Let's read it in the message.
"Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way. If you don't know what you're doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You'll get his help, and won't be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought..." James 1:2-8 (MSG)
What a loaded set of verses. There is so much to be understood here, yet it is truly a simple concept that God wants us to understand. I think what God is getting at is that...when your faith is tested it produces many things. Things like joy, patience, trust, reliance, prayer, help, love, and a deeper understanding and belief of God.
Think of an athlete. No athlete is perfect and no athlete has ever been fully equipped for every situation that comes his/her way without training and preparing before hand. Through trails and tests, by practice and determination, to patience and help, an athlete matures and grows in his/her sport BOLDLY BELIEVING AND NEVER SECOND GUESSING that they will succeed, grow, and learn, all while perservering to accomplish his/her goal. Kind of like the verse huh?
This verse is still a lot to understand. I made the visual below (b/c I'm the most visual person ever) in the most simple terms I could think of to help ALL of us understand it more.
It starts with Faith (fill the arrows in with the word "leads"):
Faith--->Trials
Trials--->Joy
Joy--->Perserverance
Perserverance--->Maturity
Maturity--->Wisdom
Wisdom--->Help
Help--->Prayer
Prayer--->Father
Father--->Trust
Trust--->Faith
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