DCLM Daily Manna Friday 16 May 2025 

TOPIC:  Tested to Completion

TEXT: James 1:1-12 (KJV)

KEY VERSE
Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
(James 1:12)

DCLM Daily Manna 16 May 2025 Message

“There is not enough darkness in all the world to put out the light of one candle….” This inscription was found on a small, new gravestone after a devastating air raid on Britain in World War 2. Some thought it must be a famous quotation, but it wasn’t. The words were written by a lonely old woman whose pet had been killed by a Nazi bomb.

Apostle James wrote to the Jewish believers abroad to strengthen their faith in the face of the trials and temptations they were facing. Some members of the church in Jerusalem were displaced from their homes during the persecutions that arose after the death of Stephen (Acts 8:1-4). Instead of hiding and lamenting, they went everywhere preaching the gospel.

Trouble soon came again in their new abode, and many were being persecuted by heathen kings and rulers of the Roman provinces and Asia Minor. James, an elder in the church in Jerusalem, wrote to encourage them to patiently endure trials and temptations, describing them as a common experience of every true believer.

READ DCLM Daily Manna 15 May 2025 – Blessing of Communication

Some believers are very surprised when they are made to suffer for Christ. They thought they would do some great thing for God, but all God permits them to do to glorify His name is to endure suffering and persecution. Suppose you could speak with those who have gone to be with the Lord; everyone has a different story to tell. Yet, everyone would have a tale of suffering.

Family and friends could have persecuted one, another was afflicted with pain and disease, neglected by the world, another was bereaved of children, and another had sundry afflictions. But you will notice that though the water was deep, and the battle was fierce, they all have reached the place of joy and rest. Not one of them blames God for the road through which He led them.

Your trial may not rise to the level of those fathers in the faith, both in Bible days and in contemporary times, who were tortured and killed for their faith. Yet what may appear like a little trial to someone else may produce a great effect on the one experiencing it – like the old lonely woman in our introduction whose dog was killed by the Nazis during WW2. If she were a believer in Christ, the devil would glowingly ask her, Why would God allow her dog, which was like a child to her, to be killed in that raid.

Some people just take every problem they face in life as having been caused by God. They say to themselves, “So why should I continue serving him, when bad things continue to happen, despite my prayers?” But you should count it a thing of joy to suffer for Christ.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Very often, trials and persecutions are stepping stones to higher spiritual attainments.

THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 2 Corinthians 10-13