Count it all JOY...

James 1:2-4," 2 Dear brothers and sisters,when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that 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 perfect and complete, needing nothing."

I had a revelation this morning while talking to Lisa... and you know.. for us true believers, full of faith and authority in the Holy Spirit, TRULY knowing we have that, I think sometimes we forget this scripture. Most of the time, we that KNOW healing is possible AND probable, forget this. Most of the time, we sulk and we just want God to heal us, saying, "God, heal us! Even if we have to wait! Heal us! We know You can so do it! Man, I wish God would just healll meeee" But we never stop to think about this. We have brushed off, in the past, people that have said, "well maybe it's God's will for you to have cancer, or die," or whatever. We KNOW that is NOT the case! God desires healing and restoration for us. But we miss the bigger picture sometimes. We say we will wait for it, but we never think about counting it all JOY. We just want our problems, our situations, our uncomfortableness, or disease to just GOO AWAYYYYYY. And God desires that for us.
But look at what this scripture says. Consider it an OPPORTUNITY for great joy. When our faith is tested, our endurance has a chance to grow. So LET IT GROW, for when our endurance is fully developed, we will be perfect and complete, needing NOTHING.

When Jesus was dying on the cross, He could have had ten thousand angels to take His place. He had that authority. He had the POWER OF HEALING IN HIS HANDS FOR HIS OWN SELF. But He didn't. Why? So He could be made perfect and make perfection possible for us. He knew this concept. JESUS COUNTED IT ALL JOY.
Hebrews 12:2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now He is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne."
WOW. because of the JOY set before Him HE ENDURED THE CROSS. HE IS THE PERFECTER OF OUR FAITH!

This is exactly WHY we can do this. This is WHY we can count it all joy, and why every opportunity we have when trouble comes our way is like the Lord reaching out His hand, saying,"here, here's another opportunity toward perfection."

You guys, all bets were off when Jesus died and rose. We are without excuse, because He made a way for us. We are WITHOUT EXCUSE. The excuse that we are only human DOESN'T WORK. Jesus partook in our sufferings, and we partake in His. He was able to fully hear God as a man, and not falter! He OBEYED. He walked, He heard, and He obeyed, and He didn't choose to heal Himself even though He could. He COUNTED IT ALL JOY, SO THAT WHENEVER WE FACE VARIOUS TRIALS, IT WOULD NOT BE IMPOSSIBLE FOR US TO COUNT IT ALL JOY. He was made perfect and we can be made perfect too, IF WE KEEP TAKING THESE OPPORTUNITIES FOR OUR FAITH AND ENDURANCE TO GROW. THIS IS JUST another verse that says, "BE LIKE JESUS!!!"

He can do it. So can we. and our endurance will be GREAT. We are WITHOUT excuse if we have or do anything else!
So let's remember this, ALONG with the fact that the Lord heals, restores, redeems, and moves mountains, that that's just HALF of the job description. We are to do the same, but let's count it all joy instead of sulking and wishing He would take away all our troubles! For TRUE healing and the best kind of healing is when we are healed, but also come away with the endurance that was MEANT for us to receive out of it!
:-)