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The first time I read, "Brethren count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations" (James 1:2-3), my head had a difficult time accepting that command.

Temptations, which literally mean "test and trials" meant bad situations to me. It was difficult for me to understand how you could count a temptation, test, or trial as a joyful thing. The first thing that came to my mind was problems like sickness and disease, poverty, wars, and all kinds of bad things.

They meant pain. They meant anguish. They meant discouragement. Not joy.

Look at what the author is saying when he tells us to count it all joy. He says, "my brethren." Anytime you see where it says "my brethren" the writer is talking to born-again, Spirit-filled believers. He said, "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations."

Another word you can use for joy here is delight. The word divers means "different," and temptations means "temptations, tests, or trials." So, what he said was, "My brethren count it all joy, or count it all delight, when you fall into different temptations, tests, or trials."

My head just couldn't figure that out. I started meditating on the scriptures, and I said, " Lord, I know what You said in Your Word; so even though I may not understand it at this particular time, if You said to count a temptation, test, or trial as something to be full of delight or to have joy in, then I'm going to do it because You said to. But I don't understand it, I'm trusting You to reveal to me how you can have joy in the midst of a temptation, test or trial."

As I began to study the subject, I found out from the Word what James was talking about when he said to count it all joy when you fall into different temptations, tests, and trials.

Anyone can count something joyful when it is going his way. When everything is going your way, it's easy to smile, and it's easy to kick up your heels and say, "Glory to God, how good God is!" But, when things begin to go contrary to the way you want them to go, sometimes it's a little difficult to express joy.

Joy is a fruit of the reborn, recreated human spirit. When you were born again, the force of joy was placed inside of you. The biblical joy we are talking about is not based on circumstances. We're talking about the joy of God.

A lot of people confuse happiness with joy. Happiness is based on circumstances - "If she does what I like, then I'm happy. If she doesn't, then I'm not happy. If something happens that's pleasing to me, then I'm happy."

Joy is resident and potential in you. I like to call joy a force because it can develop and become a force in your life. The force of joy was placed in you the moment you were born again; so whether you feel like you have joy or not has nothing to do with whether joy is in you. It is there now.

Pinpoint the Perpetrator
One of the first things that you have to do to have joy in the midst of temptations, tests, or trials is to find out where temptations, tests, and trials come from, and who is the originator of them. You need to know these things, or you will not be able to function in joy as the scripture commands.

"Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil; neither tempteth He any man" (James 1:13).

To me, that scripture is as plain as the nose on your face. You have to be either deaf, dumb, blind, or dishonest to misinterpret it.

Once again, the word tempted here means "tempted, tested, or tried." He said, "Let no man say when he is tempted, tested, or tried that God is doing it." Why not? Because God cannot be tempted, tested, or tried with evil, and He does not tempt, test, or try any man. The verse says very simply that God doesn't tempt, test, or try us, and that we are not to say He does.

If God is not the one originating temptations, tests, and trials, if He is not the one who is putting them on us, then who is?

In Mark 4, Jesus told the parable about the sower sowing the Word in which He told about seed being sown in different types of ground. Jesus said in verse 14, "The sower soweth the word." His subject is the Word of God.

You hear all kinds of sermons about the ground, but his subject is not the ground. Jesus told the parable, and His disciples went to Him and said they did not understand it, and asked Him to explain it. Jesus explained the parable in Mark 4:15.

"And, these are they by the way side where the word is sown, but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts."

The Word says that Satan, not God but Satan, comes immediately, which means right after the Word is sown, to steal the Word that was sown in our hearts.
And, these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended.
(Mark 4:16-17)
Note what Jesus said here. He said affliction, which is sickness and disease and persecution which can come in various forms, ariseth for the Word's sake. He said these things come from Satan immediately after the Word is sown.

Most of the church of Jesus Christ has said that God is the one who puts affliction on His people, and that God is the one who causes persecution to come against you.

Apparently Jesus didn't know that when He was preaching because He said Satan is the one who does these things. He does them because the Word of God is sown. Why would Satan do this when the Word is sown? Because he wants to get the Word of God out of you. He doesn't want the Word to take root because, as Jesus went on to say, the good ground is where the Word takes root. "That ground will produce 30, 60, and 100-fold" (Mark 4:20).

Do Not Be Deceived
Satan has devised a clever strategy to get the church to think that God puts persecution and affliction on us because if you thought God was the one perpetrating tests and trials, you would not try to resist them. You would not fight against God because you love Him. You want what He wants, don't you?

So, if you're not sure whether or not the Lord did this to you, you can't stand in faith and say, "Thank You, Father, I thank You I'm delivered from this," because He might be the one putting it on you. There is just no way that you can stand in faith in a situation like that and receive deliverance when you are double minded.

Everyone really knows deep down on the inside that God is not the perpetrator of tests and trials. If you really believe that He caused tests and trials and sickness and disease, would you really want the perfect will of God in your life? If you truly believe God put this malady on you to teach you something or to make you more spiritual, why in the world are you running to the doctor trying to get out of the will of God? Why are you taking medicine?

If you really believe that, you shouldn't be taking anything. You ought to be saying, "Put it to me, Lord. Do it to me." Everyone I know who is in a temptation, test or trial is trying to get out.
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
(John 10:10)
The abundant life to Jesus obviously does not consist of things which kill, steal, and destroy. Sickness and disease kill individuals, and they steal and destroy. They steal husbands away from wives; they steal wives away from husbands, and they steal children away from parents.

They break up families and they cause undue hardships. Jesus drew the line of demarcation in this verse. He said that He came that we might have life and have it more abundantly, which means that we might have a life free from all the things that Satan would try to bring against the body of Christ.

Sickness and disease are not something that God created. They are results of evil. That doesn't necessarily mean that if you are sick or have a problem with your body, that you personally have been involved in evil. But, before Adam and Eve fell, there was no sickness and disease in the earth. It wasn't until sin came into the world that fear, sickness, disease, and poverty came into the world.

Adam had the Garden of Eden, and he had the whole earth and everything he wanted. God gave him dominion over everything - over everything that crawled, everything that swam, and everything that flew in the air. Whatever Adam decided to do, he could do. Man was not poor in any sense of the word, and he got it all from God.

It wasn't until after the fall of man when sin came into the world and the curse came upon the earth that we began to see things that kill, steal and destroy. Sickness and disease are because of the curse. Poverty is because of the curse. Depression and all those things are because of the curse.

Sickness and disease certainly are not in heaven. Choirs have sung many songs about it - "There will be no dying there. There will be no crying there."

That's right. There will be no sickness and sickness and disease there. There is none where God is. Isn't that interesting? In fact, you'll read about what is going to happen in the last days and during the millennium period, you'll find that when Satan is removed from all human contact, there won't be any sickness and disease. That is something to get joyful about!

So even though we may fall into different temptations, tests, or trials, we should count it all joy and delight, knowing that the afflictions and persecutions of this life originate from Satan, not God, and that they are confined to this earthly realm.

Jesus is the one who came that we might have more abundant life so that we can live our lives free from sickness, disease and poverty.

Maintain your joy in the midst of your trials, keep praising God and show Satan you will not be moved by what he says but only by what God says. And the rest of us will know you experienced your victory because we'll hear your shouts of "Glory!"

Source: Joy in the Midst of Trials by Keith Butler
Excerpt permission granted by Word of Faith Publishers

Author Biography

Keith Butler
Web site: Keith Butler
 
Keith Butler has been an ordained minister since 1974. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan and holds diplomas from Canada Christian College and Rhema Bible Training Center. He serves in ministry with the support of his lovely wife, Pastor Deborah L. Butler, and their children: Pastor Andre Butler (granddaughters Alexis, Angela, and April), Pastor MiChelle Ferguson and husband Pastor Lee (grandson Lucas), and Minister Kristina Jenkins and husband Pastor Joel (grandsons Andrew and Austin, and granddaughter Alyssa).
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