ZadokWCI: Sunday Recap

"If You Know, You Know" I  Feb 1, 2026

LISTENNNNN!!!!!! Snow tried it. Wind tried it. Cold tried it.

But we still pulled up.

Because when you’re a people who contend for encounters, weather doesn’t win. Excuses don’t win. Comfort doesn’t win. We didn’t gather for routine religion. We gathered for a Rhema word.

And here’s the wild part. Apostle came ready to preach a prepared message… and the Holy Spirit said, “Actually, we’re going this way.”

The script flipped in real time.

No rehearsal. No warning.

Fresh from Heaven.

And that divine redirection landed us straight in the book of James.

Let’s get into it.

James 1:1–8 isn’t theory. It’s survival. It reads like a field manual for pressure. James doesn’t sound like someone observing pain from a distance. He sounds like someone walking with you through it.

Because let’s be honest...

Nobody wakes up praying for a stressful day.

And trials? They’ve never sent a calendar invite. They don’t ask for availability. They show up unannounced, uninvited, and unwanted. When the unexpected hits, our reflex is always the same.

Why?

But when you can’t trace Him, you have to trust Him. And that trust is exactly what God is looking for.

“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials.” James 1:2 (NKJV)

Notice the language. Not if. When.

Trials have appointments.

Apostle reminded us that sometimes God takes us through seasons like olives, not to crush us, but to press the trust out of us. Pressure is not an accident. It is the process. It shapes how we talk to God about what’s next.

But here are the four words we usually skip over:

Count it all joy.

Most of us are waiting to feel joy. We assume that because we’re hurting, we’ve lost our joy. But James isn’t talking about emotion. He’s talking about evaluation.

To count it means to audit it. Do the math.

“Joy is a spiritual equation: pain + faith = growth; pressure + trust = power.”– MGLewisJr

Think about school. Your math teacher didn’t just want the answer. They wanted you to show your work. The same is true in the Kingdom. God is not just concerned with what you look like publicly. He’s concerned with how you arrived there privately.

It’s showing the work of being hurt but still hopeful. Not necessarily smiling, but still standing.

“Knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.”James 1:3 (NKJV)

In the Kingdom, “knowing” is an IYKYK reality. When you know the purpose, you can handle the pressure.

What gets tested gets stronger. Faith without pressure is like muscle without weight. Untested faith is unreliable. Testing doesn’t come to destroy your faith. It comes to prove it.

“But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” James 1:4 (NKJV)

Here’s the hard truth.

Stop quitting in the middle.

We want the complete version of ourselves without the work of the process.

We want the upgrade without the training. But you cannot bypass development and expect to survive destiny.

“God isn’t just trying to bless you; He’s trying to build you.”– MGLewisJr

If you’re broken, you can’t house the blessing. God won’t upgrade your life if your character can’t handle the weight of the next level.

We envy someone else’s moment, but we’re not always built for their process.

Let Him build you so what He pours into you doesn’t leak through cracks in your character. Don’t abort what He is developing. Even if it’s not growing at the rate you expect, it still has a heartbeat.

Don’t faint. If you can just get to the “afterwards” of Hebrews 12:11, you’ll see the fruit.

When pressure rises, our instinct is to pray for escape. But James offers a different strategy.

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” James 1:5 (NKJV)

We have to be honest enough to admit we don’t have the answers.

Everyone is ready for the move until it’s time to move.

Wisdom is more than action. It’s perspective.

“Wisdom is more important than relief.”– MGLewisJr

A process will break you if you don’t understand the power of wisdom. You know you have a wisdom deficiency when everything that happens to you just hurts you.

Wisdom says, “Let me evaluate this.”

Stop praying, “Lord, get me out,” and start praying, “Lord, show me how to move in this.” Getting out delays the lesson. It doesn’t resolve it.

“Pain taught me lessons that comfort could never.”– MGLewisJr

Deliverance without wisdom is pointless. Without wisdom, you’ll repeat the same cycle. Proverbs 3:6 makes it clear. No acknowledgement, no direction.

“But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.”James 1:6 (NKJV)

Don’t ask if you’re not ready to believe.

Doubt is the architect of instability. Double-mindedness delays deliverance. Faith only works when it’s focused.

Look at Peter in Matthew 14:30. He was walking on water. Fear hit. He began to sink. But he didn’t wait until he was fully under. He cried out while he was sinking.

Sinking signals imbalance. Honesty invites intervention.

Immediately, Jesus reached out.

God moves when you’re honest about why you’re sinking. But you can’t expect Him to move forward while your mind keeps moving backward.

Apostle closed with three questions that hit deep.

Where have you been frustrated instead of faithful?Where have you been asking “Why?” instead of asking for wisdom?Where have you been quitting instead of enduring?

The prayer this week is simple.

God, don’t remove the pressure. Develop the purpose for it.

If you know, you know. Stay in the process long enough to find out.