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Pressure points
Pastor Pat Duffin, High Prairie Christian Church
for South Peace News
When you are
having a bad
day, does everybody
around you have a
bad day, too? What are
your spiritual weak
spots? When under
stress does your spiritual
walk with God suffer?
Pressure points to
where our “pressure
points” (weak spots)
lurk below the surface
until the stress comes
and something gives
way under the pressure.
How do you react
when the pressure’s
on? What are you like to
live with when you are
under stress?
Addressed to Jewish
Christians dispersed
throughout the known
world, the Book of
James is a letter written
to counsel Christians
who were afflicted
by many problems -
some beyond their control
and some of their
own making. Caught
amidst internal competition,
strife, and divisions
within, and beset
by severe persecution
and hardships from
without, many of the
brethren were becoming
disheartened. Outward
circumstances
and inward inclinations
were demoralizing the
saints. Underlying all
this was a deep-seated
spiritual immaturity
that left them vulnerable.
Many of the brethren
were simply failing
to live up to what they
professed to be.
Now spiritual immaturity
is, by no means, a
problem unique to the
church in its spiritual
infancy. Even today’s
church, after nearly
2,000 years of sophistication,
gives all too ample
evidence of spiritual
immaturity. As Warren
Wiersbe puts it in his
book ‘Be Mature’, “Too
many churches are
playpens for babies instead
of workshops for
adults.”
Life is change, and
change hopefully
means progressive
growth rather than regression.
Unlike natural
growth, spiritual growth
is a process that must
be provoked as well as
nurtured and cultivated.
Somehow, there
has to be a decision to
move on from the place
where we are at, to
grow into the person we
have the potential to be.
Start cultivating a
fruit-bearing life that
will have meaning and
eternal significance.
In the first chapter,
James, demonstrates
how both trials and
temptations can become
the instruments
in God’s hands which
can train and prune our
spiritual growth into
spiritual maturity—if
we let Him. That doesn’t
necessarily mean
God deliberately puts
us into painful situations.
Life has a way of
doing that on its own.
But, what do you do
when life hands you one
of those unpleasant surprises?
What do you do
when all the little things
start to pile up and the
pressure’s on? How can
these things be turned
to spiritual profit instead
of spiritual liability?
Attitude determines
action and outlook determines
outcome.
Therefore, James offers
us three attitudes to
cultivate when confronted
with outward
trials and inward temptations.
The first thing we can
do to experience positive
gain in adversity is
to count it “joy” when
we fall into trials.
(James 1:9-11)
The second thing we
can do is cultivate patience,
or endurance,
when we fall into trials.
(James 1:3-4)
The third thing we
can do is to covet and
ask for wisdom from
God when we fall into
trials, and God will give
us understanding.
(James 1:3-4)
Each of these attitudes
seems unnatural
and impractical. Yet
these are God’s solutions
to our pressure
points.
Therefore, I invite
you to study the Book of
James verse by verse,
chapter by chapter, asking
God to reveal to you
the pressure points He
especially wants to
work on with you. There
is power in His Word
and as you study it, you
will find God moving
you forward in understanding
and in bringing
positive change into
your life.
And take a new attitude
and purpose with
you when you go to
church this Sunday. It
can change your life!
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