Devotionals on Trials

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• If trials come as a host against us, we know that the Almighty is between us and them.

• My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into various trials (James 1:2).

• The chief concern of our Lord is not to instruct us about a multitude of details, not to explain to us the reason for the trials which we are called to pass through.

• O make but trial of His love experience will decide how blest are they, and only they who in His truth confide.

• In a certain situation, by reason of some difficulty, trial, suffering, some adversity, you have gone to the Lord, taking His Word and pleading it before Him for a change of the situation, a deliverance, the bringing to pass or the removing of something, and you have found that you were up against a stone wall.
• The Lord had to bring a crisis in your experience, where you were perfectly willing to accept that trial in the will of God; that if so be the Lord wished it then you gave your full consent, and said: Well, Lord, if this is Your will for me I accept it wholly and fully.

• Let us not fall to the enemy’s deceptive ploy of deep discouragement, but let us like Habakkuk become true prayer warriors – joining our intercessions with the prayers of the just of all the ages – who in the midst of great difficulties and mountainous trials, lived by faith in the Son of God.

• We go through times of trial and test under the hand of God, and it is so easy to get into that frame of mind which says in effect, 'The Lord does not want us, He need not have us!' We let everything go, we do not care about anything; we have gone down under our trials and we are rendered useless.

• Eternal Perspective And so we are reminded that in this world there will be trials and suffering, but Scripture urges us to view the trials of life in light of God’s wider plan of His great salvation, in the eternal ages to come.
• Respond Not React In the light of our present trials we need to respond wisely rather that to react emotionally, remembering that we are strangers and pilgrims, and that this world is not our home.
• We should respond to life’s trials as instructed by God, and keep away from worldly desires that wage war against our very souls.

• Fires of Trial If we desire to be a true witness, it can only be achieved in one way – His Way.
• Faith must be severely tested and obedience is developed in the fires of trial.

• Permitted Trials We may be sure that He who permits the suffering is suffering with us. It may be that we shall see Him only when the trial has passed, and the pain has gone.  But we must dare to believe that He never leaves the crucible.

• He knew the difficulties, the sadness, the pain, the trials they all had to face.

• There may be a trial of my faith, or it may be that I ought not to do what I am doing.

• Trials and Growth You are accepted, not for what you are, nor rejected for what you are.
• But the truth is that most of our spiritual development comes through such trials.

• And surely the development and exercise of such affections as these, eternal in their nature, though called into activity by circumstances connected with conditions of weakness and trial, is a greater triumph of divine love and power than restoring the sick ones to health.

• Our Father has many reasons for administering trial - all good.
• Trial teaches us the futility of the old life, and the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus - our new life.

• His Refining Fire Are these nothing but unconscious cries, to be tried in His refining fire..?  An inner longing to be honed to His perfection, under the great Craftsman’s ‘tool’?  Is not GRACE discovered through the crushings of life’s journey? Is not FAITH exercised as the storms of life assault our very foundations? Does not Faith flourish and Grace grow, through the Master’s sanctifying trials?

• and yet I’m still learning to rely on His Amazing Grace to abound in my life and my trials.
• Not surprisingly each battle I have fought, each trial in my life I have had to face, more often than not I have tried to ‘go it alone’ and I have been well into the battle and sometimes battle-scarred and weary, before I have ‘Let Go and Let God’!

• that was stored up for him in heaven. Despite His many difficulties and trials, Paul was able to rejoice that he was counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Christ..

• The strength of the vessel can be demonstrated only by the hurricane, and the power of the Gospel can be fully shown only when the believer is subjected to some fiery trial.

• If you desire to be fruitful... to bestow on others His gentleness and grace; His compassion and mercy; His long-suffering and goodness; His love - you must learn through tribulation and trial.

• “As the believer grows, and his path becomes more involved, he is taught more about the Holy Spirit’s ministry, for he needs this doctrine increasingly for his comfort and rest in trial.

• How often we have murmured under trial only to see later the preparation of the Lord Jesus of our hearts that we might be His ministers of comfort in an hour of need in the life of another (2 Cor. 1:4).

• Difficulties and trials are inevitable as we travel through life, but how important for Christians to understand the cause of sin, the effects of sin, the consequences of sin and how to live godly in Christ Jesus.

• Learn of me in the trials of life.
• O make but trial of His love;experience will decidehow blest are they, and only theywho in His truth confide.

• Those who go the deep way of trial do so because God puts the premium upon their knowledge of Him.

• Under Trial Too often thanksgiving is forgotten, especially when a believer is under trial.
• He has “That Blessed Hope,” and he has trial itself, which is sure to be somehow “precious”.

• There is no place for learning the tender sympathy of the Lord Jesus, and the blessings of the Father's love and patience and care, as in the trials of the wilderness journey.

• The wear and tear and the continual friction and trials which come to the servants of God are a great test of character. -F.M.

• But then immediately followed the terrible experience of the wilderness testings. Spiritual privileges do not exempt us from the fiery trials.
• Too frequently a period of blessedness transforms into a long season of wretchedness. Following a time of tender intimacy and gracious communion with God.. a time that has been spent hidden behind the closed portals of His love, the door is flung open to the enemy’s most fiery trials and evil suggestions.
• Encouraging Words Remember as you face your own fiery trials..
• James 1:3,  but God permits the tempter’s trials to beat us sorely as He did with His beloved Son – for Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
• Christ’s Triumph The Lord’s trials were needful to demonstrate the qualities of the second Adam: for being made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him. Christ’s testings were designed so that He, as our High Priest could empathise and succour – for we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathise with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
• Heb.4:15  Sometimes His temptations came through His earthy relatives. Ofttimes His trials came though the ones He loved the best. Get thee behind me Satan, He cried to His dearly beloved Peter.

• Personal Trial I once walked the street with three young children, having no place to sleep that night.

• All he desires of His own is faithfulness and obedience – obedience to your heavenly visitation – not only in the days of great blessings but in times of trial, testing, and tribulation.

• It is true that the true children of God are going through a time of intense trial and testing spiritually in these days; everywhere it is so.
• Just to be able, through testing, trial, when everything is blowing round you like a blizzard; when everything is dark, mysterious, and even God seems far away and unreal, and faith is tested and you are being assailed on the right hand and on the left, and there is every reason outwardly for your moving, giving up, falling down, surrendering, lowering your standard, just to stand and not be moved in your faith is the greatest possible victory.... We are passing through deep experiences, the enemy is doing it and the Lord is not preventing him, but we are coming to a fuller knowledge of the power of our God and a deeper rooting beyond all previous shakeableness.

• We shall err if we think that life in the Sanctuary, hidden with Christ in God, means freedom from suffering, sorrow, and trial.
• Our Father can advance His children into conformity to the image of His Son, more by suffering in one day, than in many years of ease from trial.

• Growth of Faith Yet the truth is that real faith is always increased by opposition and trials.
• and trials mean deep disappointments and a deep refining of all that relies on self.
• Trial of Faith Every great man of God in Scripture or church history finally saw Peter’s truth.
• That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto the praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1:7
• Ironically trials, obstacles, difficulties, and even defeats are the food of faith.

• God in His wisdom has ordained our trials, and it is our folly that causes us not to welcome them.
• God sends us such trials as are exactly fitted for us.
• He serves us by trials and by comforts.
• Let us remember that our trials are few - our evil ways are many; our worthiness nothing - our comforts great.
• Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you (1 Pet. 4:12)

• Without trials of faith we should all be ruined.
• These trials give us opportunities of linking on to the mighty promises of God and finding through the trials come blessing that wonderfully glorifies Him, or else, missing God, turns the blessing into a burden that fills the heart with weariness and pain. -G.W.

• The Lord may see it needful, for the trial (development) of faith, to seem for a season not to regard our supplications; yet, if we patiently and believingly continue to wait upon Him, it will be manifest in His own time, and way, that we did not call upon Him in vain. -G.M.

• Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trials which are to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you.
• Christian  Suffering But the mystery of the fiery trial that distresses the godly can leave him wild with distress.

• Chastening Do not resist the difficulties and trials that He brings into your life.

• Trouble, trial, sorrow... we are subject to these things, they are common to all men, but we rise above them through the strength of His might within.

• God desires each of us to mature in the faith for our sufferings and trials are but for a moment – and He gives us His all-sufficient grace for all our needs.
• Faith is tested in the smelting fires of trials, as the temperature of the fires are heated seven times hotter, and yet it is God Who gives us the grace to stand fast in the day of trouble.
• There is no other way to develop faith except through the testings and trials of life – and there is no other way to face those trials except by standing on the promises of God.

• Though Job did not understand the devastating trials that marred his life, he finally cried:- I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear..

• Temptations of Life And Life is awash with temptations, as trials pour through the floodgates of time.
• Are you NOW fearful of temptations and trials?

• But then it is through the chastenings of His hand, through the trials and sufferings of our path, that He weans the hearts of His own from other objects, that the Lord Jesus Christ alone may fill the vision of our souls. -E.D.

• But take heart fellow believer, the trials of your faith will be found unto praise, honor and glory at the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Pet. 1:7).
• Trials work patience, experience, hope - and these are abiding qualities.

• How can we “count it as joy when we fall into various trials”? How can God take the negatives and transform them into glorious positives?
• How can we possibly thank God for our trials and for life disappointments?

• He let people know that to “follow Him,” as He put it at that time, involved them in difficulty and suffering and persecution and trial and a lifelong thing.

• Fallen World We live in a world of trials, troubles, temptations, and tribulations.
• Sufficient Comfort Let us commit, daily, to resting in Him through the trial of human experience. Let us, in confidence, abide continually in His heavenly comfort, and receive blessing and renewal from our precious heavenly Comforter.

• Have we trials and temptations?

• Disciples Joy The Word clearly indicates that in all trials and tribulations, disciples have a joy… a compensating, curative, rectifying, restorative, healing joy – a joy which cannot be taken, lost, removed, or destroyed – except as we permit.

• Each trial is a test you are sent, which is given as a challenge to overcome and each challenge overcome is replaced by an even greater demand… and the only choice is advance or retreat.

• Quiet Meditation Such peaceful meditation with the Lord Himself becomes increasingly difficult – as the pressures, problems, and pain of life press in on every side – and we faint.  Tensions, trials, and temptations test us to the limit of our endurance.

• Go back to the place where, for the time being, the Lord has put you, where He has called you to live your life and do your work in all the trial and difficulty and suffering of it, and do not strain to get out of it.

• Let us not fall to the enemy’s deceptive ploy of deep discouragement – but let us like Habakkuk become true prayer warriors, joining our intercessions with the prayers of the just of all ages, who in the midst of great difficulties and mountainous trials lived by faith in the Son of God

• This is a life that is beset with trials and disappointments – hurt and harm.

• We who trust in Him are the called according to this greater purpose of God, and throughout our Christian lives, we are being trained through testings, trials and temptations – until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God – until we all become mature, and attain to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

• Cloud of Witnesses “Men and women that were tortured, not accepting deliverance,-that they might obtain a better resurrection. Men and women that had trials of mockings and scourgings – yes, and of chains and imprisonment.

• For the saint, it’s a choice to walk in spirit and truth – for the peace of God and peace with God are interlinked with a trust in God. When we seek after the peace that this world offers it is an expression of unbelief – for in this world we will have tribulation and troubles; trials and testings, wars and rumours of wars, difficulties and disasters – hatred and hostility.

• If and when the trial comes, you will find Him waiting there.
• If ever you feel that you could not go through a certain trial, that if you had to face that, you just could not go through with it, you are taking on something that you have no right to take on.

• Trust in God The final snare is to permit the trials of this life to overwhelm us with worry,  lest at any time your hearts be overwhelmed with the cares of this life. And the caution against the physical sin translates into a spiritual warning.

• We live in a world full of trial and suffering.
• Every trial comes from the Father as a call to come away from the world to Him, to trust Him, to believe in His love.
• In every trial He will give strength and blessing.
• Let but this truth be accepted, in each trial, small or great; first of all and at once, recognize the Father's hand in it.
• May you so appreciate the plans of your Father that you can triumphantly glory in the love that subjects you to such discipline, though the trial itself be sharp and to the flesh hard to bear. -J.H.T.

• If that purpose is to be wrought by delivering us from a trial, He will do so.
• But if it is to be accomplished by means of the trial, He, in His perfect love, will not free us from it but strengthen us to go through it and be victorious over it. -A.M.

• And through the bitterest of trials and tribulations Job was lifted up.
• Faith and Intercession Under Job’s covering and protection, faith and intercession, God was also gracious to his wife.  God was gracious to her, who had endured so much of Job’s bitter trials.

• He knows He can trust Job’s integrity.  And God knows that through his fiery trials, Job will come forth, as gold.

• Divine Fullness But God does have a purpose for each life and He uses trials and tribulations, instigated by Satan, to achieve His perfect will.

• As the Holy Spirit dealt with the innermost being of Job – through his arduous trials, you too may discover the chastening benefits, deep within your inner being – if you are truly willing to humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. 1 Peter 5:6

• The question for the tried and tempted, the harassed and oppressed, is this: Which would you rather have, the power of Christ's hand in deliverance from trial, or the sympathy of His heart in the midst of trial?' The carnal mind, the unsubdued heart, the restless spirit, will, no doubt, at once exclaim, Oh!
• let Him only put forth His power and deliver me from this insupportable trial, this intolerable burden, this crushing difficulty.
• But the spiritual mind, the subdued heart, the lowly spirit, will say, and that without a single particle of reserve, Let me only enjoy the sweet company of the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ in my trial, and I ask no more.

• to be with Him, forever – not just to escape the trials of life, for these are His training tools, but to be with Him; in Person – in spirit, soul, body, and truth.
• Right Perspective If each of us could really get this into our thoughts and minds and heart and being, I believe with all my heart that the trials of life would be put in proper perspective.

• Different Times Sometimes we are faced with deep doubt, distrust or disbelief. Sometimes we pass through seasons of pain and our hearts almost faint. Sometimes we simply wonder where God is as trials and difficulties mount up –  but He is as close to us today as those times when He led with mighty visible signs.

• No, our prayer must be: Today, Lord, I want that which is of greatest account in relation to spiritual values and if that must be by way of trial and adversity, I do not pray to be delivered from it.
• I say, Lord, there is power to carry me through, and by prayer I come into touch with that power to carry me through the trials of every day in relation to the meaning of the trial.

• Victory in Christ But until that time of future bliss we live on this earth with its trials and pain, and every day we have a choice..
• That is what our life in this world amounts to – trials and pain.

• Food of Faith God Who chose you from before the foundation of the world knows that such trials are the food of faith.

• The various trials and grievous pain are but for a little while, so that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to the praise, honour, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1:7

• After repeated failures of his natural virtue of patience, he realizes that it is not enough to meet all trials, and carry him triumphantly through them all.

• We are not exempt from trials, troubles, and tribulations in this world.
• Perfect Peace However, accompanying all trials and troubles we are assured of His peace.

• The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials – we prove this daily…….
• so why instruct us to count it all joy, when we do meet trials of various kinds??

• Patient endurance under life’s tremendous testing trials is the saint’s chief objective.
• Satan, that slippery serpent, that overcome Job’s wife in her trials and Demas in his.
• Tremendous Trials Patient endurance under life’s tremendous trials and testing is the saints chief object, and overcoming is the beneficial product of a believer who patiently-endures – and works of righteousness are the clean, bright, shining clothes of the bride.
• Trial and temptations, however dreadful and distressing are the experience of all: for no temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man, but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. 1 Cor.10:13
• Saints taken to the extreme limit of their endurance under life’s trials and testings, are exhorted to hold on..

• In circumstances of great pressure and trial – much strength?

• Trials of Faith You were increasingly called upon – step by weary step..

• Never a trial that He is not there,Never a burden that He doth not bear,Never a sorrow that He doth not share,Moment by moment, I’m under His care.

• Our greatest safeguard against such will be a deep knowledge of the Lord through discipline.To know the Lord in a real way means steadfastness when others are being carried away - steadfastness through times of fiery trial.

• a picture of Israel – a picture of Israel’s future period of trial – of Jacob’s trouble – of labour.

• God uses all the trials in life for our sanctification – and we are to patiently endure.

• True contentment in all of life’s trials only comes from Jesus and not from self.

• By trial our Father reveals whether we can suffer His will as well as do it.
• By trial He weans us from the world, draws us to His Son, drives us to the Word and to prayer, and shows us our hearts, and makes us humble.
• Our trials are not meant to do us harm, but good.
• The really heavenly man must be in a scene like this the most dependent man; and whenever anyone learns his heavenly calling truly, and walks according to it conscientiously, he ever finds that new circumstances or trials occur, to keep him dependent; so that the truly heavenly man is the best wilderness man.

• Trial and Difficulties Thanksgiving is not always a sentiment accompanying a life of trial and difficulties. Praise and worship is not the first behaviour displayed in times of desperate need. Grateful thanks are hardly an emotion we adopt when we are in deep pain or trouble.
• God’s Purpose The power behind loving; obedient; thanksgiving, watchful; thankful; trusting prayer, is a heart that has learned in measure, and is continuing to learn to the full, that no matter what circumstances or trial we face, all things work together for good… and that means God’s good.

• It may be that we shall see Him only when the trial is past; but we must dare to believe that He never leaves the crucible.

• What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter (John 13:7) When our Lord takes us down into an area of processing and trial it seems as though He deliberately takes away our understanding, and we often react as though we had never gone through anything before.
• He measures all things with unfailing accuracy and selects the particular trial suited to our particular need.

• What had happened in this bitterest hour of trial?

• Daniel was thrown to the lions, and experienced significant trials throughout his life, but Daniel became one of the greatest intercessors, for love of his people.

• Whatever, therefore, may be the nature of the suffering or trial through which we have to pass, let us ever account that God is able to fulfill all His promises.
• Delayed answers to prayer are not only trials of faith, but opportunities of honoring God by our steadfast confidence in Him.

• There is but one thought with our Father in disciplining us, namely, to make our trials an opportunity for our heart to learn and discover more of His love, and the resources which are in Him as He has revealed them to us in His Son. -J.B.S.
• There is no way of learning faith except by trial.

• Trial of Faith But faith is tried in the furnace of affliction, and deep faith is furthermore strained, as increasing pressure bears down.

• We cannot understand the mystery of One such as He being subjected to trials and difficulties and adversities, and being tested to breaking-point, where it called for the intervention of heaven to get Him through.

• “All our trials in service only serve to lead us to know the Father, as we could not know Him otherwise, as ‘the Father of mercies, and the God of all consolation’ (2 Cor. 1:3).

• I find when I sit down with people quietly to have a talk that they begin at once to speak of the trials of the way.

• YAHAL – In Psalm 119 we read: remember Your word to Your servant, in which You have made me HOPE.. (yahal) and this too refers patient endurance as we wait for God in the trials of life and trust His promises.

• It may come in the way of difficulties in the path of faith; or in the shape of such trials and sorrows as are common to all men - loss of property, loss of health, or bereavement; or it may be as the governmental consequences of sin; but in one way or other all have it.

• We naturally shrink from trials and sorrow, but when we find ourselves enjoying the resources that are in our Father, to which our trials have caused us to have recourse, we remember no more the path of affliction which led us thereto.

• As the wax in its natural hard state cannot take the impress of the signet, and needs to be melted to render it susceptible, so the believer is by trials prepared to receive, and made to bear, the divine likeness.

• Asaph – Appeals to God Also Asaph in his moment of torment and trial questioned the steadfastness of God.
• The Same Today O beloved saint do you question how to cope when delays become unfathomable trials?

• How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! By faith Our Lord, passed victorious, through His bitterest hour of trial.

• This apprehension may only come as necessity is laid upon us by reason of suffering and trial.

• Spiritual Peace His is a spiritual peace and a joy that is intended to be received now. His is a peace of mind that can be received even in this world of trial and pain.

• He begins to see that behind all failure is a divine purpose; behind all problems is a heavenly objective; behind all sufferings; irritations; and trials there is a godly reason, which is to show us that: My grace is sufficient.

• Maturing, sanctifying grace takes ugly scars from the cross of your life and beautifies them – but the measure of how you meet your trials, is the measure with which you will gain – and you can only meet them victoriously in Christ, as Christ lives in you.

• Work of God Jesus said: this is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.” John 6:29 Believe in Him for the forgiveness of your sins – believe Him that through life’s trials you are being changed into his likeness..

• Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to test you, as though some strange thing happened unto you (1 Peter 4:12).
• In every trial, however gloomy, there are gleams of light and relief; but full deliverance is often delayed by our anxiety to obtain it.
• God Himself, and not the deliverance, is to be the satisfaction of His servant; consequently the deliverance is often postponed until we are without prospect or expectation of it; and then it may be accorded in a manner so transcendently beyond our conception, that we must see and understand the love and interest which surrounded us during the whole period of our trial.

• That I may know Him (Phil. 3:10).     It takes us years of trial and error to finally realize that nothing outside the Lord Jesus Christ can fully satisfy and rejoice our hearts.

• Many think the trials that they are facing is the outworking of God's wrath on them.
• Understanding Trials Neither of these men failed to believe in the love of God or the truth of His Word, yet the circumstances of both lives screamed the opposite.
• Neither understood during the trials they endured.
• Both understood following their trial, and both received their reward.

• The Lord does not put us in glass houses to grow us, to be His trees; the Lord does not protect us from the storms, the adversities; He exposes us to the bitter winds and the scorching suns of adversity and trial.
• There is much which is going to be carried away in the last great testing, and if, therefore, trial and adversity is the only way to deepen us, to put caliber into us, I suppose we must expect more of it as the time shortens.

• For He Himself is the powerhouse behind that special need... however, keen the sorrow; however heavy the trial; however deep the wound; however complex the circumstances.

• The Father placed us there, permitted the trials for a purpose, and He stands ready to bring us out into a life of liberty, if we will stand with Him in trust and endurance while He works it out.

• How astonishing – that life’s trials are the means to prove the sufficiency of Christ. What a lesson – that it is through our impotence that our inward need is met.

• first – from an early Christian walk of prayer and praise to secondly,  the vital trial of our faith which is more precious than gold, to thirdly – the time when we shall know as we are known, and shall see Him face to face.

• No sickness or illness– no loss or deprivation – no trial or disaster – nothing at all.
• Oh, God may permit sickness or loss, and will allow trials and disaster, but nothing will remove you from the protective covering of the blood of the Lamb, and nothing else is good enough but the protective covering of the blood of the Lamb.

• through those daily trials.
• and remember – faith is increased through the various troubles and trials of life.
• Developing Patience So let your patient endurance have a chance to grow through those fiery trials..
• and count it all joy when you fall into various trials – it increases your faith!
• He will convulse your very being – with the trial designed to increase your faith – as you pray for cherished wisdom, that is bestowed through believing trust.
• Night of Trial Weeping we are told will endure for a night..

• Position and Condition Some believers allow the trials and circumstances of life to shipwreck their faith. They only see the condition of their life instead of accepting their position in Christ. Oh, the trials of life are waxing worse and worse, but faith holds fast to His Word.

• The keenest fires of trial are often those of success or prosperity.

• Sufficient Grace He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater,He sendeth more strength when the labours increase;To added afflictions He addeth His mercies –To multiplied trials, He multiplies peace.

• Some translate the joys, woes, and trials of this life as the sum of their new ‘life’.

• Whatever trial you face or joy that comes along, He scoops it up into His sovereign rule.

• The Lord did not lead you through that trial, through that darkness, through that strange experience, just for your own sake.
• If you and I will only allow that fact to govern us in the days of difficulty and trial, it will help us through.
• We should hold fast to the fact that the trial is to mean enrichment for the Lord's people, and an increase of equipment and qualification for stewardship.... Ask the Lord to release you into your stewardship within your measure.

• No trial or affliction can reach you who are abiding in Him, without His permission.

• Tests and Trials Sometimes we allow the responsibilities of life and living – to rob us of the Lord’s rest. Sometimes our fears and failures, problems and pressure – weigh heavy on our heart. Sometimes our safety and security, health and finances rise up into mountainous difficulties as we fret and fear about the mounting tests and trials that we are facing.

• Like Christ Is your soul being stripped through God's sharp axe of trials and corrections?

• This trial, be it the greatest or least, is allowed of God, and is His will concerning me.

• One might be tempted to say, All this trial comes upon me because I have not been redeemed.
• So count it not strange, though it be a fiery trial which is to try you; for the Father will have you drink of the very thing (death) that redeemed you. -J.N.D.

• Christ’s Humanity But Christ was also fully Man – and as such he had a human nature – yet without sin. He was a man with a mind and emotions and He had a human body, a soul and spirit. As Man He grew weary and could legitimately say, I thirst – give me to drink… and as Man He could rightfully say to the High Priest at His trial – you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.

• Psalm 23:5  Yes, in this world we will have tribulations and trials, but be cheerful.

• When faith is present and active, favorable circumstances are not necessary for joy; trials and tribulations cannot daunt it.

• He let people know that to follow Him, as He put it at that time, involved them in difficulty and suffering and persecution and trial and a lifelong thing.

• You have doubtless gone through a time of deep and dark trial in which you have had to hand everything over you have come to a crisis where you have had to place on the altar something that was very precious and let it go to the Lord.

• In trials and tribulations, He is our PEACE.
• Christ – All in All In trials and tribulations – He is our PEACE.

• Trials and Temptations God reveals patience and other graces through life’s trials and temptations. God develops faith in the man or woman that is thus broken before Him. James tells us to count it all joy when you fall into various trials.
• Questioning ‘How’ Nights of black temptations and trial give way to mornings of joyful illumination..
• but how do we understand the value of trials if we don't know the word of truth?  And how do we learn that God is working in life to procure ultimate perfection in us?
• Word of God Paul tells us, “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials.” 1 Peter 1:6.

• Very often it may seem but poor comfort to us in times of suffering, times of trial, times of adversity, times when Satan is pressing hard, to be told that, while we can see nothing of the meaning of all this, God is instructing angels, and that principalities and powers are deriving the benefit of it all.

• Spiritual understanding comes in the wrappings of tested faith and many trials!
• James writes: My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience..
• Spiritual Understand Do you see that – 1) spiritual understanding is connected with patient endurance of trials, but if any of you lacks wisdom, (spiritual understanding), let him ask of God, Who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him, (but not necessarily immediately). Do you see that?

• May He give us grace to endure whatever the trial may be, along whatever line of metaphor, the wind, the blaze, supreme heat, or pressure of His hand, all of which is to get us into a place where we cannot be moved, where hell cannot shake us, where His power is made manifest as triumphant over all the power of the enemy.

• Trials; tribulations; distresses and death will shadow all who follow this path.

• Through sanctification, we are matured through trials into being sons of God.

• As you trust your life into His hands, He will show you a way of escape, for there hath no trial taken you but such as is common to man, but God is faithful, Who will not suffer you to be tried above that ye are able, but will with the trial also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. 1 Corinthians 10:13.

• The Father visits us with trials in order to teach us to carry the burdens of others.

• The apostle Peter reminds us: beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing is happened unto you. 1Pet.4:12.

• But the Lord knows His own and the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of trials. 2 Pet.2:9.
• called his many trials and tribulations - these light afflictions.. 2 Cor.4:17.

• It is the trials and difficulties of the way that are the opportunities for our hearts to grow in acquaintance with Him; and it will be found, while there may be many great enjoyment in ministry, and in the unfolding of truth, that really there is not strength but in proportion as one has learned how God has been for and with one in the trials and sorrows of the way; and as one has known Him in them, so is one able to speak of Him.
• The chief concern of our Lord is not to instruct us about a multitude of details, not to explain to us the reason for the trials which we are called to pass through.

• In our spiritual experience we often find that not least of our trials is the fact that God seems so slow to respond; sometimes it would appear that He is careless or indifferent - and that just when our needs are most acute.

• Memorable Day Today is my mother’s birthday. Her diaries catalogue showers of blessings amidst a mountain of difficulties. Today is my daughter’s wedding anniversary – her life also is peppered with deep hurts and trial and a cascade of Gods graces. My times also have had its deep pains and great joys and I am sure yours has too. Indeed, I know of no-one who has not been deeply affected by this world of sin.
• And many, like Demas and Orphah, turn back to the world. But this is God’s take on that issue: there hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will NOT suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the trial also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. 1Cor.13:10

• Words of Life In   Revelation 1:17 we read that: He laid His right hand on me, saying, “Fear not” while in Psalm 37:1,7,8 we read the words: Fret not!  And Paul in  2 Corinthians 7:4  reminds us to be: exceeding joyful in all the trials of life.
• Trials, Tests, Temptations We know that Jesus Himself walked this same way that we are treading, and was in every respect was tried, tested and tempted as we are – yet without sin.

• The Blesser sends trials because the trials are blessings.
• Most covet the blessing of having the trial removed.

• Always guarded by the power of God through faith.... In such a hope keep on rejoicing, although for a little while you must be sorrow-stricken with various trials (1 Peter 1:5, 6, Wms.).
• If there is a great trial in your life today, do not own it as a defeat, but continue, by faith, to claim the victory through Him who is able to make you more than conqueror, and a glorious triumph will soon be apparent.

• Trials and suffering are the heart of growth.
• Affliction, adversities, sufferings, sorrows, temptations, trials, doubts, disappointments roll in upon us.

• In the pathway of discipline and trial we learn by bitter experience the truth of Paul's confession, In me. . .

• He sees opposition, adversity, trials, and afflictions as an advantage for those in Christ; for this eliminates self to its only advantageous position - crucified and dead – and we discover we can do nothing of ourselves and start to rely on Him alone.

• Elijah’s Trial As the birds of the air fled from the parched earth and the wild animals of field and forest came no more to drink; as the streamlet became a sliver thread… and the silver thread reduced to a standing pool..

• Life of Trial It was not when that dazzling light, blinded his eye on the road to Damascus, but through years of isolation and a life-journey of trial – he came to understand.
• God has an eternal purpose in all of life’s trials and troubles – an unbroken, uninterrupted, unparalleled purpose from eternity to eternity -  that in the ages to come God might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

• Fruit of Suffering The fruit of suffering and training is the drawing closer and nearer to Christ. The outworking of sufferings are the benefits this closeness to Him gives to others. The learning and knowledge of Christ in a life, is through the school of suffering. The exercise and outworking of Christ in a life, is enhanced and refined through trials. Paul reckons we should embrace trials: for the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory, which shall be revealed in us.
• His Chastising As we track through this mortal life there are times His training seems futile and hard, and as we face the daily trial and pain of life, we sometimes wonder what is the point?

• We pray for peace that passes understanding as promised by the Prince of Peace, but life overturns into one impassioned turmoil, that triggers the question Why?… as trials of every hue impair our forward march and pain our hurting soul – until we see that peace is only achieved as we whisper..
• We pray for gentleness, and He sends us the perfect storm of trials and temptations.

• Spiritual privileges do not exempt us from any fiery trials.
• Often a vast wilderness of trials looms ahead after a high, mountain-top experience.
• Fiery Trials Testing times often follow a season of tender intimacy and gracious communion.
• The sweet portals of love often lead through a door of testing trials and bitter pain.
• The enemy’s fiery trials and evil suggestions often follow a time of joyful bliss.
• It is frequently those that seek to be faithfully obedient that engender these trials.
• Sufficient Grace Remember this principle as you face the fiery trials that beset you. Remember that sufficient grace and new power comes from the Lord through conflict. Remember Christ’s life was developed and honed and made perfect through suffering..
• However, God permits the tempter’s trial to beat us sorely as He did with the Lord Jesus: Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted – of the devil.
• Our High Priest The trials Jesus faced were needful to demonstrate the qualities of the last Adam.
• Christ’s trials were designed so that as our High Priest He could empathise and succour.
• Ofttimes His trials were delivered though the ones that He loved the most: get thee behind me Satan, He cried to His dearly loved Simon Peter, and yet to this same staunch and dedicated servant He gave great reassurances: Satan has desired to sift you as wheat – but I have prayed for you that your faith fails not.
• Christ’s Trials Assaults were indeed made on the Lord’s physical needs through the enemy’s taunting: “if you’re the Son of God make these stones become bread and satiate your hunger”, he schemes, but the Lord had nourishment that the tempter could never understand: My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. John 4:34.
• Sometimes His temptation came through direct taunts and attacks from the tempter.  Sometimes His trials came via a subtle suggestion from His family or a dearly loved friend. Throughout His life, Jesus was enticed to leave His path of total dependence on the Father..
• Satan’s Trials We too often receive the same set of trials and tests that Jesus Himself faced. We also face trying and testing days as we watch our familiar world crashing.
• Those once remote areas of testing trials are increasingly knocking upon our doors.
• Many times we are reminded that God will give us a way to escape from trials: for no temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.

• Strange Blessings “Blessed is the one who is not offended in Me…” Luke 7:23   “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial,” James 1:12   “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake…”  “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you ..” Matt.5:10  “Blessed are you when others utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on My account.

• Paul reminded them that they were called to be holy and enriched by the grace of God, and he also reminds us that our God is a God of comfort, especially in those times of trials and difficulty.
• God is always in control and His grace is always sufficient, no matter what trials or tribulations we may be called upon to face.
• God has not only promised to deliver us FROM our trials and distresses but He has promised to save us IN our trials and tribulations.

• We are reminded by the Lord Jesus that in this world we will suffer trials and pain, but we also know that those who fellowship in His suffering will receive a wonderful, heavenly reward.
• Paul encourages us to be patient in affliction and to share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus, while James instructs us to consider the trials and suffering we go through as a great joy, knowing the testing of our faith produces endurance, which brings our hope and trust in the Lord to its completion.
• Although his entire argument contains many flaws and identifies Eliphaz as a carnal believer with certain legalistic leanings and a flawed doctrinal statement, his directive to submit willingly to the chastening hand of the LORD in the mists of trials and tribulation, is something we should all take to heart.

• They persuaded certain people to falsely accuse Stephen of blasphemy against both Moses and God, resulting in his wrongful arrest before being dragged away to stand trial before the Sanhedrin - the religious council of the Jews.

• and Who had the power to call on ten legions of angels to rescue Him from this ungodly trial.

• He discovered Him to be a place of protection in the storms of life, and a source of comfort in the trials that surrounded the children of Israel in their pilgrimage through their wilderness walk.

• It records for our learning how the Lord was provoked by their rebellious behaviour: During the day of trial in the wilderness. 

• Temple officials and Roman soldiers came with swords and staves and horses to arrest Him and drag Him off to face many false trials and be accused by false witnesses, but Jesus said to them, While I was with you daily in the temple, you did not lay hands on Me.
• He was taken immediately to be tried by various illegal courts before morning dawned - so that the unlawful sentences He received from each of the trials would be completed before the crowd realised what was really happening.

• Jesus came to give us life and to give it more abundantly, and The Crown of Life, is awarded to those who have patiently endured persecution, and undergone unjustified sufferings and trials, during their life, while the Crown of Glory, is given to pastors and teachers who have been faithful in shepherding the flock of God.

• It was at that time that the Lord Jesus began in earnest to prepare His little band of faithful followers for His shocking betrayal, false accusations, unjust trial, cruel death, and glorious Resurrection.Over and again, His disciples failed to comprehend the serious nature of Christ's repeated prediction of His fast-approaching betrayal and death, and it became necessary for Jesus to speak plainly about the severe self-discipline His followers would require if they were to stand fast in the evil day and not be sifted as wheat by the enemy, nor emotionally tossed about by the terrible things they were soon to face.A simple, immovable, childlike faith in Christ Who had come as God's anointed King, His promised Messiah, and Kinsman-Redeemer, was essential as the days grew darker: Whoever receives Me, Jesus said, receives Him Who sent Me.Petty differences of colour or creed were to be laid aside, and a unity in the faith was to be established by those who acknowledged Jesus as Lord.
• Only a heart that has been made new by the Holy Spirit of God and a mind that is stayed on Christ, is able to resist the temptations of this world and stand fast through all the trials and tribulations of life.God is a consuming fire Who will one day burn away the dross, and refine that which is good.

• We are told that the world will hate us just as it hated Christ and that as Christians, we will face many difficulties and dangers, trials and tribulations.
• We are reminded in Scripture of the men and women of faith who experienced shocking ordeals, many of whom endured torture and trials and underwent stonings and scourgings.
• Over and again, we are warned that all believers will face fiery trials which will come to us in many shapes and guises.
• James explains that God uses trials to test our faith and to produce endurance.
• Indeed, he even exhorts us to consider our various trials as a joy and blessing from our Father, while Paul warns that all who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution, but that God Himself will comfort us in our suffering and pain so that we can comfort others in their suffering and pain.
• Our life trials are not, as some suggest, a lack of faith or God's punishment, but a purifying tool that God uses to hone and refine His children, to develop our trust and dependence upon Him.
• God's purpose in each of our lives is to educate, discipline, and train us in righteousness and the fiery trials that come upon us are used by Him to try us, as the furnace tries silver, to cut deep into our fleshly nature and polish off all the fleshly dross that contaminates our new-life in Christ so that by grace through faith we will not murmur, but humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, knowing that He has promised to exalt us in due time.
• So let us accept life's fiery trial as a beautiful child-training tool to conform us into Christlikeness, and yield to His gracious child-training so that in the end, we will come forth as pure gold.

• The trial was a travesty, for the Word of Truth stood before the Sanhedrin and the truth He spoke was labelled blasphemy.
• Four days of trick questions from the scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, and religious leaders, followed by a series of false witnesses, unlawful trials, unfounded accusations, lies, and gross deception were exposed and failed, because Christ's character was unblemished and His heart was pure before God. 

• By faith, Jacob endured his trial.
• It is wise to note that Jacob's experience in his wrestling match with the Man Who dislocated his thigh is very similar to the trials, tribulations, and testings that each one of God's children experiences when He wants to teach us an important lesson, instruct us in a necessary truth, or fine-tune our faith in Him.

• The evidence of this lovely transfiguring process is not only an outward disassociation from an ungodly world and the works of the world, the flesh, and the devil, but a life that is good, acceptable, perfect and pleasing to the Father - but note, that transformation is perfected through trials, difficulties, suffering, and sorrow.

• He is with us today and lives inside us as we face our own troubles and trials.

• None can begin to imagine the sorrow that Christ experienced as He faced Calvary alone, but our hearts can empathise with His disciples when we... like them, find ourselves confronted with trials greater than we can manage.

• The King of Israel and Saviour of the world was crucified on Calvary's Cross between two thieves, after having been falsely accused and sentenced to death at an illegal trial.

• He explains that having been eternally saved by grace, we should glory in the trials and tribulations of life which God uses to develop in us perseverance, a godly character, and an unshakable and eternal hope in the loving promises of God.

• He calls us to sympathize with each other, to have compassion one for another, and to empathise in the trials and difficulties that our brothers and sisters in Christ are going through, to be there to help and to comfort, to support and encourage.

• Despite the terrible trials the believers in Smyrna faced, we recognise God's mercy, for the temptations and trials we face are for a limited time.

• And so when he writes, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to rejoice in suffering, and to count it all joy when you meet trials, we can be assured that he is speaking from a place of deep personal understanding.
• May we choose, from this day forward, to rejoice in our suffering, and count it all joy when we meet trials of any kind, knowing that when we are weak, He is strong, to the glory of the Father forevermore. 

• Do you sometimes wonder why the Lord seemingly permits the evil deeds of wicked men to prosper, while His children seem to be facing trials and hardships?
• We may not understand why so many of His children are facing such dark trials and deep hardships.

• Habakkuk believed the Word of the Lord and determined that no matter what terror, troubles, or trials befell him, he would maintain his trust in God - for the Sovereign Lord is our strength and has promised that His grace is sufficient.

• The mystery of our call to glory is that we can rejoice greatly despite our trials and losses, because we have an unfailing hope in our eternal inheritance and the glorious redemption of our bodies, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
• And so, like Peter, let us: Greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, we are being distressed by various trials.

• He also looked-on during the arrest of Jesus, and denied Him three terrible times during Christ's illegal and unlawful trial.Peter was also able to testify about the personal visit he received from the risen Lord Jesus, and was deeply humbled to receive Christ's command to, feed my sheep, ...three times.

• David had trusted the Lord from his youth, and although he was not exempt from tribulation and trials, he knew the Lord would bring him through any difficulties and danger.
• And like David, we would do well to hide under the shadow of God’s protective arm, to seek Him in the midst of our trials and tribulations, and cry out to the Lord for deliverance from the enemies into whose path we run, so that we too may rejoice with great joy and encourage others to: Taste and see that the Lord is good and to know how truly blessed is the man, who takes refuge in the Lord.

• Job was not prepared to blame God for his problem, even though he did not understand why he was going through these trials.

• Unlike many of his other writings which open by lamenting the tremendous trials and tribulations the psalmist is facing, and crying out to God for help and relief before finally recalling the faithfulness of the Lord towards His people, Psalm 27 opens with an outburst of praise and confidence in the Lord, The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?

• He does not call us to bear the problems of life, carry the weight of the day, and take on the distresses of the heart or the trials we face, alone.

• With each successive test of faith, the trial presented different challenges, and each time the trial became increasingly intense.
• The trials and testings through which God's servants are often allowed to pass are very precious to our Heavenly Father, for they produce endurance, steadfastness, patience, and a strengthened faith.

• Indeed, the Lord Jesus Himself told us that in this world we would have trials and tribulation, but He has overcome the world and we have also been promised that His grace is sufficient and that He will be with us in every problem and pain we may face in life.

• God's will for all His children is that we rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, and in all things to give thanks to Him, even during the inevitable difficulties of life that we all have to face, and in the midst of the various trials that are the portion of all humanity.
• Trials are a criterion that God uses to test and increase our faith in Him, and to appraise and develop our trust in His Word.
• The trial that comes our way is not a stick of punishment from an angry God for our misdemeanours, but the corrective, chastening rod of our loving Heavenly Father Who loved us so much that He sent His only begotten Son to pay the price for our sin so that by believing in Him, we might receive forgiveness of sins and life everlasting.
• Trials may not be easy, but God is ultimately in control and He has promised that they will last but for a short season and are designed for a distinct and wonderful purpose, which will only become fully evident when the Lord Jesus returns for His Church.
• In like manner, the faith of a Christian needs to be pure, unblemished, and perfect, and the trials of life are designed to purify our hearts, increase our dependence upon the Lord Jesus, deepen our love for our Saviour, enrich our spiritual lives, strengthen our hope in His many precious promises, and increase our faith in the Word of God.
• Let us rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in all things, even during the trials that come our way: Knowing that the trial of our faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found to praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.

• How needful to pray in spirit and in truth, for this will nurture our faith, feed our souls, maintain fellowship with our Father, and enable us to face the fiery trials that pursue our way.

• There are many challenges for the Christian to patiently endure, in the midst of trials and tribulation.

• Chapter 2 begins sometime after this with Job's second trial of faith.
• We do not know the interval of time between Job's two trials, but we do know that this wealthy man, who had been so blessed of God and who was held in high esteem by his neighbours, was reduced to the status of an unclean beggar overnight, which caused his wife's spirit and hope to be shattered.
• But this woman was also spiritually naïve, and, like Job and his three friends, she was to gain a deeper insight into the character of God and wonder of His Person as Job's trial continued.
• He was also to discover that God's grace is sufficient in the midst of trials and tribulation, for His grace is made perfect by our weakness.

• We are told in many places the reasons and benefits of suffering, and are given many examples of people who faced severe trials in their lives, but who came through as gold.
• His letter implies that many were facing deep financial hardship as well as severe persecution for their faith, and so he encouraged his brothers and sisters in Christ to consider it real joy when they encountered various trials and hardships because the testing of their faith produced perseverance, steadfastness, and patient endurance.
• If we can consider the obstacles of life to be opportunities that mature our faith and produce in us patient endurance, we will come to understand that God is using the trials of life to benefit our Christian character, and to help us grow more like the Lord Jesus.

• Unlike Israel, we all have the indwelling holy Spirit of God Who is working in us to will and to do His good purpose in our lives as through life's trials and tribulations, He is conforming us into the image and likeness of Christ.

• Not only do the glories of our justification result in peace with God, a firm standing in God's grace, and a rejoicing hope in Him, but we can allow His peace to reign in our hearts so that we can even exult in our tribulations, knowing the trials of life and the difficulties we endure bring about perseverance which develops strength of character and a solid hope in the Lord.

• But Job was set to face some of the most difficult trials and problematic circumstances that countless souls have faced - and which many are facing today, in these troubled times in which we live.
• The satanic trials he faced would become a test of Job's faithfulness, and we are given an in-depth, birds-eye view, of the many terrible things that devastated his life - yet Job remained ignorant of the war being fought in heavenly places.

• The bitter trial they underwent was momentary but the recompense they received was eternal life, as it is for all who trust in His sacrificial work and glorious Resurrection.

• The end, the epilogue, and the entirety of a life that is saved by grace and secured in Christ, is a victorious life, an overwhelmingly victorious life in spite of all the tears, troubles, and trials that stalk our pathway.

• He knows the way we take, and as we submit to the trials that inflict our soul and the inevitable 'child-training' we will face in life, He has purposed to draw us ever closer to Himself, until we can say with Job: I have heard of You with my ears but now I see You with a deeper spiritual understanding.

• These words were spoken to warn of the many tribulations and trials that inevitably stalk the paths of all God's blood-bought children, and to encourage each child of God, knowing that Christ has won the victory on our account, so that no matter what may happen, we are safe in the arms of Jesus.

• Jacob had to face his own trial and testing, and admit his own imperfections and limitation when He met God face to face, and Jacob was brought to an end of himself until he acknowledged his own weakness and was willing to admit that all honour, glory, might, majesty, dominion, power, blessing, and authority comes from our Heavenly Father - by grace.

• David was willing to stand trial for his offenses, but pleaded his innocence before the Lord and called for righteous justice when falsely accused: Vindicate me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and my integrity.
• David acknowledged that in this world we will suffer trials and tribulations and the enemy of our soul will use every opportunity to depress our heart and shipwreck our faith, but this man of God never forgot that the Lord is in control, and the mischief of the oppressor will finally return on his own head.

• No matter what difficulties pursue our path, whatever disappointments strew our steps, whatever trouble we may have to face, and no matter what trials we may have to endure, Jesus is assuredly returning soon to put an end to His children's struggles, to close the final pages of His servants' sufferings, and to bring His reward with Him.

• And this letter was written while he was incarcerated in a Roman dungeon, awaiting his trial.

• Over the next two years, a series of Roman trials were held in which Paul was called upon to defend his Christian faith from his Jewish accusers - during which time the plot to kill him continued, unabated.
• His first trial was before Felix, the Roman procurator in the province of Judea who felt ill-equipped to deal with Paul's Jewish accusers.
• However, it was during his second trial before Festus, the Roman governor who succeeded Felix, that Paul made his impassioned plea to be tried by Ceasar in order to escape the ongoing, Jewish conspiracy.
• Paul could see that Festus was considering handing him back to the Jews for trial in Jerusalem and so he declared boldly, If I be an offender, or have committed anything worthy of death, I refuse not to die: but if there be none of these things whereof these accuse me, no man may deliver me unto them (the Jews).
• The Lord had a long-term purpose in view when He permitted Paul to go through his many trials and tribulations.

• Our hope in Christ is securely anchored to the Word of God, which contains His will and His purposes so that we are not tossed about by every wind of uncertainty, nor destabilised by the stormy trials of life.
• His example of patiently waiting for God to act and then to act in faithful obedience when God speaks, is a call for each of us to persevere under trial, to trust and obey His Word, and remain steadfast in the face of life's difficult circumstances.

• Love endures all things by maintaining an uncomplaining attitude in every affliction and trial, tribulation and temptation, persecution and pain, whether it be for the sake of the saints or for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

• Today believers are having to endure much suffering at the hands of the ungodly, but when we can recognise that God takes the trials of the enemy, and uses them as tests of our faith, we can identify the sufferings we undergo as godly discipline, which the Lord is using in our lives for our eternal benefit.
• When we can recognise that just as a father who withholds his rod hates his son, while the one who loves his child disciplines him diligently, we will be able to see that the trials we are facing today show that God is dealing with us as sons.

• But although the enemy of our soul may afflict us with temptations and trials, God is good, and in His grace He will use those trials to test our faith and develop in us spiritual endurance that brings us into a maturing faith in Him.

• What marvellous words of encouragement are couched throughout Scripture, and here we discover God's sufficient grace is available to all His children in the midst of the various trials and temptations that we all have to face during our earthly sojourn.
• He does not pledge to exempt us from fiery trials and troublesome temptations, nor even to prevent persecution, but He does undertake to limit its intensity and to provide a way of escape so that we may be able to bear it.
• They know that His grace is sufficient for all eventualities, and His sufficient grace will expand and multiply to encompass all the temptations, trials, and tribulations that we may be called upon to endure in this life.
• Let us never forget that the temptations and trials in our lives are no different from what others experience.

• He knew us before we were born and knows our lives are full of difficulties and trials that can cause us deep distress.
• We must never forget that our times are in His hands and when trials come, oppression hits, health fails, money is scarce, we must never forget that He knows, and He cares.

• He was falsely arrested by a religious mob and taken to an illegal trial where the chief priests and the whole Council of Jewish elders kept trying to obtain testimony against Him, to put Him to death.
• So hostile were the Jewish elders against the Lord Jesus that every part of their heinous trial, which was carried out in the dead of night, broke the holy Law of Moses, which they claimed to revere.

• As the days on earth get darker, and the trials and tribulations of this life can seem never-ending and overwhelming, we would do well to take this verse to heart.

• James encourages us by explaining that those who persevere under trial, on the journey to maturity, will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him, and He exhorts us to... consider it all joy, when we encounter various trials.There is an urgency in this final letter that Paul wrote before his death, to remind us that ALL who live godly lives in Christ will certainly suffer persecution.
• But we have also been supplied with many precious promises which reassure us that His grace is sufficient, His strength is perfected in our weakness, that suffering for Christ's sake is a privilege for the child of God, and that no amount of trials, tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or the sword, is able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.May we grasp this truth in His strength, and remember that in this world we will have tribulation… but that if we fellowship in the suffering of Christ, we will also be glorified with Him Who loved us so much that He died for us, that we might live for Him – forever.

• Every child of God is called to mature in the faith and grow in their spiritual life... and throughout the New Testament we are taught that maturity in the faith is tested and established through trials and tribulations.
• If we are to grow in grace and in a knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are bound to go through various difficulties and dangers, trials and tribulations.
• Peter reminds us that the testing of our faith is more precious than gold and calls on us to rejoice despite being distressed by various difficulties, while Paul encourages us to exult in our trials, knowing that tribulation is a necessary step towards spiritual growth and godly wisdom.
• When the man of God prays to the Lord in faith, he is stable in his ways and God's grace will sustain him through all the trials and difficulties he may have to face.

• They had an incomplete understanding of the reason for Job's trials, and their conclusions were diametrically opposite of the truth!

• It helps us to deal with trials and temptations in a godly manner.

• Whether we are faced with fleshly temptations that rise up from our old sin nature or testing trials that come from above, we know that God takes all things and weaves them beautifully together for good, to those that love God and are called by grace through faith in Christ, according to His good purpose.
• How often our pleading prayer is for an escape from the fiery trials that we may be facing, without recognising that there are important lessons in all circumstances of life which God desires for us to learn; lessons which teach us spiritual truths that we might otherwise have missed.
• Difficult trials and disappointing happenings are used by God to test our trust in Him and to draw us into a deeper dependency upon His faithful provision and His unconditional love.
• He reminds us that, even though for a time we have to endure many trials in life, there is wonderful joy ahead.
• James calls us to meet our various trials with an attitude of joyful thanksgiving, knowing that the testing of our faith produces endurance.
• If we meet endurance with a godly attitude of complete dependence upon God and trust in His unfailing Word, we discover that the end result of that testing trial will be the perfecting of our faith as we grow in grace and draw closer to our Heavenly Father, in love.
• Let us be increasingly aware that the trials of life are used by God for our eternal benefit and for His greater glory.
• The greater the trial, the wider the arms of God's sufficient grace are extended to lift us up, carry us through, and draw us into a depth of intimacy with Himself that we would otherwise have missed: Let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

• What godly lives we would live if it were not for the foibles of others!But this life is fraught with disappointments and disturbances and we are warned that murmuring is the consequence of unbelief, while disputing is the product of a discontented heart which brings in its wake grievances, disease, envy, and sin, as exemplified in Israel’s forty-year long wilderness wanderings when the people murmured against God's wisdom and complained about His gracious provision.God, in His wisdom, knows that patient-endurance, humility of heart, and a soul that trusts in the Lord, does not spring forth from a stress-free life but is the out-working of a man or woman who has received God’s sufficient grace to face any temptation or trial which may happen along the way.Paul knew that a Christ-like character is not birthed from a bed of ease and that blameless integrity and spiritual maturity takes many long years, if not a lifetime, to fully develop as one is tried like silver or honed in a millstone of suffering. God uses the storms, sadness, disappointments, and dangers of everyday life, as well as the difficult people that cross our path, to conform us into the likeness of Christ.Let us, therefore, resist the temptation to enter into murmurings and disputes with one another and let us trust the Lord in all things so that our lives will be a living sacrifice that becomes, to Him, a sweet fragrance and we will become blameless and pure children of God, without fault in this warped and crooked generation.

• This psalm details some of the trials David faced as God's anointed.

• It was once said that trials are the food for faith to feed upon, and this is a truth voiced elsewhere in Scripture.
• In James, we read that a man who endures trials is blessed because it produces endurance, while Peter tells us that difficult trials come to sharpen our faith.
• In Job, we read of a man whose spiritual character and understanding grew when he was placed under extreme pressure, and Israel's king David discovered the trials he faced only served to develop his understanding and appreciation of God's long-suffering faithfulness towards His people.

• The psalmist can joyfully proclaim that the Lord is his stronghold and his stay because he has put his trust in God.Despite the obvious trials and tribulations that are engulfing this old man in so many ways, he is able to testify that the Lord has not only been his continuing support from birth and childhood and throughout his youth, but also that He has remained faithful right on into his senior years.
• He admits that God is his refuge, that deliverance comes from Him alone, and proclaims this truth to friends and foes alike.Tests and trials will come and go, but God delivers him from the power of wicked people and the grasp of ruthless men who practise evil.

• Indeed, Jesus told us that in this world we would certainly go through trials and tribulation, as did Paul and the other apostles.

• They highlight Israel's growing disregard and hatred of Jesus, and all four Gospels give detailed accounts of the Jew's rejection of their Messiah-King, His illegal trial by their leaders, and His crucifixion, death, and burial by His own people.

• And although we are reminded that we live in a fallen world and that trials and difficulties will accompany our earthly path, he also reminds us that our earthly trials are short-lived and exhorts us: Be holy for God is holy.

• Paul was a man that was beset by troubles and trials, and had to face many dangers and disappointments in his Christian life.
• Paul now recognised that as a follower of the despised Nazarene, the troubles, trials, dangers, disappointments, discomforts, and distresses that he faced were a result of his Christian faith.

• God, in His grace, has given us many precious blessings and has promised never to leave us nor forsake us, no matter how fiercely the bitter winds of trial batter our lives and irrespective of other people who may have betrayed or hurt us.

• While the unconfessed sin of a believer will always break fellowship with the Lord and all sin has consequences, it should never be assumed that a man's sin is the cause for the trials he is facing.
• Trials are not necessarily linked with personal sin, which is why the Lord Jesus warned us not to judge others.

• For a short time, we will experience many hardships, trials, and tribulations, and for a time it will appear that the godly are flourishing while the children of God are in great deprivation.

• And as we examine the life and times of David the king, we see God working all things together for good. We see troublesome events and various trials in David's life, which God took and used for his own good.
• Let us develop an unwavering trust in the Lord our God and call out to Him in the day of trouble, expecting Him to vindicate us and bring us through the trials we are facing.

• We have become living stones who are being built up into the dwelling place of God, but each member is being fashioned and formed through the difficulties, dangers, trials, and tribulation of this present evil age.

• It is easier to remind others who are facing great trials in their lives, of their need to trust in the Lord in the challenging circumstance they face or when confronted with their own personal problems!

• And so following an illegal religious trial before the Jewish Sanhedrin where Jesus was labelled as a blasphemer, He was dragged before Pilate, the Roman governor, where they labelled Him a criminal Who claimed to be the King of the Jews.

• After Christ's illegal trial and unjust interrogation before Annas and Caiaphas, the high priest, Jesus was sent to the Praetorium, to be delivered to Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea and Samaria.

• Not only do we have an assurance of the eternal, heavenly glory that is to come – but His promises include this present age, which means that our entire life is secure in His keeping.We are safe in the arms of Jesus and nothing can separate us from our glorious God of Hope – neither the various trials of this present life nor the bitter circumstance we all have to face.

• The spiritual man or woman who is walking in spirit and truth will know a peace in their heart which passes understanding, even in the midst of great trials and difficulties, while the one who is out of fellowship and walking in fleshly carnality will have inner turmoil of spirit and disease of the soul.

• After many exhausting hours on the Cross and following the humiliating trials, the cruel beatings, the merciless floggings, and the excruciating pain that seared through His body, no doubt the Lord's throat was parched as His tongue was stuck to the roof of His mouth.

• At the beginning of his epistle, James called his fellow believers to be patient in trials, tribulation, difficulties, and dangers, for the result of patient endurance is a firm, precious, and perfected faith which cannot be shaken by doubt or fear.
• May we be ready and willing to persevere under trials and tribulation and allow patience to blossom in our lives, knowing the day is coming when those who are approved will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

• Although Peter explains that as believers we will certainly have to face all kinds of trials, injustices, and persecution for righteousness sake, nonetheless, we are to zealously strive after that which is good... and we have an assurance that the indwelling Spirit of God is greater than he that is in the world.
• And so, in this first epistle from Peter, we are offered some practical principles for a peaceful and fruitful life - even in the midst of great trials and tribulations.

• And by the power of His indwelling Spirit, we can exult in our tribulations and rejoice in our afflictions, knowing that the trials of life bring about endurance and perseverance.

• The reason that Paul was under arrest and awaiting his trial was that he was telling forth the good news of the gospel of grace.

• Like Job, we live in a fallen world where we have trials and tribulation which may be a messenger of Satan which will require us to stand fast in the faith and trust in the Lord with all our heart OR it may be the consequences of sin which the Lord will use to teach and train us if we have a teachable spirit that is honouring to the Lord.
• The trials of life and temptations of Satan serve as tests of our faith in God.
• Unlike Job's friends, we should not automatically jump to one conclusion or another about the trials fellow believers are undergoing (or indeed, those that we are going through), lest we display our own inflexible opinions, engage in religious bias, make dogmatic statements, or become legalistic critics.

• The various trials and tribulations they faced are catalogued in breath-taking detail, but most of these heroes of the faith remain an unidentified 'cloud of faithful witnesses'.

• They had conspired to hold illegal trials, coached people to give false witness against Him, and become deeply disturbed that Lazarus' resurrection from the dead would entice the crowds to follow Him.

• Paul was writing to the Philippian Church from a prison cell, but he wanted to emphasise that the many misfortunes that had befallen him in his ministry, and his incarceration and trial before a Roman court of law, had resulted in the furtherance of the gospel.

• Those forty blissful days that followed the Resurrection must have been wonderful for Christ's disciples, because the sorrow and anguish they felt when they thought the Saviour was dead and buried (following the gruelling time of His arrest, trial, and crucifixion), must have blossomed into a time to ecstatic gladness and joy as Jesus presented Himself to them alive and gave everyone His gracious reassurance that even the terrible act of denial cannot separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord!

• Every believer will... at one time or another, go through a season of trials and tribulation, imploring the Lord to step in and remove whatever ails them.

• He sustains us through every trial and difficulty.

• However, the euphoria they witnessed capsized into a sequence of catastrophic events which resulted in illegitimate trials, an unlawful sentence, Christ's cruel crucifixion, a series of violent earthquakes, various unexplainable convulsions of nature, and the veil of the Temple being torn in two, from top to bottom.

• Not one of God's children is exempt from the tests and trials that overshadow the lives of all His children, and although the burdens that we are obligated to bear may seem to be of greater weight and of a steeper incline by comparison with others, the pressure is carefully weighed in the balance of God's deep love for each of His own.
• When we understand that the will of God is to rid each of His children of all the accumulated dross and clutter of our lives and burn away all that is of me, myself, and I, we are better equipped to face the purifying furnace of affliction in the knowledge that the tests and trials that we are facing are but for a moment: And when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
• Like Job, we may not understand the divine purpose behind the cruel trials that we are obligated to bear, but His Word reminds us that God knows the plans He has for each of our lives – plans for good and not for evil.

• Praise God that all who persevere under trial for Christ's sake, will be approved of Him and receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to ALL who love Him.

• Every act and action, every temptation and trial, every pain, and every prayer, was preparing Him for this ultimate hour, without which the sins of the world could never have been forgiven and salvation could never have been procured.

• Despite the many trials and tribulations they were called upon to face, these men and women obtained a good testimony through faith.
• During those times when we are tempted to feel that we are the only one that is facing difficult challenges in life, it is good to reflect on that great cloud of witnesses who trusted God despite the enormous trials and tribulations they were called upon to face in their uphill walk of faith.

• How can we help to restore those that are overtaken by sin, if we are told to pay heed to our own trials, temptations, sorrows, and sin?
• Earlier in the chapter, we read that 'burdens' refer to trials, temptations, testings, and failures, and the writer to the Hebrews exhorts the spiritual believer to restore the brother or sister in Christ who has fallen short and has been overtaken by faults or failings.
• But in the same passage, we are called to carry our own burdens and pay heed to our own trials, temptations, testings, and failures.

• Matthew gives a detailed description of many things that took place in the week leading up to Christ's death and crucifixion, including His arrest and lawless trials.

• In order to bring the gospel to these people and to us, Paul himself had to undergo terrible trials - but he found great joy when his corrective training brought spiritual fruit.

• Abraham trusted God from the beginning, and his faith was credited to him as righteousness, but the Lord continued to build up his faith over many long years through various trials, temptations, and tests.

• May we become so one with our Saviour that like Paul, we consider it pure joy whenever we are called upon by God to face one of life's many trials, terrors, or tribulations, knowing He will use everything, however difficult and distressing, for our eternal good and for the furtherance of the glorious gospel of Christ Jesus our Saviour.

• And yet at His illegal trial when these Jewish leaders plotted to kill the Prince of life, Jesus kept silent.
• Well, Christ's quiet composure at His trial was partly to fulfil the prophetic Scriptures, for we read: He was led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth.

• Israel rebelled against God's truth and treated His faithful servant abominably, but Jeremiah found hope and comfort in God's Word and was able to say amidst severe persecution and trial: Your words were found and I did eat them.

• In this world we will all see tribulation and trials.

• However, the Crown-of-Life is an earned reward for special acts of consecrated service and perseverance under trial.

• We live in a fallen world where we will always be faced with trials, temptations, difficulties, and dangers, but we patiently endure in the knowledge that Christ died and rose again so that we might be made a new creation in Christ.

• We certainly live in a world of trials and tribulations, but as God's own blood-bought children we do not have to fall into the world's way of worrying, for Christ has instructed us to cast all our cares and worries upon His shoulders.

• He is writing words of encouragement in the trials and temptations that they are facing.

• He was deeply grieved at Christ's unfair trial and His brutal beatings - and shocked to witness Christ's sacrificial offering of Himself upon the Cross.

• James is calling Christians to godly living, a mature faith, patience when tested, a joyful attitude in trials, a gracious compassion for others, and someone who is to be a 'doer' of the Word and not simply a hearer only.

• Many believers think that our Christian life should be problem-free and devoid of trials, and yet Jesus warned that in this world we will have tribulation, while Paul also reminds us that we must, through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God.
• James also wanted to explain that our personal trials are a test of our faith and the daily difficulties we face in life help to develop our Christian character and mature our spiritual walk.
• And so at the beginning of his epistle, he calls us to consider the various trials we face as pure joy, and the inevitable difficulties that come our way as a glorious opportunity to rejoice in the Lord, the Rock of our salvation.
• Whatever the source of our trials and temptations, we can choose one of two routes.
• We can seek to battle through in our own strength, wondering if God really cares as the pressure increases until we finally give-up, or we can remember that God is in control, we can rejoice in the Lord and consider it pure joy, recognising it as one of the various trials which God will use to fine-tune our faith, increase our dependence upon Him, develop our Christian character, and bring us closer to spiritual maturity.

• Following his two-year imprisonment in Antioch because of the accusations made against him by the religious leaders in Jerusalem, Paul was taken as a prisoner to Rome where he was incarcerated for a further two years, awaiting his trial.

• The first distinguishing feature of a true servant of God, is one who demonstrates great endurance in the midst of trials and difficulties, while at the same time maintaining a deep regard for the well-being of others who are going through their own troubles and adversities.
• Paul's apostolic ministry is an example for us all to emulate, and in this verse he explained the reason he had to undergo the different troubles and trials he listed; Paul was faithful to lift up the name of Jesus and preach the gospel of Christ, which is an offence to the world: For the word of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

• Under the authority of the Holy Spirit, we should be actively engaged in the work God has given us to do because we have received sufficient power to overcome all trials and tribulations.

• We have been entrusted with the ministry of reconciliation, and one Christian characteristic that is pleasing to the Lord, is the one who can demonstrate the long-suffering goodness of God in the midst of the trials and tribulations they face.

• We find him exhorting believers to stand firm on the truth of the gospel of God, to preach the Word of truth at every opportunity, to be constant in the faith of the saints, and to persevere, by God's grace, under the difficult trials that were coming on the earth.

• Throughout their writings, we discover that despite a temptation to flee from the trials, tribulations, and terrors of this broken world system, and in spite of the many difficulties and dangers that are a part of our everyday lives, our confidence is in the Lord, for He cares for the afflicted and He refines the righteous in His mercy and grace.

• But perhaps the greatest trial he was to face, would be to maintain his own faith in God.

• ALL that sought to make Him captive and attempted to destroy Him through trials, temptations, accusation, beatings, crucifixion, and death, were fatally wounded, and Satan (that serpent of old who bruised by His heel) was crushed and set at naught, for Christ triumphed over him, defeating every foe that sought the destruction of the human race.

• Judas, the traitor, had conspired with leaders of the Jews to hand Him over to them, and Christ's warning of his arrest, trial, crucifixion, and Resurrection intensified with every passing hour. 

• It is trials and tribulation in the life of a Christian that refines our trust in God and increases our dependence upon the Lord.
• And when we doubt, we become tossed to and fro in a sea of uncertainty: But blessed is the man who endures such trials and tribulations, in the power of His might, because when he passes the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to all who love Him.
• But the trials and tribulations that are designed by the enemy to unsteady our faith, can be used as the catalyst to strengthen our trust in God if we will but persevere in His sufficient strength, for this brings honour to our Father in heaven and an eternal reward for those that patiently endure.
• The difficulties we face in life can trip us up and tempt us into doubt and despair, but blessed is the man who endures these trials and tribulations: Because when he has passed the test he will receive the magnificent crown of life, which the Lord our God has promised to all who love him.

• What a wonderful truth to discover, that no matter what difficult circumstance we may be facing, God is our strength and stay, a very present help in time of trouble, and He has promised to be with us no matter what trials and temptations may confront us.

• We are warned in many places in Scripture not to be deceived, especially in the area of testing, trials, and temptation.
• Earlier, James pointed out that the man who perseveres under trial is truly blessed, for God uses such trials and temptations in life to mature us in the faith, as we hold fast to the Word of truth which draws us into ever closer fellowship with Himself.
• But too often our deceitful enemy uses the trials of life and the circumstances we face to cast doubt on the sovereign character of God by causing us to doubt His Word, question His goodness or blame Him for the difficulties we face in life.
• He counsels us against fitting the character of God into our own wishful thinking in order to justify our own ungodly acts and our own sinful propensities, simply because we don't understand the reason for the trials we are facing.

• He is not suggesting that we simply have to grin and bear the trials and tribulations we go through, as best we can.
• Rejoicing in suffering may not seem the normal reaction to trials and tribulations.

• He warned that those who are called by His name will receive the same treatment from religious worldlings, for in this fallen world-system we will suffer tribulation and trials.

• And He is sufficient for whatever trials and difficulties we may face, during our brief sojourn in this world system.

• Paul warned us that all who live godly will suffer persecution, while James adds that we should embrace our various trials with joy, knowing that the testing of our faith produces patient endurance which will bring us into spiritual maturity and Christian completeness.

• But despite all his trials, Jeremiah maintained his trust in God and never forgot that it was the Lord God Who made the heavens and the earth by His great power and by His outstretched arm.

• Earlier in this passage, James deals with the trials and temptations of this life, which God uses to increase our faith in Him and develop godly patience and a Christlike attitude.

• We all live in a fallen world, and every one of us will suffer trials and tribulation, but if in His power and grace, we remain sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil our ministries courageously, and become a living sacrifice unto the Lord, we too will be able to rejoice in the Lord always, and articulate the joy that is ours in serving our great God and Saviour. 

• They understood that the Lord hears every cry of their heart and that He alone responds to their pleas and brings them through their troubles and trials.

• They were uttered to the confused disciples as they approached their greatest time of trial and anxiety that was to shroud their lives for three days of deep dark agony of soul, as the One they loved and trusted was snatched from their sight and all hope of the coming kingdom Christ promised, evaporated like the mist of the morning.
• These words were spoken by the One Who was facing the most acute trouble, for He was facing rejection, betrayal, false accusation, an unjust trial, and the weight of the sin of the world on His shoulders, for the Cross lay before the Lord Jesus.
• They had to observe His unlawful trial and cruel crucifixion.

• In his defence at his trial before king Agrippa, Paul recounted his background as a zealous persecutor of Christians and related his wonderful conversion on the road to Damascus.

• He was told at the start of his ministry that he would suffer many things for the name of the Lord Jesus, and what a catalogue of trials and tribulations have been listed in his various epistles.
• Then comes the reminder that trials and tribulations, suffering and pain, is all part of the course of a mighty man of God.

• Because of unbelief, they forfeited the power to live a victorious life when surrounded by trials and difficulties. 

• He looked away from the evils, enemies, troubles, and trials that surrounded him, and acknowledged that God is his shield and protector, for God alone is our defence and defender.

• For only in the power of the Spirit we can overcome external temptations and trials of life and do all that God desires of us.

• The first chapter of James is dealing with the subject of trials that are sent by God to strengthen our faith and sharpen our Christian resolve.
• James links this into a section that discusses the significance of the Word of God, not only in the trials and temptation we face, but in every facet of our daily lives.

• And yet he knows from experience that the Christian life, for both rich and poor, is full of trials, tribulations, difficulties, and distresses.
• But if we face the tests and trials of life with a godly attitude and a heart that trusts God's Word, it will move us towards spiritual maturity and develop a heart that remains humble before the Lord.

• He wanted the horrors of life that surrounded him, at that time, to be removed far away... but David had to learn that you can't run away from the circumstances of life, you can't escape from those that would do you harm, you can't live in this world and be free from trials and tribulations, you can't fly away to a deserted place and be at rest, for we live in a fallen world, we inhabit a fallen body and we live among a fallen race of fallen creatures.

• Let us not stare down at the world with its trials and tribulations, and instead keep our eyes on Jesus.

• Peter grew from the young petulant man who boasted that he would die for the Lord, even though others would forsake Him... to that old seasoned saint who came to understand that the trial of our faith is more precious to the Lord than gold.
• No doubt, Peter recalled His Master's personal command to, feed my sheep, and provide food for My little lambs, as he sought to remind his readers to persevere in life's trials and grow in brotherly love, to be fruitful in their knowledge and understanding of the Lord Jesus Christ, and to make their calling steadfast and sure.

• Suffering for Christ's sake and enduring many trials and tribulations on His account is part of the worthy walk of the normal Christian life, for we have not only been given the wonderful advantages of trusting in Christ for salvation, but also the holy privilege of suffering for Him.
• James considers the various trials that come our way to be 'all joy' and calls us to 'rejoice in our sufferings' knowing that through them our faith will be tested.
• And Paul considers that the sufferings, sadness, trials, and tribulations of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed in us.

• No matter what trials and tribulations may pepper our pathway, may we develop the same mindset that Paul demonstrated, in his letter to the Philippians.

• The Father generally trains His children through trials, difficulties, and sufferings, just as the Lord Jesus also learned obedience: Through the things that He suffered.

• His difficult trials and the chains of tribulation that constrained him did not cause Paul to become bitter in his attitude towards God.

• Like so many of Paul's epistles, this second letter to the Thessalonians opens with a prayer of thanksgiving and praise for the faith, hope, love, and patience of these believers, amid the serious trials and tribulation they were facing.
• He knew that patiently enduring the various trials they were facing would test and develop their faith, producing patient, uncomplaining endurance, and Christian maturity, for the honour of His name.

• We need to give the little problems we encounter that seem so insignificant, as well as the great burdens that weigh us down, and we need to entrust Him with any physical, material, and emotional burdens, as well as our spiritual trials and testings.

• David came to an understanding that God was right with him in the midst of all his trials and tribulations, and that God had heard and received his prayer.

• Sorrow may well be our lot in this life, for we have been told that in this world we will suffer trials and difficulties, but we must be of good cheer, for we have His indwelling Holy Spirit.

• He encountered many dangers in the city, perils in the wilderness, and shipwrecks at sea, as well as many false accusations and unjust trials causing Paul many cold, hungry, and sleepless nights.
• Jesus Himself told us that in this world His followers would go through all sorts of tribulations, trials, sufferings, and persecutions, but we are not to fear what is coming on the earth, for He has overcome the world and given us His indwelling Spirit to lead and to guide.
• Peter also warns of the fiery trials that all believers will undergo on their Christian journey, but reminds us that our earthly afflictions will soon pass, producing in us an eternal weight of glory that will far surpass our expectation: For after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, Who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
• We are to cling to this great encouragement by grace through faith, as we travel through this hostile, antagonistic world from grace to glory, for our various trials are but for a season.
• We are to depend on Him through all the difficulties and dangers of life, for although the sufferings and trials of this temporal world are but for a moment, His glory in us is secured for eternity.

• Why did Paul have to go through so many trials and troubles and why do we have to face pressures and persecution in our own lives?

• The shock-horror of the cruel Cross, the distressing denial of His Lord at the unjust trial, the bewildering amazement at His glorious Resurrection, the breathtaking baptism of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the astonishing inclusion of the Gentiles into the family of God, and the many hidden mysteries of the Church that were almost entirely revealed to the apostle Paul, were all enfolded and yet enshrouded in one simple act - when Jesus rose from the Passover supper, poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet.

• His fate also reminds us of men like Job and Jeremiah who both faced terrible trials, similar to those about which David patiently sought the Lord.

• And by God's grace through faith in Him, we too have an assurance that no matter what troubles and trials we may face in this life, God will use them for our good and His eternal glory, for we are His children and the sheep of His pasture.

• Paul also gave us that wonderful encouragement, that God is faithful, Who will not allow you to be tried beyond what you are able, but with the trial will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

• God is Spirit and in order to be identified with man and take on the role of Kinsman-Redeemer He had to enter the human race in a physical body and live His entire life in exactly the same way that we live: living, breathing, eating, sleeping, working, with His own lifeblood pulsing round His human frame and subjected to every trial and temptation that is common to all humanity.

• But the early Church could not be silent and when Peter and John exercised power from on high, by healing a paralyzed man, the Jewish leaders became fearful, arrested the apostles, and brought them before the Sanhedrin for trial.

• Jesus Himself warned us that in this world we would suffer tribulations and trials, but He also urged us to remember that He has overcome the world: For greater is He that is in us that he that is in the world.

• The shocking rejection of their Messiah and King, His illegal trials and cruel crucifixion on a Roman cross, caused the longed-for time of peace and prosperity, under the rulership of God's anointed King, to be postponed for a season.

• However, from verse 17, the author introduces the theme of faith that is tested through life's trials and tribulations and the blessings that come through faithful obedience to the Word of the Lord.
• James encourages us to consider the various trials we encounter as a joy, knowing that the testing of our faith produces endurance and develops godly patience which causes us to grow more and more like our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

• Indeed, Paul instructs us to be joyful when encountering various trials, for when we persevere under serious difficulties, our faith is strengthened.
• In His grace, God has promised those who remain faithful in trials and tribulations, will one day receive a crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
• Abraham believed God and was justified at the start of his journey - Abraham continued to believe God, throughout various tests and trials he underwent - and Abraham grew in grace and in a knowledge of the God in Whom he trusted.

• Matthew 27, traces Christ's path from his trial before the Roman authorities to his brutal crucifixion as a common criminal on Calvary's Cross, and His burial in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea.

• How important to pray about troubles and trials immediately and not allow them to fester in our heart or cause them to distress our soul.

• If we give into temptation we sin, but when we resist sin's evil bait, God turns that temptation into a meaningful trial which He uses for our greater good and His own glory.
• Temptations and trials are the opposite sides of the same coin.

• May we always call out to the Lord for help during times of trials and life's many problems.

• And so, in the light of our superabundant blessings, the multiplied glories of salvation and our eternal inheritance which is kept for us in heaven, Peter encourages us not to faint at the problems and persecutions that pepper our path through life, but to allow our trials and temptations to develop in us a tried and tested faith that trusts God no matter what.
• God in His grace will use that trial to strengthen and develop our faith.

• We live in a fallen world where men of faith will always suffer trials and tribulations, but the Psalmist offers hope for all who trust in the Lord, even though there may be seasons of lack or times when we feel forgotten or afflicted.

• David wanted to know how long the bitter trial and manifold difficulties that were flooding into his life would continue, before the Lord would step in to right the wrongs and comfort His servant.
• But David is a man after God's own heart, and although that does not preclude him from having to go through the inevitable trials and tribulations of life, his confidence stands firm in the goodness of the Lord and his bitter pleas for help come from a man who trusts in God's loving-kindness and rejoices in the joy of his salvation.

• Through all his trials, he maintained an unwavering faith in His heavenly Lord.
• He incorrectly believed that someone experiencing trials must be due to their sin.
• We may not understand the things we have to go through; the problems and pain, the trials and tribulations.

• Caiaphas and his generation, had to be set aside through unbelief, but at His illegal trial, Jesus prophesied of His return to earth, at the end of the Great Tribulation.
• Jesus was condemned as a blasphemer at his unjust trial.

• There were many reasons that Christ's trial was illegal.
• The trial of Jesus was a travesty of justice.
• This was an illegitimate trial that took place in a forbidden setting at an unlawful time.  Christ's nighttime arrest and His secret trial in the dead of night were two of the many things that blatantly broke Jewish law.
• He was led away for trial, to the high priest..
• In their eagerness to condemn the Lord Jesus as a criminal and have Him executed, the high priest and members of the Jewish Sanhedrin conducted an unholy trial, and broke the Mosaic Law countless times, in order to secure their guilty verdict and pass the death sentence on this innocent Man - the very Man Who had come to save them from their sin, through His own sacrificial death.
• As prophesied of old, He had been led as a lamb to the slaughter and stood before His accusers in the centre of this farcical trial, and yet He held His peace and refused to respond to the fabricated 'evidence'.

• The Jews had been baying for his blood and had hatched an evil plan to kill him, but Paul, a citizen of Rome, had appealed to Ceasar to ensure he received a fair trial.

• Faith and patience, in the face of trials and tribulation, were two qualities of the Thessalonian believers.
• The apostle John tells us that sufferings, imprisonment, persecution, and even death, await many Christians in this life - but a crown of life is the promised reward for those that are faithful during the time of trial, and who patiently endure in the day of trouble.

• King David was not exempt from the trials and tribulations that come from living in a fallen world.
• None of us are exempt from the trials, tribulations, and temptations of life, nor are we immune to the disappointments, discouragements, and dangers that we may meet.

• But the anguish in Gethsemane, the mocking of the soldiers, and the Sanhedrin's illegal trial where He was falsely condemned of blasphemy, ALL had to be endured before Jesus was led away by the entire multitude to undergo a civil trial before Pilate, the Roman governor.
• The trial before the religious court of the Jews, which took place in the dead of night, was illegal and every requirement of the Mosaic Law was broken by the High Priest and his co-conspirators.

• Paul refers to suffering as a light and momentary affliction, which is achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs all the hardships they inflicted, and God is using all such trials to train us in all godly graces, knowing that suffering produces patient endurance, endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens the confident hope of our salvation in Christ, and His heavenly rewards.

• It is not simply getting through the trials and tribulations of life that is important, but coming through victoriously by exercising our faith in Him and learning the lesson that God is teaching us.

• Walking in the unity of the faith, being led by the Spirit, standing firm on the Word of God, holding fast to the glorious gospel of Christ, persevering under trials, and carrying out the good works that God has prepared for us to do, should be the normal way Christians live.

• Peter exhorts us not to consider the fiery trials we face as strange.
• Beloved, he writes, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you.

• Paul longed to visit the Christians at Rome but never managed to take the journey until he was brought there in chains and imprisoned, awaiting a Roman trial.

• If we had to endure unimaginable trials every day of our earthy life, for Christ's sake, it would pale into insignificance, by comparison with the glory that God has prepared for those that love Him.

• Godly devotion, saintly worship and reverential fear of our heavenly Father is not perfected through multiplied blessing, but is often fine-tuned through the long night of doubt and sorrow, or during painful times of trial and tribulation - for it is often when we are in pain that we hold fast to our heavenly Creator.

• When this happens, just remember that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.

• Jesus Himself warned that in this world we will have trials and tribulation - but we are not to be fearful, for He has overcome the world and we are victorious in Him.

• Jesus warned us that in this world we would have tribulation and trials because we are identified with Him.

• Our trust in God's Word should be steadfast, and our faith in Christ should be immovable - no matter what trials and tribulations we may be called upon to face.

• Through Isaiah, it was also explained that it would be in quietness of spirit and through confidence in God's faithfulness that they would find strength to deal with the trials and tribulations they were facing.

• The burden of Hebrews is to keep on living our life by faith, and its target audience is not the unsaved, but believers who are encouraged to persevere despite the temptations and trials we inevitably face.
• It is a summons to persevere under trial and press on from the elementary stages of faith to a deeper spiritual knowledge, and richer understanding of the high calling of God that is our present possession in Christ Jesus.

• Life is full of pitfalls and snares, and we often make wrong choices, but it is comforting to know that no matter what trials we may be called upon to face, or what foolish choices we have made in the past, we can go to the Lord and ask Him for godly insight and spiritual understanding, and He has promised to give us all that is needed for the task.
• is a tool the Lord uses to test and strengthen our faith in Him, and which helps to produce in us the patient endurance that is so needful for our spiritual growth – but we are reminded to stand fast in the faith unwaveringly – if we are to honour the Lord Who bought us with His precious blood, and to come forth as gold.How much we all need God’s heavenly wisdom in the tests and trials of life’s disappointments and difficulties, which are so much a part of our everyday lives.

• Peter reminds us in His epistle that God, in His grace, knows how to deliver the godly in their trials, while reserving the ungodly to the day of judgement.

• Paul was already in Rome awaiting his own trial, and having run out of his ill-gotten gains, Onesimus sought help from the apostle.

• We see Christ's wonderful intercession for Simon Peter, that his faith would not fail, and we know that God is no respecter or persons and will equally intercede for us when we are facing similar trials and tribulations.
• The trial of Peter's faith is no different from the various trials that we are faced on our journey through life.

• But in another aspect, we are being established amidst all the trials and difficulties of this present age (which are designed by the enemy to shake our faith), for the kingdom of heaven is within, as well as a future hope.

• In this world we will have tribulation and trials, and the Christian life is not a bed of roses as is so often taught today, but we are to be of good cheer, for Christ has overcome this world and has gone to prepare a place for us.

• Satan must seek permission from God if he is going to try your faith or mine, or indeed the faith or any particular believer by inflicting trials and tribulation, such as he did with My servant Job.
• But there is nothing that Satan can do to any of us without God's express permission, and when we are His children, we also know that all things that happen to us will be used for our benefit as well as God's glory, even if at the time the trial is happening, it is painful or we have no idea why something catastrophic is happening.
• Peter was warned of the upcoming ordeal, but Job was not forewarned of His trials - and although we know that at times the enemy will seek to sift all of us who are living godly in Christ Jesus, never forget that God not only knows all about it but has also permitted it for a reason.
• God in His grace permits the trials and difficulties of life to act for our eternal benefit and for the glory of His name.

• The fall of man in the Garden of Eden dictates that our bodies and souls are prone to trials and tribulations, disease, distress, and disability.

• Despite the many trials and tribulations that all who live godly in Christ Jesus will inevitable have to face, Paul concludes his inspired writing with these wonderful words: For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

• No matter what you and I are facing and no matter what tests and trials we may be required to face, we have God's full assurance that His grace is sufficient for all eventualities that may come our say.

• God can test his children at any point in their earthly walk, but as spiritual maturity develops, the trials of faith often become increasingly painful, as God searches to and fro, for that man or that woman, who has an undivided heart that is turned toward Him - no matter what life's circumstances may throw at them.

• And so, James reminds us that the trials we face are designed to test our dependence upon God, strengthen our faith in Him, and drive us to our knees in prayer and supplication so that we may receive His grace and mercy to help in time of need.
• James does not necessarily encourage these believers to cry out for God's help or His strength in their desperate time of need, nor does he advise them to request an escape from the fiery trial they are facing.
• He knows that if they pray for wisdom, then in their trial they will learn the precious lesson that the Lord desires to teach them; and God gives liberally to all who simply ask Him.

• Jesus warned us that just as He was despised and rejected of men, we too would have to face difficulties and severe trials, we too would share in His sufferings, for because of our new birth we are eternally identified with our Lord in ALL things.

• Let us never doubt God's Word, even when we are surrounded by the trials of this life: For you have not received a spirit of slavery that leads you into fear again.

• Indeed, we who have trusted Christ and who have been saved by grace through faith in Him, have much about which to rejoice, despite the sobering truth that in this world all who live godly in Christ Jesus will face various trials and tribulations and may even have to face persecution and death.

• A little earlier in his prophecies to Israel, Isaiah called to their remembrance that God is their refuge and strength in every trial they face, and their everlasting Rock in the storms of life.

• Let us never forget that Jesus is capable of being moved to give relief those who undergo the trials and tribulation which we all have to meet in this world.

• They are to continue in faith, even when going through difficult trials and tests.

• Temptations and fiery trials, tribulation and stormy seas, irritation and deep disappointment, persecution and various people, will be used by the enemy to burn our soul and shipwreck our testimony.

• The Lord Jesus told His disciples some important truths concerning the trials and difficulties that are inevitable in a fallen world, where men are lovers of themselves and sin has taken root in the heart of humanity.
• The endurance they displayed in the midst of reprehensible oppression and numerous trials, was a testimony to their patience, perseverance, and faith.
• It was only right that Paul offered this well-earned encouragement and reassurance to these beleaguered saints... to persevere in the midst of terrible trials, by commending them for their Christian commitment when they were undergoing such pressures, persecution, temptation, and trials.
• In a world where we are increasingly beset by difficulties and dangers, trials and tribulation, persecution and pain, false teachings and unbiblical doctrines from so many quarters, let us set our face as a flint to trust in the Lord with all our heart.

• The Scriptures give a clear distinction between trials and temptations.
• God uses trials for our benefit and to teach us important truths, which enable us to grow in grace and in a knowledge of Him.
• And God uses trials for our eternal benefit while Satan sends temptation to harm us and hinder us in our spiritual growth.
• If we resist the temptation we do not sin and God will often turn that temptation to sin into a meaningful trial for good, which He graciously works together for our eternal benefit and for His eternal glory.
• We should not fall into the trap of complaining about the fiery trials that befalls us nor should we be tempted to stray from the godly path that leads to life and light in the Lord.
• Rather, we should consider that the trials and sufferings through which we are going are not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed in us.
• Probably the most important way to turn a temptation for evil into a trial that God will use for good, is to maintain a close relationship with Him through continuous prayer, ongoing praise and a thankful heart for all His goodness and grace towards us.

• But one issue that seems to thread its way throughout his epistle, and which is equally relevant for Christians today, touches on the need for unquestioning, patient-endurance during difficult trials and tribulations - and the glory it gives to God when we endure suffering for His sake. 
• The trials that Job endured are used by the apostle to remind us that the Lord has promised to be with us in every difficulty and danger of life.
• James was trying to explain why Christians should count it great joy when we fall into various trials and tribulations.

• Suffering for Christ was nothing unusual for this apostle to the Gentiles who had come to learn that our present troubles, our momentary afflictions, and our short-lived sufferings are achieving for us an eternal weight of glory, which far outweighs any trials or tribulations we may have to face on earth.
• Praise God that like Paul our times are in God's hands, and no matter what present sufferings, momentary afflictions, difficult troubles, or harrowing persecutions we may be called upon to face, they are achieving for us an eternal weight of glory which far outweighs any trials or tribulations we may be called upon to face in this earthly realm.

• He encourages us to rejoice in our trials because we have believed the glorious gospel of grace and have a heavenly hope founded on Christ.
• We need to fix our eyes on Jesus and the truth of God's Word and nothing else, in order to be able to avoid our hearts being turned toward the difficulties and trials of everyday life.

• When difficulties arise in our lives and we are beset on every side with hardships and trials, we need to adopt the attitude of David in His many psalms of praise and thanksgiving – who reflected on God's past goodness, rejoiced in His future promises, and blessed the Lord for all the benefits that He bestows on us day by day: For the Lord is compassion and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in loving-kindness. 

• And although the Lord does not always keep His children away from their troubles and trials, His grace is always sufficient.

• Let us not be influenced by the mindset of the children of this world system who become impatient and despondent with the troubles and trials that face them.

• Ambitions and emotions, temptations and trials, hope and fear, inner thoughts and expectations, together with spiritual strengths and weaknesses, can all be reflected in the face and mirrored in the expression of the eyes.

• As a Roman citizen, Paul was in a position to defend and advance the position of Christianity at his forthcoming trial in Rome, knowing that the impact of his court-case would have repercussions throughout Christendom.

• It is that same Jesus Who demands that we honour Him, yield to Him, reverence Him, and submit to His leading and guidance, as we journey through life and face the many trials and tribulations that will stalk our path.

• Paul had experienced many trials and tribulations..

• To love life in the midst of trials is a deliberate act of the will and is honouring to the Lord, for it expresses an attitude of faith in God, it demonstrates a spirit of trust in Him, that He is in control and will work all things together for the good to those that love Him.

• As soon as His illegal religious trial before the Jewish Sanhedrin was concluded, Christ was handed over to the Roman governor for an illegal civil trial... throughout which Pilate compromised the rule of law and his personal and professional integrity.

• When doubt and discouragements rise in our hearts or when we are surrounded by trials, troubles, and temptation, we should shoot out a quiver of prayer arrows to the Lord for His help and guidance.

• Like Christ, Who is our superlative example, we are being perfected by the things that we suffer and through our response to the various trials and tribulations we face in this life.

• Having been continuously persecuted by the Jews who were calling for his death, Paul had made an appeal to Caesar for a fair trial.

• But until we reach our heavenly home, we must march through the suffering, disappointments, trials, and tribulation that this world affords for all its inhabitants, knowing that our hope is in Christ and is established forever.

• When the gospel of grace was taught by those that opposed Paul's God-ordained ministry out of jealousy or hatred (and even though these teachers were instrumental in many of the trials and tribulations Paul had to face in his ministry to the Gentiles), he was able to write: For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance.

• So often, we see that in times of trials and difficulties, the Psalmists lifted up their voices in hymns of thanksgiving and praise, calling on the righteous to be joyful in the Lord, to rejoice in the God of their salvation and to sing to the Lord with thankful hearts, for praise, worship, and thanksgiving from the man or woman who loves the Lord, is beautiful and beneficial.

• Six bogus and illegal trials were held in a desperate attempt to characterise Jesus a blasphemer or label Him with some capital offense, but despite the frantic attempts of the high priest and the Sanhedrin, they found no fault in Him.

• In the same way, we should never forget that no matter what trials and tribulations we face in this Church Age, let us be part of today's little flock who trusts God's Word, believes His promises, gives glory to His name, and lifts up our voices in joyful praise and worship: Lord, You are my God; I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name; For You have worked wonders, Plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.

• However, despite his difficult trials and mounting tribulations, Paul was able to rejoice that the Lord had stood by him and strengthened him in his hour of desperate need.

• Carrying out the will of God was the focus of Christ's life... and His death and Resurrection demonstrated that He overcame all life's trials, to the glory of God the Father.

• While the author of this psalm no doubt faced some terrible trials, deep distresses, and foreboding enemies from which the Lord delivered him, it becomes increasingly meaningful when we realise that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Cornerstone about Whom the psalmist is prophesying.
• It is poignant to realise that only a matter of hours before Christ's betrayal, arrest, trial, and crucifixion... when He too was surrounded by His enemies, rejected by the religious leaders, despised by the multitudes, falsely accused by the chief priests, mocked by the Roman soldiers, abandoned by His disciples, and nailed to a cruel Cross, that Jesus sang this very hymn with His disciples in the upper room after they had partaken of the last supper, for Psalm 118 is one of the songs of ascent that was sung at the Passover.

• The Lord knows how to deliver the righteous from trials, but He also reserves the day of judgement for the wicked to be punished.

• The book of Job has been an inspiration and encouragement to many saints down through the ages who themselves have had to go through some terrible trials and horrific persecutions, as well as enduring the day to day problems that all humanity has to face in a fallen world where God has been rejected by the vast majority of mankind. Valuable lessons can be learned from Job's trials, even though the mystery of suffering is not totally fully understood by any of us.
• We learn from Job that suffering is not always a result of sin, nor that the righteous are exempt from tribulations and trials.

• And although we know that God never 'tempts' His children, He uses the trials and temptations of life to test our confidence in Him, encouraging us to depend upon Him and not on ourselves when we face the trials and temptations in life.

• Let us be those that run with perseverance the race set before us, as we preach the Word and patiently endure the trials of life, by grace through faith.

• Although the church at Philadelphia was small in number, they faithfully held fast to the truth of God's Word and patiently endured the difficulties and trials they faced, in a world at enmity with God.
• Jesus knew that complacency in our Christian walk was a dangerous trait, for we are surrounded by many temptations and trials that can lure us away from the path of righteousness or exhaust our soul, if we are not walking in spirit and truth.

• The world in which we live is a fallen world; a place of sufferings and trials, and a time of heartaches and problems; a life of difficulties and sickness, and a season of disappointments and death.

• Throughout our life the enemy of our soul causes much suffering, pain, persecution, and distress to believers, but the Bible tells us that suffering is part of the Christian course and in Christ we can become victorious, no matter what difficulties and hardships are strewn in our path, for no matter how fierce the trial and how severe the test, the full and final victory is already ours in Christ.

• We are to endure patiently through our trials, rejoicing in the Lord always, praying continually, and in everything giving thanks, for this is the will of God for all who are running the Christian race.

• Not only did Joseph serve his father well but throughout his life, he demonstrated an exemplary faith in God despite the many trials and difficulties he faced.