Layers of Freedom

This following study is of James 1:1-4. This study is a little different from the other ones I’ve done because every time I went back to reflect on this passage I got more and more out of it and discovered many layers of truth. While a number of topics are covered, they are all connected, which is why I chose to keep it all together instead of posting them separately. I hope that as you read it, you’ll be able to see how it all ties together and it can encourage you on your journey with God to experience spiritual freedom and to endure when you face trouble.

James 1:1-4 (New Living Translation)
1. This letter is from James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is written to Jewish Christians scattered among the nations. Greetings!
2. Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy.
3. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.
4. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything.


Layer 1
Complete Conditions for the Testing of our Faith:
The Leg Muscles of Endurance

As I reflected on this passage, another scripture came to mind that I wanted to include, and that is Romans 12:2, which says:
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is.
I was also reminded of Jesus’ temptation, which you can find in Matthew 4, Luke 4 and Mark 1:12-13. If you remember Jesus’ temptation, he had to believe in the words God spoke to him, even when he wasn’t hearing God’s voice in the wilderness. Not only was his faith tested in that one part, but there was another piece that had to exist at the same time, and that was the hard part… the devil’s challenge. The question we must ask ourselves is “will we remain faithful and believe in what God has said to us, even when it seems like He’s not there and while trouble is all around us, and while the devil is telling us the opposite of what God has said?” These three pieces exist at the same time and I believe these are the complete conditions necessary for the testing of our faith.
The fruit of that testing is growing endurance; the ability to wait patiently for God’s timing and deliverance in any given situation. The good news is that endurance has a maturation point! So, as God works in us and allows those troubles to come, in order to test our faith; He helps us to develop those “leg muscles of endurance” that will help us to keep walking with Him. Once those muscles are fully developed, we can go from walking with God, to running with Him and finally to sprinting with Him through wherever He takes us.

When you walk with God, it can start out slow until you get your rhythm and your body gets used to the pace. The more often you walk, the easier it is to do so and your body gets used to the exercise. It is interesting to me that when you miss those days of walking, your body is more sluggish because it’s telling you it needed the exercise. And, when you get back to it, your muscles get kind of sore easily, until you find your stride again. The longer you go between walking, the more your muscles ache and the longer it takes to get back in shape.

My Daughter,
There’s a lot here and I want you to get as much as possible out of it, so don’t rush it. Take the week and keep reflecting. Let me show you more about testing your faith and developing endurance. There is a great connection between these things that relates to the ways in which I can use you depending on how much you let those “muscles” develop. Continue to let me show you more about it, so you can grow and so you can help others to hold on in the midst of the troubles they are facing. I love you and I am always with you. Be strong, be open and continue to trust me and let me teach you.
Love Always,
Your Father God
(I feel it is necessary to add a caveat here. Even though God told me to take the week to study this passage, there were days when I could not squeeze in the time to do as in depth a study; so I would re-read the whole chapter of James 1 and reflect on it while I was taking my daughter for a walk in the morning. All in all, it took almost 3 weeks, but there are 5 layers here that translate to about a week of study.)

Layer 2
The IBEX and Preparation

Being prepared for spiritual growth:
We need to recognize that first and foremost, we are God’s children and because of that, there is so much at our disposal. Do we have any idea what we are capable of? God set us free and gave us the Holy Spirit to help us and open our eyes to what is real and true. We are spiritual beings, as well as physical ones, and we need to learn how to operate with a balance between our physical existence and our spiritual one.
The challenges and trouble we face in life occur at multiple levels and it can be hard to tell at times where it’s coming from. “Did God do that?” “Was that the enemy?” Sometimes we think if it’s God, “am I being punished?”, or if it’s God, “He must have a reason” and we leave it at that instead of digging deeper. God desires us to have understanding and that doesn’t come easily. It’s our responsibility to seek it out; to use our time and resources to study, learn and grow. Proverbs 25:2 says, It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, to search out a matter is the glory of kings. To me, the kings are those who recognize their spiritual heritage as Sons and Daughters of God and they begin the journey to work with the Holy Spirit and discover who they are, what they are here for and all that they are capable of.
We are in training, here to learn how to operate as spiritual beings…that requires work…learning how to exercise those spiritual muscles, learning how to train your eyes to see the unseen, and your ears to hear God’s voice and specific direction (honing your hearing), and training your tongue to speak words of truth that cut through the enemy’s blanket of deception.

2. Looking at the IBEX and the connection to James 1:1-4:
The IBEX is a species of wild goat; animals of mountain habitats. They are very agile and hardy, able to climb on bare rock and survive on sparse vegetation. When an Ibex gets into trouble it runs from its predator and climbs on very steep rocks. Since it is agile and able to climb on bare rock, it can escape being attacked, because the predator is unable to keep pursuing without more difficulty than it wants to deal with. The predator recognizes that if it continues pursuing the ibex, it could fall off the cliff (the precipice) to its own death; so it gives up and decides to go after an easier target.
How can this relate to faith and endurance? Like the Ibex, we possess within us the ability to escape from the enemy, but in order for us to do that, we must first recognize a few things. If we want to be agile and able to go where the enemy cannot follow, we must recognize who we are and what we are capable of. As we work with God and go through the process of growing and developing, with patient endurance, the first thing God does is renew our minds, so that we think with our spiritual mind and so we can see the unseen.
As our minds are renewed, our relationship with God deepens. We accept His love for us, and we learn to submit to the ways He chooses to teach us. The more we are open to allow trouble and struggle to serve their purpose in our lives, the more our eyes and ears develop, so we can see situations with the perspective that God desires us to have. Then we can also listen attentively for His voice and direction. The more we develop like this, the longer we are able to wait on God to do what He’s told us He will do and the more we will see great things happen.

Layer 3
Settle in your Heart

The following is what God said to me while I was meditating a bit more on this passage. (If you are wondering what the “more” is that God is referring to, you can read it in the piece I did for the 2010 Electronic Calendar for the month of September. You can find the calendar in the archives or on my website at www.lilyeveart.com)

My Daughter,
Right now you are working on the “more” in this passage. Just wait…it gets so much better. Keep reflecting and let me show you more.
Love Always,
Your Father God

As I look back over these four verses in James, I’m beginning to see this from James’ perspective. He’s writing this letter to Jewish Christians who were “scattered among the nations”, which that alone to me indicates difficulty, struggle and possible feelings of being alone in that struggle. They may no longer have the power of numbers on their side, since they’ve been separated and called to be apart, yet still walk out their salvation. They were called to live the life of a Christian, which they are discovering is no easy life to live. So James starts out communicating a few very important things; almost as if to say, “these are the things I’ve learned that helped me through the challenge of following Christ and serving God Almighty. It’s not easy to go against the grain and flow of the world, but what I’m about to tell you will help you through it.”
James starts out with something very important…his identity. He tells them right off the bat who he is and how he sees himself. He belongs to God and serves the purpose of Jesus. More than any other way he could identify himself, he chooses this one and it’s significant because it communicates that the course of his life and the direction he’s going is settled. He serves God. He’s identified with his maker and that’s where his heart and allegiance belong. He puts first things first and gives them an example to follow. “Settle in your heart that you belong to God. He is your Father and you’re at home with Him.”
It’s also important that he mentions Jesus, because that makes it clear what God he is talking about. This is not a pagan God. This is the God that Jesus talked about as his Father, who sent him to earth to offer true life to those who were willing to believe in who he said he was, and accept him as the one who would guide their life. This is the God who rose Jesus from the dead and displayed many powerful acts through this Jesus. This is the God who Jesus said loves us so much that he was sent to give his life for us, God’s special creation; so we could have the opportunity to become Sons and Daughters of God; restored to our true place in life. This is no ordinary God that I serve. He’s the one who is connected to Jesus. James makes is clear to the people, so they don’t lose sight of who it is that they are following.

Layer 4 (Part 1)
The Significance of Trouble

As I continue to think about these first few verses from James’ perspective, I see that he’s giving them a new way to think about trouble and its purpose in their lives. It could be easy to see trouble only as a negative and say “woe is me” or even “why me?”. At the first sign of trouble, most people want a way out, right away, but James is telling them that there is a better way to look at trouble in your life. He says, “let it be an opportunity for joy.” How can he say that? What would make him think that way?
Over the years I’ve learned that you cannot teach what you do not know. The best way to teach anyone is to be able to relate the reality of your own experience and live out that example. If you have not had the experience, there’s not much you can genuinely say about it; especially when it comes to facing challenges and matters of the heart.

Trouble brings out the issues and unfinished business that lies in our hearts and as we follow God, He takes the opportunity to teach us and help us to grow through that trouble, even if it didn’t originate from Him. Sometimes, God does send the trouble; like in the case of Jonah and the whale. However, other times the devil brings it and God allows it, in order to serve a purpose; like with the story of Job.
James, being one of the twelve disciples, ran with Jesus and surely he experienced a lot of trouble as he made the choice to follow God and the Lord Jesus Christ. He learned that as someone who belongs to God, there is a different and better way to look at the way things are in the world. We possess the ability to walk with a spiritual perspective which can guide us, through the Holy Spirit…if we are willing to listen, believe, and obey. James introduces one of these spiritual perspectives as it relates to trouble. For God’s children, who are learning to develop spiritually and live their lives as spiritual beings, operating through a physical body; trouble serves a different purpose. So, he’s telling them, this is what trouble is for in our lives. Trouble tests our faith and helps us to develop endurance, and these are things that are essential components of our spiritual existence while we are on the earth. Faith and endurance make it possible for us to be “strong in character and ready for anything”. In this way God can use us to do amazing and powerful things for Him in the earth, just like Jesus did.

One man changed the course of history because he embraced his spiritual identity and learned how to harness what was available to him as the Son of God. Jesus’ faith was tested in the wilderness and his endurance had reached full maturity, and because of that he was ready for anything. In just three years of ministry, he did what he came to do, which was to be the sacrifice and die to take our punishment and restore right relationship between God and man, for all who would choose to believe. And he came to live among us and show us what it looks like to embrace who we are as spiritual beings, so that once we believed and accepted the life Jesus died to give us; we would know how to go about walking it out and become who we were each created to be.
Now, trouble is a part of that process, because of the way it tests our faith in God. When trouble comes, that’s when the rubber meets the road and we are forced to decide if we are going to hold onto what we said we believe, or if we will ditch it under the pain and pressure. The more we hold onto our faith and believe in God’s goodness, love and faithfulness; the more those “leg muscles of endurance” can grow and develop. Once those muscles are fully developed, we will have reached the point where we know who we are, as children of God, and we know why we are here, what is available to us and we’re ready for whatever God calls upon us to do in the short time that we are here.

Layer 4 (Part 2)
The Significance of Trouble

As I’ve been thinking more about this passage, the words “When trouble comes, let it be an opportunity for joy”, keep coming back to me. How can trouble present an opportunity for joy? Then when I realize that James is talking about a perspective change and the way he wants them to look at trouble; I am able to see more about how trouble can be an opportunity for joy. Trouble definitely brings opportunity for every person who encounters it, whether it be an opportunity for frustration, anger, anxiety, rebellion, or worse. And, for the world, that’s often the way trouble plays out for them. But, James is saying, for Christians, trouble can present an opportunity for just the opposite…joy!
He told them that the existence of trouble in their lives is meant to test their faith and develop endurance in them and that development does have an end, when it is fully developed. So, if you know that every time you face trouble, God is developing endurance in you, it is possible to look at that in a positive light for a few reasons. One, you know that God Almighty is working with you and preparing you for your destiny and that is exciting. He’s getting you ready for the very thing He made you for and when you reach the point where you’re ready to do that thing, you’ll be experiencing so much fulfillment and joy that you’ll hardly be able to believe it’s happening. So, you can endure because of the joy that is set before you, just like Jesus did when he endured the cross.
The second reason for you to look at that trouble in a positive light is because you know that in the midst of that trouble, your faith is being tested; which means you’re being given an opportunity to show God, yourself, and the world, that you believe what you say you believe and you can walk it out. When you hold onto your faith and keep your focus on what you know is true about God; that He loves you, He is faithful and He will take care of all that concerns you and work it out for good; you are pleasing God. Hebrews 11:6 says “it is impossible to please God without faith”, so when you’re exercising your faith and hanging in there through the storm, you can know you are pleasing the God who loves you and made you for His good pleasure. That is a reason for joy!
Furthermore, you’re killing many birds with one stone, because not only are you developing endurance and pleasing God; you’re also becoming an example that God can use to show the world who He is. If you think about it, when the world looks at you facing trouble after trouble and they see you hang in there and keep trusting God and loving Him; it says a lot about you, the God you serve and the possibility and power that exist to live a spiritual life on earth. When people look at you and see that you can have joy and bless God when things are tough, it makes your faith a lot more real and visible to others and it communicates to God and man that you’re not in it for the “stuff”. You’re not serving God just to get the blessings and to enjoy prosperity. You’re serving God because you love Him and you trust Him to sustain you, teach you and make you ready for anything!

Oddly enough, that was the test the devil brought before God for Job. He said to God, (and I’m paraphrasing) “Job only serves you because you’re blessing him. If you take all that away, he will curse you.” God knew Job. He knew Job’s heart and he knew that even if Job reached point of doubt through the test, he still wouldn’t turn his back on God. So, God agreed to allow Satan to rock Job’s world and in the end, God was proven right and the devil went away with his tail between his legs. And in the end, Job also got to know God in a way that few in life have ever experienced; and knowing God is so much better than getting the “stuff” that can come along with serving Him.

Layer 5
Ready for Anything

As I wrap up my reflections of James 1:1-4, I find myself focused on what it means to be “ready for anything”. James said, “When your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything.” Several things strike me about those two verses and it brings me back to what I originally started to reflect on about the “leg muscles of endurance” and Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness.
I think it’s safe to say that Jesus was ready for anything. When he went through that temptation in the wilderness, before his ministry began; his endurance reached it’s maturation point. He came face to face with the enemy and he held his ground and stuck to what he believed about what God said to him. “You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” The devil challenged who Jesus was and he never faltered. He held onto those words from God and he accessed what he knew from Scripture to fight off the enemy’s challenges to his identity and ability.
It’s amazing to me that at the end of the day, that’s what the devil doesn’t want you to grasp…who you are (identity) and what you are capable of as a Son or Daughter of God Almighty (ability). Honestly, I think that’s what the trouble and the testing of your faith is meant to bring out. The more we walk with God, the more we really begin to learn who we are; that we belong to God, we are His offspring…He made us and He loves us…we matter to God. I believe that’s the first thing that God desires to settle in us. He wants us to get the truth and believe that we are safe with Him. So, I can say that my identity rests solely in the fact that I am my Father’s daughter.
Once that is settled, then God can begin to teach us what we are capable of. That’s where the “trouble” really begins to manifest, because the only way to learn what you are able to do is by going through the training, developing those “muscles” and then trying them out to see how well they work. Every time you go through trouble, consider it a “training exercise” for your spiritual development. You are training for your spiritual “black belt.” You are the student and God is your “Sensei”. With each season God takes you through, if you let it serve it’s purpose and you trust God through it and learn what you’re supposed to; you receive the color belt that relates to the level you’ve mastered.
In the beginning of your training, when you look at the Sensei and he shows you what he can do; you probably don’t think you could ever get to that point of doing the things your Sensei can do. But, he tells you that with the proper training you can do just what he can. Now think of Jesus as the Sensei, because he said in Matthew 11:28-29, “Come to me, all who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, let me teach you because I am humble and gentle and you will find rest for your souls.” Jesus is our example for what we are capable of, if we would only get with the Holy Spirit and allow God to teach us and train us.
Eventually, you can get to that place where your endurance is fully developed, but in order to do that, you’ve got to pass each test that comes your way. You pass those tests by enduring through the trial and using the very thing that God is teaching you in each season and putting it into practice. If in your training, you learned how to break a wooden board with your bare hand, then you’re going to be given the opportunity to do just that, before you can move on to the next set of abilities to master.
Once you have mastered all those spiritual abilities, then you will be “strong in character and ready for anything.” Your hearing will be developed to such a degree that you can speak only what you hear God say to you, just like Jesus did. You can walk up to that person who is feeling rejected and brokenhearted and share a word of knowledge with them, that only comes from God. You can deliver the very message that grabs their heart and leads them to make the decision that saves their soul, just like Jesus did with the woman at the well (you can find that story in John 4).
Jesus heard from God, through the Holy Spirit, about the woman’s particular situation and when he told her about it, it got her attention and she knew she was talking to someone who was no ordinary man. She was speaking to a prophet. That encounter led a woman who was an outcast in her community to go back to the village and tell them all what she had just experienced. And she was convincing enough that many people from the village came to see who Jesus was and what life was available to them if they believed his message. Well, this is the place that God desires to get us to; where our endurance is fully matured and we can run with Him wherever he takes us and do whatever he tells us to do; not matter how unusual or impossible it may seem. We must remember that with God all things are possible and I say AMEN to that!

My Daughter,
I am pleased with you for listening to me and taking your time with this study. I know it was only four verses, but look at all you’ve learned and come to understand as you kept going back to those same words and meditating on them. You’ve discovered the many layers in this passage and I want you to know that all of Scripture is like that. Like an onion, you peel back those layers the longer you stick with a passage and allow me to show you the “more” that exists there. I’m glad you are willing to study the Scriptures this way and I promise you that as you do that, you will discover more life and truth and hope then you would have ever imagined.
On this Independence Day, the symbol of freedom reigns and I want you to share what I’ve taught you and let these words help others experience spiritual freedom in their lives. I also want you to know that being willing to go through life and get to know me, despite whether you get the “stuff” or not, is amazing and there is tremendous honor in that. It’s a blessing to me and i time you will receive that honor seven fold.
Love Always,
Your Father God