Turn with me, please, to James the first chapter and Hebrews, the sixth chapter.

In James 1 and verse 2, James 1 and verse 2, he says, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations,

trials, tests, problems, challenges.

Do what?

Is that natural?

A natural response.

Is it what you normally see?

What do you normally see when people are challenged, tested, tried, tempted?

What do you usually see?

Distressed, upset, crying, sad. Temptive. What do you usually see?

Yeah, distressed, upset, crying, sad, right?

So this is just the opposite of what you usually see.

But he told us to do it, didn't it?

So just the fact he told us to do it means we can.

He knows what we can do and not do.

He wouldn't have told us to do something we can't do.

So put yourself there.

In your mind, you've just been slapped with some kind of challenge and problem, and your response is, who, glory to God.

I'm just counting this joy. Really? How can you do that? Of course, now, anybody remember the

scripture said, the joy of the Lord is your strength. So if you really do have a

challenge and test and trial, it's going to

take some strength to get through it

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