circumstances, to help us to face our trials
head-on and to embrace what God wants us to learn from them.
When the spies came
back from Canaan, the people were fearful as the spies said that they were like
grasshoppers compared to them. But, Caleb stilled the people and said, “Let us
go up at once to possess the land, for we are well able to overcome it.
Caleb was a man who
wholly followed the Lord. He had a strong character. Instead of retreating, he
said, “Give me this mountain.” He accepted a challenge.
The spies were sent
into Canaan because the people requested it and God let them do it. But, if
they had had enough faith, they could have trusted God and not done that. Every
problem puts us to this test: Do we trust God or don’t we?
May God bless you in
this New Year and fill you with His joy.
With Love In Christ,
Esther
Thornton
Global Evangelism
Fellowship, Inc.
