Persevering Under Trial

[Christsfreeservant]

“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” “Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.” (James 1:2-4,12 NASB1995)​

I am being faced with a minor trial right now, but a trial is still a trial no matter how big or small, and we still must learn to respond to our trials in the same way, no matter how little or how big. For about the last four days my head has felt like it feels when I am going up in the mountains and there is a drastic change in barometric air pressure, which can have effects on the human body. And so I have this fullness feeling in my left ear that has left me temporarily deaf in my left ear, but I can still hear out of my right ear.

Now, I do tend to have ear wax build up in my ears and have to have them flushed out about once a year, and I have gone totally deaf one time before, 8 years ago, and that was the issue then. And so some of this could be related to wax buildup, but that does not normally cause this feeling in my head like I am in the mountains and my ears are all stopped up and I just need them to pop. I do feel much better today than I have the past few days, but I am still deaf in my left ear, so I am praying that one through.

Now, when we face life’s trials, whether big or little, we are to do so with joy. But that doesn’t mean that we will not suffer, or that we will not be in pain, or that we will not cry or grieve and need to work through our emotions in prayer and in conversation with our Lord, seeking his guidance and direction. But it means to be thankful to God for the trial, not that we are thankful that people have gotten hurt or have been mistreated or that some people have died, or whatever, but that God allows trials in our lives to grow us in Christ.

For God takes us through good times and bad times, and good experiences, and bad ones to humble us, to grow us in Christ, to mature us in our walks of faith in obedience to his commands, to make us more thoughtful and sensitive to other people’s needs and trials, and to draw us closer to our Lord in fellowship with him and in dependency upon him in all things. And we need to bring our needs before the Lord in prayer and ask for his counsel and his strength, and pray for his will to be done in our lives via the trials.

Now how we respond to our trials either “makes us or breaks us,” i.e. either we learn and grow from the trials or we let them destroy us. It is best that we learn from them. And the way we do that is to accept that trials are going to come into our lives to test us, and we should allow the Lord to teach us and grow us through them, and we must not let them take us out to where we rebel against the Lord. But through them we must submit to God and to his will, and pray for God to teach us what we need to learn.

And it could be that there are areas in our hearts and minds or in our behaviors and attitudes, or in our commitments where we are failing to be and to do what God has for us. And so he allows trials sometimes to get our attention and to get us to call upon him so that he can show us where we need to change directions and what he has for us to do next. But we must be so careful as to not let the trials send us in the wrong direction, for we must persevere in our walks of faith, and one day we will see Jesus.

[Matt 5:10-12; Matt 10:16-39; Matt 24:9-14; Luke 6:22-23; Luke 12:49-53; Luke 21:12-19; John 15:1-21; John 16:33; John 17:14; Acts 14:22; Rom 5:3-5; Eph 6:10-20; Phil 3:7-11; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 4:12-17; 2 Tim 3:12; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; 2 Co 1:3-11; Heb 12:3-12; 1 Jn 3:13; Rev 6:9-11; Rev 7:9-17; Rev 11:1-3; Rev 12:17; Rev 13:1-18; Rev 14:1-13]

Broken and Contrite

An Original Work / May 13, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

I come before You, Lord, my Savior,
With humble heart and crushed in spirit.
I bow before You, I implore You,
Heal my broken heart, I pray.
Love You, Jesus, Lord, my master,
You are the King of my heart.
Lord, purify my heart within me;
Sanctify me, whole within.

Oh, Lord, I long to obey fully
The words You’ve spoken through Your Spirit.
I pray You give me grace and mercy,
Strength and wisdom to obey.
Father God, my heart’s desire,
Won’t You set my heart on fire?
Lord, cleanse my heart of all that hinders
My walk with You, now I pray.

Oh, Jesus, Savior, full of mercy,
My heart cries out for understanding.
I want to follow You in all ways,
Never straying from Your truth.
Holy Spirit, come in power,
Fill me with Your love today.
Lord, mold and make me;
Your hands formed me;
Live Your life through me, I pray.

Persevering Under Trial
An Original Work / May 25, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love