Fall 1982
Counting It Joy
Excerpts taken from “Chronicles of a Faith Life”
By Elizabeth Baker

There are two things called perfect in the Bible; one is love, and the other is patience, because I expect, they are so far from the old creation. God says we are to run this race with patience, and James says, “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing” (James 1:2-4).

You may sometimes say, “Why did the Lord let this dreadful thing happen?” Well, it is because you have need of patience, and tribulation worketh patience. It is coming against the trying things, it is learning to give up my way when I think it is better than the other person’s, it is yielding it up that my life may die. We hate to give in to people that we think do not know as much as we do, but for us to yield means more to God, than that we get our own way by striving. Tribulation worketh patience.

What a tremendous thing it was for Jesus to be surrounded with these elements about Him all the time; the selfishness of people, the hard-heartedness, the unbelief. These elements were as far from His Spirit as heaven from hell, and the Lord lived among them all the time and bore with them. He said once to His disciples, “Ye know not of what spirit ye are.” We make such a fuss if we have to bear a little from disagreeable things and people. I feel we ought to welcome it and we ought to say, “Lord, I am living to be like Thee, and here is a chance to die.” These hard places bring your nature to the surface. The Lord saw your old nature all the time, but you did not, and He wants you to see it and hate it. Then, by the power and grace of God, you can yield. It is more important that we lose our lives than have our own way.

He then says, “Have you come to the place where you rejoice in temptation?” Have you counted it a joy when the temptation or stress or trail has come upon you; the perplexing and difficult thing? The reason is so you will have a chance for the perfection of patience that you may be wanting nothing. A perfectly patient person wants nothing. They come to the place where they are so yielded to the Lord they do not want their own way any more, and they are not cross when they cannot have it. That is where Jesus was. We find where the Lord said, “He knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation.” When it has done its work the Lord will remove the trial. He is not burning us up, He is only burning up the rubbish, and when the Lord has the rubbish burned, He has no further use for that fire or trial.

And then in the midst of it is another thing we know: Paul said, “We know that all things work together for good to those who love God.” These trying circumstances and perplexities are working together now for good—they are—now! As God looks down, there is absolutely nothing that can prevent all circumstances combining for the good of a surrendered one. They sometimes look as if they combined for his destruction, but they do not; they only combine for the destruction of the self life and then the working out of the Christ life in him. I believe that we who stand committed into the hands of the Lord, and committed not simply for heaven, but who have committed our soul for its purification, that He will make us into the likeness of His Son. We have committed ourselves to Him for it and He will do it. When you come to a place in your life where you desire with all your heart to be made like Jesus, and you give yourself to Him for it, I am persuaded that He is able and will do it. No matter what pain it may be to you and no matter what circumstances you will compel Him to take to do it, He sees the finished product and works to that end.

When you desire the fullness of the life of Christ in you, you are asking that every particle of selfishness be removed and the whole of creation waits for that. The curse cannot be lifted from the earth until these sons of God are developed, and everything must suffer and must wait, and sin must go on and the devil must rule until God can develop a people that He can manifest as an overcoming company. Let us yield to God quickly and completely.