Join Us In This Life Changing Series, As We Go Through The First Chapter of James And Uncover The Power Of Patience!
Patience Is An Empowering Factor Which Every Believer Must Put On, In Order To Complete The Father's Perfect Work!
The Voice of Reason
The Power Of Patience!- Apostle Sonya L. Thompson
[MUSIC] >> Welcome to The Voice of Reason with Dr. Sonya Thompson of Arise Ministries International. Get ready to be strengthened with solid foundational truths inspired by the living word and changed by fresh revelation that will push you into a victorious life now. [MUSIC] >> Blessings and welcome to The Voice of Reason podcast. This is your host, Apostle Sonya Thompson. We are going to embark on a very extensive study in the first chapter of the book of James. It is loaded with so many gems from the Holy Spirit. And it is going to be a maturing for those in the body of Christ. God is maturing us as we continue through 2025. The calendar change is about to occur, but you know 2025 actually started in October, according to the Jewish timeline. And we will continue to emerge into this word through the new year. The title, as you can see, is the perfect work of patience. We're going to progressively move our way into this topic, but the Holy Spirit is going to give us a foundation that we have to work from first. I believe this is going to be a perspective shifting word. Praise his name. Let's look at the book of James. I'm only going to read the first three verses, and this is where we're going to sit for a little bit. James, a bond servant of God, and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the 12 tribes which are scattered abroad. Greetings, my brethren, counted all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. Based on the second verse, there's some things we can discern right away. First of all, our perspective in a trial is everything. How we view it is everything. Our perspective in a trial determines how long we're going to stay in it. It also determines how we will navigate our way through it. James says counted all joy when you fall into various trials. We definitely don't usually think along that line when a trial shows up. Is James saying that we should be joyful about the trial? Yes, absolutely. We should consider that trial with joy. And if you stay through this series long enough, you will find out why. And you're going to be able to apply this why to your life. And you're going to see an incredible elevation in every area of your life. I make that promise through the Holy Spirit because he's the one that's going to put a series of dishes on your table for you to eat that will change the scope and the perspective of life. He's saying to be joyful or receive with a joyful anticipation and a calm delight when you fall into various trials, that's how we're supposed to receive it. Here's where the meat of this lesson begins. Are you ready? James says we fall into trials and to be joyful about it when they show up the falling into that is referenced here means this is sudden. It means to be encompassed about, to be surrounded, to be overtaken by something. In this case, he's talking about a trial. We have to realize this. There is no forewarning when a trial shows up. Sometimes we wonder how come God didn't tell us. This is why Christian folks say to God, you should have let me know this was going to happen. I'm praying. I'm going to church. I'm tithing and so forth. Why didn't you let me know? Because they don't know the Bible forewarns us about a sudden coming from the enemy of our souls. Like sudden leaves from God, but we forget the devil has a suddenly plan for us as well. He has a kyros moment plan for us too. That is a set time to come in and usher in a trial. We think we're invincible, but the fact is we are overcomers. Catch that. So to be an overcomer, there has to be an obstacle or a trial in the way. In the end though, we will always win, but it's possible. If we don't know what to expect and how to handle a trial, it's possible to have minor defeats along the way. But remember this, your defeats shouldn't happen intentionally. But as a result of our ignorance or maybe minor faith failures along the way, trials are sudden, they're unexpected, they're blind siding, meaning you never saw it coming. And they come from the devil. You need to settle this. God is not sending you a trial. You're going to find this out. We've been saying this too long in the body of Christ. He's not putting a trial on you. That's not God. Here's what a trial is. A trial is a temptation or an enticement to sin. I don't think that's God. What about you? It arises from within or without. What do I mean by that? It means that the enemy has seen something in you that he can latch on to based on your response to previous trials or words that you've been speaking or have spoken in the past, or he sees patterns of behavior. It can also mean he approaches us from without with something new to see if you'll take the bait, temptation, and these trials from the enemy are all about bait. A trial is an experiment by the enemy to prove our fidelity, our integrity, our virtue, and constancy as it pertains to our relationship with God. Notice the time I'm taking to define this so you don't get things mixed up and saying that the trial is from God. It's almost like this that involved temptation come from the devil. A trial also means to be thrust into. It's almost like a rapture. Like you're pulled out of one moment into another, one moment you're seeing good and the next moment, it looks like there's an evil surrounding you. It's an evil encounter. It can also mean to be pierced through something that affects us greatly and causes us great affliction and pain. But we have to remember, James just told us, count this thing all joy. How you receive is going to determine how you progress through it and it's going to determine your elevation in the end. And the very reason he does this constantly, I'm talking about the enemy or in seasons, I mentioned called a Kairos moment or an opportune time, is to cause a lapse of faith. And to assault the integrity of God, a lapse is an interruption in the flow of something. I'm teaching you, stay with me. You need these pieces to come out to the fullness when we finish the different parts. Let me give you an example of a lapse, which I said it is an interruption in the flow of something. It's an insurance company. And if someone does not pay for their coverage, it causes a lapse. There's a brief time where they can restore their coverage and get back into the rhythm of protection. So, so there's a lapse in their protection. There's a lapse in the rhythm of their protection, but they can restore it. This happens to us when a trial shows up. If we accept it, if we take the bait, it will cause a lapse in our faith and in our relationship with the Lord. It's a temporary interruption of the flow of our moral judgment and the protection in our lives as well, because it will interrupt the laws of God that protect our life. Notice it has nothing to do with God loving you. Don't think you're going to keep doing different things and just saying, oh, God loves me. He does, but God has laws. So when you take that bait, you lapse your protection, your insurance policy through the laws of God. I love the Holy Ghost. Thank you, Lord, for that wisdom. If that thing is not handled properly, this trial, it can be the demise or the falling away for an individual with they do not return to Christ. I have seen this. I have seen lapses that create the falling away and the people do not return to Christ. If you take the bait, it makes you look like a hypocrite before the nonbeliever. I want you to get this, the impact of sin, the impact of temptation. And ultimately, it makes God look bad to those who do not know Christ. This is what the enemies really after you do know this. If you've listened to any of my podcasts, I've said this before, it's not about you. It's about the image of God. It's about making a mar on the character and nature of God. It makes him look bad. Romans 2 24 says, for the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you as it is written, when we live a sinful life, when we keep taking the bait of Satan and making excuses for it and not handling those things, it will cause the heathen to blaspheme God to speak evil of God because of us. We have to be careful that we do not willingly participate in sin because this is going to be your end result. And if that were not enough, James said you will find yourself in various trials. Oh, you thought it was just one. No, the enemy will come with various trials at one time. Right now, I'm being reminded of a time when my son was two years old and there were trials coming at me from every direction, physically in my marriage, in my finances. And I thought they were going to take me out. I was on the verge of suicide and had God not intervened in my life. I would not be recording this podcast right now. Apostle Sonia Thompson would be gone at this moment, but God rescued me, God intervened. This is where it can become overwhelming for the believer, not just one, but various all sorts and all kinds. He will come with a mixture of events that happen all at once. I know the devil has different modes of attack and this is where many will start unraveling. We'll start complaining. We start fretting. We start letting go of the hand of faith and that's the only way to procure anything from God and out of the kingdom and that's faith. We'll talk about that a little later. I want you to remember some things. The enemy likes to come in like a flood. That's in your Bible, but the spirit of the Lord will raise a standard if you'll call on him and continue to declare his word. He also has a desire to wear you down. Your Bible tells you if it were possible. This devil would like to wear the same down. This is what he's doing. He's trying to wear you down to get you to become a defector, but you can't let it happen. He wants you to take the advice of Job's wife as you find it in the book of Job where he was going through so much turmoil and the trials of the enemy that Job's wife said to him, why don't you just curse God and die and you're not going to give into that. I'm sure not going to give into it because our great God will always see us through as we walk through his word and declare his laws. If he can pour it on us all at once, the enemy knows he has a better opportunity of taking you down, taking us down. I want to talk to you personally. That's the whole desire so you can be silenced so you can mar the image of God so he can say, see, this is the kind of God they serve. So trials can come in bundles. Yes, I said trials can come in bundles. The enemy likes that too. He likes that from God, but not from the devil. Remember this, perspective of the trial or trials is everything. It determines whether you will overcome or be overcome. It determines whether you will win the battle or be defeated in that battle. I want you to take time to meditate on this first portion of this lesson. I didn't want this to be too long, but I want to give you just the foundation to begin on. We have the right perspective in trials first to lay hold of the rest of what God has to share for us. This will be a series of several teachings. Please take time and chew on this and let the Holy Spirit speak to you a little bit more. Don't miss the next segment where I begin revealing the power of the third verse of James, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. That's that third verse and we're going to dive into that. You will learn that you're not just enduring to say you endured. That's not enough. I got beat down, but I'm still here. You lost your health, your job and so forth. No, that's not the purpose of enduring. Sometimes we like to relish in our defeats too much. We miss the entire purpose of the trial that God brought us through. No, you will discover how the trial or the test of faith is producing greater power for your life. Glory to God. You stay with me. Stay with me and you're going to see a glorious outcome. Please share this podcast with those on your platform with your friends. Somebody has to hear this word. I assure you somebody needs to hear this word and also visit apostlesonyabooks.com. It's apostle and Sonia is spelled S O N Y A books.com and the Holy Spirit just highlighted something in front of me. I have a book there entitled he restores my soul. Get ahold of that book. If you don't have it already, get the book. He restores my soul visit Amazon or just type in apostlesonyabooks.com and you will see my books there. Get ahold of that book is going to help you greatly through this series the Holy Spirit has for us until next time on The Voice of Reason. Thanks for tuning in to The Voice of Reason podcast with Dr. Sonia Thompson. We solicit your prayers and support. Please visit our website at www.ariseministriesintl.com for more information about our products, ministry, or to submit your prayer request. Don't forget to connect with us on Facebook @ariseministriesintl. Be sure to tune in again next week with The Voice of Reason. (upbeat music) You