Hi James.
We're really struggling over here at the moment. Life seems to be getting us down, I don't know what we ought to do for the best. It seems like every difficulty that you can conceive of is being thrown in our way at the moment.
Yours in faith,
Michael
Michael,
Don't let it get you down when life gets tough. Instead, see it as a challenge to be embraced joyously, a challenge that will test your faith and develop an enduring strength. Without this testing, you can never become a complete and mature person. Life without the bad bits is as rubbish as sweet and sour sauce with no sour in it. Faith without testing can never be considered true faith.
If you find yourself stuck, your brain overloaded, well, that's easy to solve. Ask God for wisdom and He'll give it you. He won't laugh at you and call you a thicko for not realising what's what. No, God will give you wisdom without finding fault, without any strings attached save this: you must believe and not doubt that this wisdom is yours for the asking. If you doubt, you'll end up like a plane hitting turbulence, thrown all over the sky without a semblance of a pattern, feeling sick and washed out. You won't get anywhere with doubts, doubts that make you unstable and double-minded.
Those of you who find yourself lacking the material wealth this world craves, I say to you this: take pride, for you have treasure in Heaven that is worth far more than any treasure that can be accumulated on earth. And for those of you who are rich, remember that your position is humble, dependent upon the will of God, not a permanent fixture. Wealth and prestige is like an ice sculpture; it looks great until the sun comes up and it starts to drip and disappear. Just when everyone is admiring it, the features melt away. That's what it'll be like for rich people, because wealth does not last forever.
Keep going. You're blessed if you can face up to every trial and temptation that comes your way and remain strong in your faith. God will see your actions and you will receive the crown of life that He's promised you.
I know you're tempted, but don't start blaming God. God's perfect, blameless, without sin. God ain't tempted by evil, and he ain't gonna tempt you with evil. How could He? He's so perfect, evil can't get within a light year of his presence without going up in flames. You're tempted by your own evil desires, getting dragged away and enticed. Stand firm. Because if you let desire be conceived, you'll find yourself on a downwards spiral to sin and death.
Don't let yourself be tricked. Everything in your life that's good and perfect and precious, it comes from up on high, from God your Father in streams of light, bursting fireworks that take their sparkling blessings right down to the ground to alight upon your life. God doesn't change like shadows at the edge of darkness, there one minute, gone the next. No, God is a God of life who chose to give us His new life through his word of truth, making us the prime examples of His creation, perfect prototypes to display his greatness.
Oh, and make a note of this, stick it up on your fridge, read it every morning. Listen eagerly, speak only with consideration, without butting in on conversations before you've heard both sides, and keep your anger in check. Anger doesn't lead to the fantastic, blameless, holy life that God has in store for you. So get rid of all those moral black holes that you've let creep into your lives, have a spring cleaning of your heart so that the message of God, this message of truth and life, can find space and take centre stage, saving you.
Praying for you brother,
James
(James 1 v 1-21)