James is telling us to have a supernatural response when he writes, “My brethren, COUNT IT ALL JOY when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing” (James 1:2-4  NKJV emphasis mine).

There is no joy in bills that are not paid.

There is no joy in supply lines that look cut.

There is no joy in sickness or pain shouting for attention.

This is when we COUNT IT ALL JOY. We decide to give a different response than the natural mind wants to give. We decide to laugh when others cry, to sing when others moan, and to expect good things when others just see dark clouds ahead. What can produce this type of response?

You know something the world does not know. You know that God is greater than the fallen, broken world. You know that God is good and a friend to those in time of need. You know that you have a name above every name that heaven responds to. You know that you have a destiny on earth to fulfill and a place far greater you are going to. You know you have a promise recorded in a book for all to see that guarantees God’s presence in your life and a witness within you that He truly does live in you.

You have a supernatural experience called the new birth when your sin nature was removed and God’s very Spirit and nature was given you. This happened when you decided to believe what He had said concerning His son Jesus. This miracle was just the beginning of a miracle lifestyle based on His Word, His sacrifice, His plan, His presence, His power, and your decisions.

This is how you can COUNT IT ALL JOY when you face the fallen world full of defeat, destruction, and despair!

This life where God has fused us to Himself overrides all the limitations of life in every sphere. This is the same life that Jesus demonstrated for us to live. He came out of heaven and for 3 ½ years showed what God in flesh can do.

Then He remarked, “As the father has sent me, I also send you” (John 20:21 NKJ).

THIS LIFE SUPERSEDES NATURE – Have you ever stopped a storm?  Jesus did in a boat when all thought life was lost. He spoke a word and the storm obeyed Him!

THIS LIFE SUPERSEDES PHYSICS – Have you ever healed an incurable disorder? Jesus did when a woman with an incurable blood disease was healed when her faith drew the power of God out of Him!

THIS LIFE SUPERSEDES THE LAWS OF DEATH – Have you ever seen the dead rise? Jesus did when He spoke to dead Lazarus and called him out of the tomb!

THIS LIFE SUPERSEDES THE LAW OF GRAVITY – Have you ever lifted what has fallen? The Bible records the story of a young boy who had fallen out a third story window and died. Paul lifted that which had fallen and restored life to the boy!

Can Jesus be the same in you in the 21st century that He was in a Jew in the 1st century? The answer to this big question is what unlocks your limitations!

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have an answer for every situation that you face? Could it be possible to have a good response to every worry or fear that you might encounter? The truth is that you DO have the answers! The challenge is that those answers are in seed form.

Imagine this: You enter the Superstore of God and walk down the aisles of goods and products, looking at everything you want in life. What would God say when you pulled up to the checkout counter with your cart full of everything you desire? He would say YES and fill your cart with all the seeds that would produce what you said.

The problem is that most people wouldn’t walk out with any seeds, because they would rather have the results immediately. But if you want things immediately, you will have to produce them yourself without the supernatural seeds of God’s supply.

Seeds have wonderful characteristics in that they have creative life within them. They have the ability to multiply and produce more than planted. They have durability so they last for ages.

But seeds require time!

What you put in the soil is not what you will be seeing in 24 hours, but you will see it. Only after the farmer tills his ground, fertilizes it, and waters it does he plant the precious seeds. He heads down to the local coffee shop and talks with the other farmers and relaxes. Why isn’t he walking the fields praying for a harvest? It is because he knows his job is done and the job of the seed is beginning. He knows that seeds always produce. He trust his seeds. Seeds always do their part if they remain planted.

The seeds that Leslie and I planted years ago for a world ministry that will effect positive change in millions of people still are producing. The desire of leaders worldwide to hear and experience the miracle events has not waned over time, but continues to grow.

What seeds are you planting? If you don’t know, check the words you’re speaking, the thoughts you continue to repeat over time, and the strong feelings you have in various areas. Therein lies the seedbed of your future!

You might feel that something disqualifies you from leadership because of age, education or experience, but there is hope. Jesus was the best example to even simple fishermen, giving them ability to lead nations of people. What made Him the leader of a third of the current world population and all of creation? The secret lies in a simple statement that is often overlooked.

“Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going’” (John 8:14).

The secret of your leadership lies in 3 simple facts. The same facts that made Jesus admired also inspired great feats of courage in his followers.

First, Jesus knew who He was. He had a sense of His oneness with the Father. He said, “I know where I come from.” He knew His identity and was comfortable with it. He knew His origin in God and rested in that relationship.

Second, Jesus knew His purpose. He said: “I know where I am going.” He was not a guy floating around with a question mark on his mind. He spoke with a purpose. He had a depth to His words that would stir the soul and stimulate courage of heart to follow Him to the ends of the earth. In every delay or diversion He was aware of His time and His purpose.

The third secret of His leadership is His willingness to pay the price for it. He said in his weakest moment: “nevertheless thy will be done, not mine.”

Don’t consider the cost to your purpose to be too much. It is nothing compared to the satisfaction of reaching the end of your quest or at least knowing you tried to reach it. Even the great apostle Paul wrote of his plans for Spain, yet there is no scriptural record of him ever reaching it.

Jesus was not sad when He said His last words, “It is finished.” He was completed. And His leadership continues to be an inspiration to us all.

Inspired living is not an option. Negative thinking is as natural to living on earth as the effects of gravity. So if a human is not aware of the pull downward, they could wake up one morning in a state of paralysis from all the negative thoughts that bombard the spiritual and natural airwaves.

In my car, the GPS was picking up street signs while my radio was picking up satellite programs, and my phone was receiving a signal from an overseas conversation. All this was happening at the same time in the same car! The air is impregnated with signals that we can now capture with our state-of-the-art electronic devices. Likewise, we also pick up feelings, ideas, and insights from the spiritual realm we live in that are both good and bad.

We must choose to live an inspired life just like a plane is required to start its engine before it can move to break free of and overcome the law of gravity. When we put on Christ and walk in the Spirit, we are living an inspired life.

Staying inspired is also our choice, because the people of the world are tired and hurting. Hurting people will naturally take something out of you. We are here to give to them, but we ourselves must be up to lift them up.

It is your choice whether you live an inspired life or are dragged and held down by negative thinking. Listen to your vocabulary…is it up or down?

If a brush fire was coming your way as you stood in an open field, there is no way you could out run the fire. What would you do to avoid the flames? The only thing that you could do would be to start another fire and burn an area of land for you to stand on—because burned land cannot be burned twice! You would then have to stand, unmoving, on that scorched land as the brush fire’s flames passed around you.

This is what God has offered. When we stand in Jesus, we stand on sacred, holy ground already burned by the fire of judgment. Jesus took on the sins of the world and has already gone to hell for us. Therefore, the land cannot be burned twice!

I do not want to stand before God as my Judge and be found lacking, so I stand today before Jesus as my Lord. My identity is not just a positive thought of how I would like to be. No, my identity is forever established in heaven as righteous, redeemed, holy, washed, and new—because of Jesus’ finished work here on earth!

“However, the report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities” Luke 5:15 NKJV.

Put yourself in the crowd when Jesus walked the earth. Empathize with the people who came in contact with the Son of God. It says that vast crowds came to hear Him preach and be healed of their diseases.

We have been in these types of crowds, where people sell their chickens to buy bus tickets and a few loaves of bread to come and sit on a field for a week to experience the supernatural.

They come to hear a word that will give meaning to their life. They come to experience a physical change for a disease that has no known cure. They come with a hope that God will do something.

They are not in a rush. They are not coming as just spectators or critics, but with a dream that they will be changed, lifted, healed, inspired, and visited by the Creator!

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord” Luke 4:18-19.

Jesus found Himself in the scripture and read from it to the people in the synagogue, afterward declaring, “This day this is fulfilled in your ears.” This day. What did He announce? “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me…”

I have a question for you. Have you found the place where it is written of you, and have you announced to your home, your community, your city, your family, your workplace and all that you put your hands to that the Spirit of the Lord is upon you to deliver good news?

Take the word “preach” out, and instead insert speak, communicate, bake an apple pie, do an act of kindness…but do it and let them know why you’re doing it. We don’t need to hide it!

Have you found where it is written of you? I have!

I first met Jesus in Sunday school in the basement of a Baptist Church when I was about 5 years old. I remember coloring and the teacher was telling us the story of Jesus. As I sat there coloring, all of a sudden I understood that Jesus was real, and that He loved me.

But as life went on and I approached college, I allowed rebellion to enter into my heart. I had been a star athlete, a great student…some people would call it a charmed life. Things always seemed to go right for me. Foolishly, at the age of 17 I told God that I was busy and not to bother me, I had things to accomplish.

Why? I knew there was a great destiny in my heart and I didn’t see it in “religion.” Religion kept telling me that God might hit me if I get into trouble and mess up, and then who knows what might happen? I figured I probably couldn’t please God or serve Him enough anyway, so I told Him, “Lord, I’m busy, I’ve got plans. I know I’ll be ready to settle down when I’m 35 and retire as a multi-millionaire after travelling the world…by that time I’ll have my family, and I know everything I’m supposed to do and how I’m supposed to live. But until then I’m busy. I have things to do.”

Well, a very, very short time later I started college and found myself living with one roommate that was on drugs, and another that was manic depressive and suicidal.  Our dorm room was painted bright yellow with a rainbow, and AC/DC was playing all the time. There was no peace!

Then, one day I was playing basketball and laid down in practice and couldn’t get up again. I couldn’t walk! I went into months and months of rehab, my grades fell—still no peace in my world anywhere.

I went home for summer break, and on one particular day I recall walking into my bedroom. There was a shelf at the end of my bed, and on it was a bible that my dad had picked up from a hotel. On the front of this bible was a sunrise, and that day it seemed to leap off the shelf at me. I walked over and picked it up, and it fell open to John chapter 1, “In the beginning was God…” I stretched out on the bed and began to read.

Suddenly an intensely bright light filled the room, and once again I encountered Jesus. I was instantly healed and my mind came into complete clarity. I jumped up off that bed and declared, I will serve the living God forever!

In 2 Corinthians 5:20-21 Paul tells us that we have been called Christ’s ambassadors. What does that do for me? I don’t know if you travel, but I travel a lot and when you cross that national border there’s always a line that says, “Ambassadors.” They get to go through the front line at customs and security, they’re always treated special, and they move through first.

So when I hear him calling me “Ambassador,” I put my shoulders back and stand a little taller! You see, I don’t have to cower and bow my head and look down because I’m a Christian and everybody seems to be against Christians…no! I lift my head high, I put my shoulders back and walk with a spring in my step because I know in Whom I have believed.

And even more, I know the One Who has believed in me. The Apostle John says in 1 John 4:19 that it’s not that we first loved Him, but that He first loved us! Hallelujah!