“YEA THOUGH I WALK THROUGH THE VALLEY OF DEATH.”

James 1:2-4  v2. My Brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; v3. Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. v4. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

PRE-AMBLE by Robert 

We have received a multitude of information as humble servants of Yeshua. In this article, I am lead to share some particular information about how the Lord is going to reveal some of our character flaws as those servants. Our Father knows what is to transpire in our lives and wants us to prosper from what lies ahead. Part of our journey was identified as being placed in the Den of Wolves, and being shown who is operating in that Den. And with the information revealed by the Holy Spirit, it may seem to be an area appearing peaceful and hospitable but really holds many trials and tribulations.  Each event within this next section of our journey is brought to us as part of our Lords melting us down, allowing us to identify our weaknesses and strengths and reaching out to Yeshua, thus drawing us personally deeper and closer to Him as His disciples. There will be trials which will open doors of understanding beyond what we comprehended we might know and endure. Some of this journey is going to test us to the very mettle of our “soul.”  “Yea Though I Walk Through The Valley of Death, I Will Fear No Evil!” 

OPENING PRAYER by Robert

Heavenly Father I bring before you Lord humble servants whom you have sent to the Den of Wolves. You have prepared them, Father, armed them and informed them. Bring unto them now Father a more profound relationship which will draw them closer to You. Fill them with courage and boldness, displayed as meekness and humility. Take them into your hands and shape and mold them into the disciples you desire them to become. Bring them, Father, into a better knowledge of themselves, show them the real spirit they are, fill them with your word, love, wisdom, and compassion. Bring them to a place where they will know your peace even when in trials and tribulations arm them with the courage to reach out to you always. This I pray in your name Yeshua Amen and Amen. 

OPENING STATEMENT by Robert

 I was lead to the book of James and my research brought forward Matthew Henry’s (1662 -1774) comments: that the actual author of this book was James, Yeshua’s half-brother, not James the Apostle. This book was one of the earliest letters, probably written before 50 A.D. After Stephen was martyred (Acts 7:55 – 8:3). 

There were thriving Jewish Christian communities in Rome, Alexandria, Cyprus, and cities in Greece and Asia Minor. Because these early believers did not have the support of established Christian churches, James wrote to them as a concerned leader, to encourage them in their faith during those difficult times.

James doesn’t say if trouble comes your way but when it does. He assumes that we, will have troubles and that it is possible to profit from them. The point is not to pretend to be happy when we face pain but to have a positive outlook (“consider it an opportunity for great joy”) because of what troubles can produce in our life. James tells us to turn our hardships into times of learning. Tough times can teach us perseverance (also called patience and steadfastness), see Romans 2:7; 5:3-5; 8:24, 25; 2Cor. 6:3-7; 2Peter 1:2-9.  

Here is our first challenge as we go forward as a human I believe we will first think that things are not right and attempt to find natural remedies. Instead of looking at them from a spiritual perspective and see them as positive learning situations even after having the prior knowledge they were going to occur. One thing I have learned our Father will never give us more than we can handle if we keep our eyes on Him.  Matthew Henry (1662 -1774) continues: We can’t really know the depth of our character until we see how we react under pressure. It is easy to be kind to others when everything is going well, but can we still be kind when others are mistreating us? God wants to make us mature and complete, not to keep us from all pain. Instead of complaining about our struggles, we should see them as opportunities for growth. Thank God for promising to be with you through rough times. Ask him to help you solve your problems or to give you the strength to endure them. Then be patient. God will not leave you alone with your problems, he will stay close and help you grow.  

 

Christianity teaches men to be joyful under troubles: such exercises are sent from God’s love, and trials in the way of duty will brighten our graces now, and our crown at last. Let us take care, in times of trial, that patience, and not passion, is set to work in us: whatever is said or done, let patience have the saying and doing of it. When the work of patience is complete, it will furnish all that is necessary for our Christian race and warfare. We should not pray so much for the removal of affliction, as for wisdom to make a right use of it. And who does not want knowledge to guide him through trials, both in regulating his own spirit and soul in managing his affairs? Here is something in answer to every discouraging turn of the mind, when we go to God under a sense of our own weakness and folly. If, after all, any should say, This may be the case with some, but I fear I shall not succeed, the promise is, To any that asketh, it shall be given.

A mind that has single and prevailing regard to its spiritual and eternal interest, and that keeps steady in its purposes for God, will grow wise by afflictions, will continue fervent in devotion, and rise above trials and oppositions. When our faith and spirits rise and fall with second causes, there will be unsteadiness in our words and actions. 

This may not always expose men to contempt in the world, but such ways cannot please God. No condition of life is such as to hinder rejoicing in God. Those of low degree may rejoice if they are exalted to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom of God; and the rich may rejoice in humbling providences, that lead to a humble and lowly disposition of mind. Worldly wealth is a withering thing. Then, let him that is rich rejoice in the grace of God, which makes and keeps him humble; and in the trials and exercises which teach him to seek happiness in and from God, not from perishing enjoyments.

The wisdom we receive through patience and not passion has three distinct characteristics: (1). It is practical. The wisdom of God relates to life even during the most trying times. It is not wisdom isolated from suffering and trials. The wisdom is the tool by which trials are overcome. An intelligent person may have profound ideas, but a wise person puts profound insights into action. Intelligence will allow someone to describe several reasons why the car broke down. The wise person chooses the most likely cause and proceeds to take action. (2). It is divine. God’s wisdom goes beyond common sense. Common Sense does not lead us to choose joy in the middle of trials. This wisdom begins with respect for God, leads to living by God’s direction, and results in the ability to tell right from wrong. (3). It is Yeshua like. Asking for wisdom is ultimately asking to be like Yeshua. The Bible identifies Yeshua as the “wisdom of God” (1Cor. 1:24; 2:1-7).  

The commands of God and the dealings of his providence try men’s hearts and show the dispositions which prevail in them. But nothing sinful in the heart or conduct can be ascribed to God. He is not the author of the dross, though his fiery trial exposes it. Those who lay the blame of sin, either upon their constitution, or upon their condition in the world, or pretend they cannot keep from sinning, wrong God as if he were the author of sin. Afflictions, as sent by God, are designed to draw out our graces, but not our corruptions. The origin of evil and temptation is in our own hearts. Stop the beginnings of sin, or all the evils that follow must be wholly charged upon us. God has no pleasure in the death of men, as he has no hand in their sin; but both sin and misery are owing to themselves.

As the sun is the same in nature and influences, though the earth and clouds, often coming between, make it seem to us to vary, so God is unchangeable, and our changes and shadows are not from any changes or alterations in him. What the sun is in nature, God is in grace, providence, and glory; and infinitely more. 

We must believe not only in the existence of God but also in his loving care. This includes relying on God and expecting that he will hear and answer when we pray. We must put away our critical attitude when we come to him. God does not grant every thoughtless or selfish request. We must have confidence that God will align our desires with his purposes. 

A person with divided loyalty is not wholly convinced that God’s way is best, He treats God’s Word like any human advice and retains the option to disobey. He vacillates between allegiance to subjective feelings, the world’s ideas, and God’s commands. If your faith is new, weak, or struggling, remember that you can trust God. Then be loyal through committing yourself wholeheartedly to God.

If you have ever seen the constant rolling of huge waves at sea, you know how restless they are, subject to the forces of wind, gravity, and tide. Divided loyalty leaves a person as unsettled as the restless waves. If you want to stop being tossed about, rely on God to show you what is best for you. Ask him for wisdom, and trust that he will give it to you. Then your decisions will be sure and trustworthy. Whatever our social or economic situation, James challenges us to see beyond it to our eternal advantages. What we can have in Yeshua outweighs anything in this life. Knowing him gives us our high position, where we find our true dignity.

Temptation comes from evil desires inside us, not from God. It begins with an evil thought and becomes sin when we dwell on the idea and allow it to become an action. Like a snowball rolling downhill, sin grows more destructive the more we let it have its way. The best time to stop a temptation is before it is too strong or moving too fast to control.  

 

CLOSING COMMENTS by Robert 

Yeshua our Lord as a teacher has through this article shown how to raise ourselves to a higher level of spiritual understanding. How to put our flesh its temptations and its weaknesses under control. Teaching us through our trials and tribulations how to understand and recognize as Yeshua did, when in turmoil He turned to His Father in heaven for His wisdom and in doing so was able to rise above his physical shortcomings.

So now, I understand to continue, as warriors, we must accept the lessons offered through our trials and tribulations of how to obtain and use God’s wisdom. I believe by subjecting us to these trials and tribulations Yeshua has shown how to elevate our walk above our physical weaknesses so while in the “Den of Wolves,” we will not through those human inadequacies suffer battle injuries spiritually.

Jesse Penn-Lewis in her book “WAR ON THE SAINTS”  on pgs 122 – 123 describes how those who are uninformed and entering into Spiritual battle can and most likely will suffer battle injuries. She explains what and how one of those injuries would take place as “EVIL SPIRITS SUBSTITUTE FOR SELF.” 

Ms. Penn-Lewis states: In like manner, evil spirits will not only endeavor to substitute their own workings in a man’s life in place of God, on the ground of the believer’s misconception of the real way of co-acting with God. But they will also seek to substitute their workings for all the mental faculties of the man, i.e., the mind, the reason, the memory, the imagination, the judgment. This is a counterfeit of self through substitution. The person thinks it is himself all the time. 

The following video is living proof of what Ms. Penn-Lewis is writing about. 

This substitution by evil spirits of themselves on the ground of the passive surrender to non-use of any part of the inner, or outer, the life of the believer, is the basis of deep deception and possession among the most “surrendered” children of God. The deception and possession were taking an entirely spiritual form at first. Such as the man having an exaggerated sense of his importance in the Church, his “worldwide” ministry,” his lofty position of influence arriving out of his “divine commission,” his abnormal height of spirituality, and definite and almost unprecedented “experience.” Which makes him feel he has been placed far above other men. But a tremendous and inevitable fall awaits such a one. He ascends his pinnacle, pushed by the enemy, without any power whatsoever to control the inevitable descent. Which must follow when he is undeceived, a crash being the result, shaking the things that can be shaken.

CLOSING PRAYER by Robert

Lord hear our prayer as we kneel before your throne. We thank you, Father,, for all which you have bestowed upon us, patience, wisdom, perseverance, determination. Most of all Father we thank you for taking us through tribulations which have drawn us closer to you. Thank you, Lord, for showing us our weaknesses and filling us with understanding which elevates us through all your trials and tribulations. Thank you, Father, for teaching us to be joyous in all things, through your wisdom and patience. This we pray in Yeshua’s name Amen and Amen.  

Remember these articles are from a humble, obedient servant doing the bidding of our Lord as a Watchman and messenger. May you be blessed and uplifted by these words and may God bless and keep you safe as you go forward in His calling.

Robert