Memory Verse James 1:12

This week’s Fighter Verse (http://www.hopeingod.org/resources/scripture-memory/fighter-verse-program) is as follows:

James 1:12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.

To be blessed is to be deeply and righteously happy. To be blessed is to take joy in those things that bring God joy. As we face trials we are lifted up and carried through the trial by the grace and mercy of God. We can stand in the trial because we stand in Him who is our strength and helper. The Holy Spirit doesn’t just provide good advice. The Holy Spirit also goes with us and in us with greater intimacy in our trials than we can imagine or verbalize (Romans 8:26). So the profound happiness of being blessed after being steadfast comes to us with the understanding that the Father’s constant love in our life carried us. When my son was small we would walk and he would hold my hand. When there was an obstacle to overcome I would tell my son to hold tight and he would grip my little finger as we approached the puddle or curb or hole in the ground. As he gripped my little finger with his strength, my hand would close around his wrist and lift him – often with his feet off the ground – until the obstacle was past. It isn’t our feeble grip that takes us through the trial. It is God’s unfailing grip. James knows this and just a little further along reminds us that, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” James 1:17–18.

Being brought forth by His will and word of truth makes me want the crown of life even more. It doesn’t represent my achievement except in the sense that I’ve submitted to working out my salvation with fear and trembling because it is God at work in me to will and to do His good pleasure (Philippians 2:12-13). To take credit would be like arguing that my son could actually fly over puddles or fly up a staircase! In other words it would be forgetting the father. I want the crown because it represents the love and work of the Father in my life. In the crown, I can have a gift from Him that represents His gift of my life (1 Corinthians 4:7; Romans 11:36). We must never forget to glorify God in the blessedness that results from being steadfast in a trial. If we can win crowns then I trust that someday then we can also follow the lead of the twenty-four elders and cast our crowns before the throne and confess, “Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they existed and were created.” Revelation 4:11.