James 1:3 says this, Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
It is important to note and understand that in order to get to where YOU want to be in your spiritual growth perfect practice is required. What does that mean? Some people say that practice makes perfect, but if you practice something incorrectly then it doesn't make perfect, it increases the probability that you will continue in bad habits. Instead perfect practice makes perfect. When you endure and overcome so that you are living up to the standard that God has set for your life then you are able to make significant progress.
My husband is a sports fanatic! He coaches a basketball team every summer. His basketball team is excellent. It is usually a hodge-podge team of young men and young women who no body expects to win. He starts working with them, teaching them fundamentals and coaching them as they play with other teams and slowly you see the progress that takes the team to the championship game every year! One of the things that I've learned watching my husband coach is that there are two types of teams that you want to play. You want to play a team that you know that you can beat. When your team wins their confidence is built up. They are encouraged to keep working hard and striving to keep their position in the stats. But sometimes my husband has his team to practice with or to play a team that is clearly better and more skilled. You'd ask yourself why would you play a team that is much better than you--you're going to lose!
But the truth of the matter is when you are challenged is when you grow. When you play a team that out thinks you, out moves you and is more skilled than you, you have an opportunity to learn from the smack down that you just took. So the truth of the matter is you really did win because you allowed yourself the opportunity to learn through first hand experience what you may have never picked up from a speech.
Christianity is the same way--just like in James 1:3. Our faith is tried or exercised or challenged and from that we develop patience. Patience is key to the growth process. You don't need patience because patience is a part of the faith process. You need patience to be able to keep still while God works through the faith process in your life. Too often we are on the cusp of a change and a break through, but our impatience will cause us to leave before our change comes. We need that challenge so that we can learn to be still and wait on the Lord with our armor on!
Everyday is not going to be good, fair, or rosy--in fact many days are filled with challenges. Those challenges come to make us stronger. They come to teach us that God doesn't deal in fair, but He does cause all to be just. He doesn't say that everyday will be easy for you, but He does promise that all things will work together for your good. He doesn't say that He'll never chasten you, but He does tell you that if He is chastening you it is because He loves you.
Are you facing the same challenges over and over again? Good. Every time you are presented with that challenge you have a new opportunity to learn from it so that you can grow as a spiritual being; so that you can learn to depend on the Lord for the answer of what to do next; so that you can trust that God cares enough for you to never leave you or forsake you. You will begin to seek God first. You will begin to go into prayer automatically. You will come out the victor--even where you have to take some correction, rebuke and instruction.
When you are challenged today, accept the challenge!
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