Faith Under Pressure

The Book of James serves as a wake-up call, challenging us to live with real faith, even in the face of disappointment and chaos. If your faith feels lost or defeated as you see what’s happening in the world, part one of Grit & Grace will help restore a resilient faith for your most difficult days.

VERSES // James 1v1-12; Mark 3v20-21; John 7v2-5; 1 Corinthians 15v3-8

TEACHING NOTES:

The gap between what you believe and what you do is who you become.

Your identity shapes your activity.

Trials produce five things in us when we trust God:

1. TRIALS BUILD ENDURANCE. (vs. 2)

God will allow trials, not to wreck you, but to build something stronger in you.

2. TRIALS BUILD MATURITY. (vs. 4)

God’s goal in your life is more of Him.

Trials are joy when God is the goal.

Trials are a crossroad where you can choose to go further toward God or backwards into unbelief.

The work God is doing in you is greater than the God working out a solution to your problem now.

Tests reveal gaps in your understanding that lead to opportunities that deepen your knowledge.

God will often take you beyond yourself to expose deficiency.

3. TRIALS BRING WISDOM (vs. 5-8)

Three factors for wisdom – Knowledge, Perspective, & Experience

God has all knowledge, total perspective, and infinite experience.

When life is overwhelming, you can get bitter or you can come with humility.

Humility is the way to clarity.

4. TRIALS BRING SATISFACTION & SECURITY (vs. 9-11)

Don’t attach your soul to something that fades.

In pain, things that were so important, quickly become less important.

5. TRIALS BRING LIFE (vs. 12)

God has promised life forever which shapes a new perspective.

In your trials, anchor your confidence in something greater.

Like James, take on the identity of Jesus and experience his transformation from the inside out.