When it is very dangerous and unpopular to live for Jesus, what type of preaching do you need to hear. You need to hear preaching from James who wrote the book of James and is the half brother of Jesus. He wrote his letter to people who were being scattered all over the world because of their faith in Jesus Christ. He was teaching the Church the real Gospel. He didn’t teach that everything was going to be okay and that you would experience only health and wealth as a believer in Christ. He knew better and he taught truth. He prepared the Church for difficult times, for times of trouble. He taught them to endure trials and to endure trouble.
It really is time that we start teaching that everything is NOT going to be okay. We need to start teaching that there will be trouble and that life will not be a bed of roses. Life will not be filled with the fulfillment of your every desire and your every longing. Rather, we need to teach that we will struggle with this world. We will find ourselves at odds with the rulers and powers of this world. We should find ourselves exposing the truth regardless of the consequences. But we must endure and find the blessings of God in our struggle. Find blessing as we endure trouble. As we are about to learn, we are called to count it ALL JOY as we face trials of many kinds.
