Fears, Failures, and Perseverance(s).

Read: James 1:1-18

New Living Translation (NLT)

James 1:1-18 is a scripture that I've always been referred to in times of difficulty and struggle in ministry. I consider it to be a place of groundation, or a reset button. I've never taken the opportunity to go through the whole book, so -  now's a good time :)

I was thinking about failure today, because I am afraid of failure, and I've heard in a lot of places recently about others' fear of failing. It's kind of a mixed bag... are we afraid of what we lose because of failure or actually failure itself? Sometimes I think if I could actually freely fail, I could have a clearer vision for what succeeding looks like. It's tough because failure is always connected with anger, loss, rejection, and maybe even having to start over again.

In a song it says, "Take me as you find me, all my fears and failures - fill my life again." Yea, we all know that's Mighty to Save - an anthemic worship verse. Whenever I've sung it, I feel my spirit bearing down into those words, because I identify with that. Take me for these things that describe me as a person... you should know that I've spent so much time afraid to fail. I've also failed and increased my fear of failing again.

It's crazy how when we get into these fearful, failing times that we forget that we can turn to God - and should. We should pray, talk.. be in constant dialog with Him. Yet we forget as we get distracted by unsettledness.

James talks about Endurance. Endurance is staying power, how long you can keep going before you stop. In James it talks about growing your endurance to a place that becomes fully-developed, and needing nothing. I want that. I want to actually know that all I need I can get from God. I want to run longer, live longer, prolong my health for as long as it can endure. Sometimes failing and trying again requires a lot of endurance. It's easy to get sick of trying -- but this is where the growing comes in. We eventually understand where we fail, how it affects us and others, even small failures, but we understand how to move past them and into successes.

In faith we endure tests, temptations and obstacles... we can actually allow those things to get between ourselves and God - but the more we grow from the failures, we experience greater growth in our relationship with God. As we grow in our endurance, we grow closer to God. We understand that God is a part of our ability to endure. 

We can't fail and succeed in our own strength - God actually has to be a part of it. 

There's a lot in this James passage... about loyalty... the world vs. God - where is our loyalty? Why is this something that is more "unsettled" than we see with superficial eyes? How is a sin born?

All of these things lead back to growing and enduring more, building strength in a relationship with God. It's a new challenge everyday, and we have to remember that the challenge is on us. God is always there - he is always enduring, but he's calling us to endure with him, to grow in our successes with him - that our successes look like something he's put His hand on. 

May all that we do look like something God put his hand on - our failure, our success, our endurance, our loyalty - and our ability to understand these things. Enduring in God through the grace of Jesus Christ will lead us to perseverance, even if we fail and have to persevere again and again.