Trials troubles and tribulations

And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace.

In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,. Strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.

So that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation.

Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Because most have no idea how to actually obtain the victory that could be theirs. And worse, most are surprised that they even had to experience the battle in the first place! Again, this is the result of the Body of Christ lacking knowledge on the subject of tests, trials, troubles, tribulations and afflictions.

Until the Body of Christ knows the truth about this subject, Christians will remain defeated, beat up, depressed, oppressed, and discouraged! Brothers and Sisters I encourage you to listen to the Entire Series and learn the important Biblical truths regarding how to obtain the victory that is ours when we overcome EVERY test, trial, trouble, tribulation or affliction that comes our way.

LEARN how you can walk in the victory that comes with being a child of the most high God and never again be beaten up and robbed of the inheritance that is rightfully yours in Christ!

Listen Online: Part 1 of this series is now available online and can be accessed in our Audio Broadcast Section. I encourage you to listen this powerful message and discover how to overcome every test, trial, trouble, tribulation or affliction that comes against you! You can even make copies of it and pass it to your friends! So when trials, tests and tribulations come we need to keep reminding ourselves to maintain an attitude of victory rather than an attitude of defeat since God is our source.

We are able to take charge of our destiny by rejoicing. Get excited for the victory that going to come and for the spiritual development that is taking place in your life. You are advancing in your spiritual maturity. Yet, if we are going to see true and lasting spiritual growth in our lives and victory over our circumstances, then we must deal with the wants and desires of our flesh.

Thus, the third principle for dealing with test and trials is to conquer self and the desires of our flesh. The Apostle Paul list the works of the flesh in Galatians For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one other, that you may not do the things that you desire. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious, which are: adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustfulness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these; of which I forewarn you, even as I also forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. Paul says that living according to the flesh is a way of thinking.

It is a way of thinking that is contrary to God and his word. So those impulses that we feel in times of pressure are not best ways for us to respond. Later on in Romans 8 Paul reminds us that we are more than conquers. So we need to conquer our flesh. Rather than following its impulses we should walk according to the Spirit of God.

The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and are life. By walking according to the word of God. Rather than following the desires of our flesh, we need to pray. In test and trials often we pray for deliverance, but we do not recognize that God expects us to play a role in our deliverance, that we learn to respond correctly and become stronger.

If God instantly delivered us from every test and trial we would never grow. Rather what we want to do for step four is to pray for guidance and wisdom to deal with our test or trial as the Apostle James tells us in James But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach; and it will be given to him.

But let him ask in faith, without any doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed. For let that man not think that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

James James reminds us that no matter how difficult are circumstances are, God always offers us his guidance. His ways, you see, are high than our ways. He has ideas and solutions that we have never thought of. However, we often forget to ask God for guidance. Instead we try to handle things though our own knowledge and understanding. But that does not always succeed as we would like.

We do not have perfect knowledge or insight. But the Lord has all the knowledge and insight that we need. And he is willing to share it us. All we have to do is ask, in faith, without thinking that he will not respond to us. Thus, in any situation we can gain all the insight we need if we seek the Lord for guidance.

We take the guidance of God and apply it while remaining stable and calm. We have to keep doubts and worries from coming into our hearts and overwhelming us with fear which brings us to step five: We must guard our hearts as Solomon tells us in Proverbs 4 because our hearts are the well spring of our wellspring of our lives:.

My son, attend to my words. Turn your ear to my sayings. Let them not depart from your eyes. Keep them in the midst of your heart.

For they are life to those who find them, and health to their whole body. Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it is the wellspring of life. Proverbs A wellspring is the source or beginning point for what is produced in our lives. It is from the heart that we develop the attitudes that govern our lives. Jesus expands our understanding of this principle in Luke He said:. For there is no good tree that brings forth rotten fruit; nor again a rotten tree that brings forth good fruit.

For each tree is known by its own fruit. The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings out that which is good, and the evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings out that which is evil, for out of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaks. Our ability to visualize or imagine is in our hearts. Often when trials and tribulations come we have a tendency to imagine the worst that could happen.

Some friends of ours, a missionary couple, told us of another missionary family where the wife was fearful that they would die while traveling in a foreign country. And that is just what happened; the entire family died in a plane crash. Jesus explains that what is produced in our lives comes from the contents of our hearts. Whatever is in abundance in our hearts and spoken by our mouths is what we get.

That why I have a message entitled: Confession, we always get what we say. It is necessary for us to guard our hearts, to keep out things such as doubt, grief, dread, anxiety, depression and fear. How do we guard our hearts? We transfer the responsibility from our care on to God and leave them with him. It like when Dora receive a bill, transfers it to me and I have to pay it.

So it is through prayer that we transfer our care over to God and we thank him for the answer. We do not need to pray over and over rather, whenever we feel anxious about our test or trial we just thanking him resolving the situation and receive his peace by faith.

And Jesus explains that it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks Luke So we keep our hearts filled with the word of God then there will not be any room doubts and fears when they try to enter. Develop the right attitudes that will carry you on to the end of your test of trial. Then for step six, we need to develop the right attitudes. From what is in our hearts we develop attitudes that govern our conduct.

And our attitudes and conduct will carry us to the end of our test or trial. What then are the proper attitudes should we maintain towards God, towards others and towards those who have wronged us? Is it correct to think God is trying to cause us trouble because of the trial we are going through? No, as we said earlier, God is on our side and wants to see us come through this test or trial victorious.

What about our attitude towards others? Paul tells us in Philippines Philippians , 4. In you tests or trials do not forget that others are still important.

Treat them special, as more important than yourself. You will be demonstrating the love of Christ. And that love will come back to you. And what should be our attitude towards those who have wronged us? Jesus teaches us in Luke ,