You never have to pray for a trial because they come without asking.
Whenever I ask a saint what their life verse is, it is almost always born out of a great trial.
Trials are the classroom where we learn how to pray.
I want my prayer life to be such that in the greatest trials of my life my prayer time does not increase, but only changes subjects for a time.
God slays a man, that He can give him a new life. “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him…” (Job 13:15).
Spiritual growth requires natural sacrifices.
Tribulation is the currency that either buys character or is squandered into bitterness. “…we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope” (Romans 5:3-4). If it was easy you wouldn’t grow.
Never focus on the middle of your circumstances, but on the end.
Do you want to know what God wants to change in you the most? Simply look at the trials you are going through. He engineers your circumstances to change you.
No circumstance is by chance. God is the engineer of your life. He allows each circumstance. “…count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing…” (James 1:2-3). Knowing what? Knowing God arranged the trial for you.
We usually can only see God’s plan after a trial, and during the trial we can only trust Him. So, do that, trust Him.
God puts His saints through trials to grow them.
We never ask God for the trials that would change us, but once changed we realize that it was in the trial that God did His greatest work in our most difficult time. “And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make” (Jeremiah 18:4).
God does not make your life easy because an easy life would not make the saint He wants you to be.
The Lord has given us the Word that we might learn it, and places us in difficult circumstances that He might drive the points home.
I once wrote, “…every tear waters the life that produces fruit”. Trials are the plow that breaks your heart. “For thus says the LORD …’Break up your fallow ground…’” (Jeremiah 4:3). Your heart is that fallow unprepared ground. To grow you must first be broken. Every tear has a purpose.
Don’t despise the trial but embrace what it will produce. You must be broken that you can be made new. The blessing is not in the process, but the result.
We waste all our energy trying to overcome adversity instead of allowing it to have its perfect work in our heart.
Life is hard, but Christ in me. In whatever trials you are in, simply say it aloud followed by, “but Christ in me”. Health is failing, but Christ in me. Financial hardships, but Christ in me. Relationship problems, but Christ in me. “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me…” (Galatians 2:20).
You know when God has changed you, when all is well in spite of the trials that surround you.
To get through the present, remember all He has done in the past. He has you. “I will lift up my eyes to the hills—From whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord…” (Psalm 121:1-2).
Blessings to you,
Paul
All Scripture is in red and uses the NKJV (New King James Version) translation unless otherwise noted.
Your words are so encouraging to me. It’s like sitting down with you and having a conversation with a friend. Thank you for ministering.
Thank you so much! This was such an encouragement to me. It is my prayer that I could be used of God, and in so doing then be His vessel to inspire others to be used of Him in their unique calling.
Jas 1:2-3 “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”
It is the sign of a mature Christian that can say that verse out loud and mean it. Such a difficult level to get to, yet somewhere that places us in a position of great peace regardless of what is happening around us.
Paul, you and I have talked enough that you know I’m one of those who tends to look for spiritual confirmation in *everything*…and you just provided it with this: “…count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing…” (James 1:2-3). I’m in the middle of a seven-day Bible study, and James 1:1-4 has been mentioned over and over in it, so i’ve read Janes 1:2-3 a few times this week. I believe there are no coincidences where God is concerned, so seeing your blog post while engaged in this particular Bible study indicates to me that I’m studying exactly what God wants me studying at this precise moment in my life. Thank you, brother 🙂
You are very wise my friend, as the Lord operates such that He sends messages in pairs or packs that He might drive a point home! I am the same way, I agonize over what I might study or what I should myself write out. Sometimes, like with this very article, the Lord brings about a circumstance in which I need to hear the message that He has me to write. You know what that circumstance is as we have already talked about it offline. I sure appreciate your friendship. Praying that His will be done in your life.
Any wisdom I have comes from God.
I treasure your friendship, brother.
And that is why your wisdom runs so deep. Blessings to you my friend and sister!