When We Encounter Various Trials

[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)​

Trials can be of a personal nature, or they can be those that many people are having to endure collectively. I believe that the citizens of the USA are going through a trial right now with all the craziness that is going on within our government and military heads, and the decisions they are making for the people of our nation. And I believe that true followers of Jesus Christ are also going through a trial and a testing of our faith, for it seems that the majority of professing Christians are rejecting the purity of the gospel.

So many people now are teaching a cheapened and shortened and diluted gospel message which makes full provisions for the self-indulgent and the addicted to sin to continue to walk in sin and not in obedience to the Lord. They can continue in their sexual immorality and in their carousing, revelry, and riotous behavior, for they are led to believe that they are now free to continue in sin, only now without feelings of guilt. Decency, morality, and honesty are no longer required. They feel they are free to do as they want.

For the gospel message has been rearranged to make room for the self-indulgent and the habitual sinner to continue to live however they want as long as they make a verbal confession of Christ as Lord and Savior of their lives. It makes room for spiritual apathy and laziness to exist within a person’s life who professes faith in Jesus Christ. And so they are able to live in unrighteousness, moral corruptness, and dishonesty, in spiritual apathy and laziness, without conscience, because they said they believed in Jesus.

So, if you are one who believes in the gospel taught by Jesus and by his New Testament apostles, taught in the correct biblical context, and so you are teaching that we who believe in Jesus must die with Christ to sin, and we must walk (in conduct, in practice) in obedience to our Lord and to his commands for us to be of genuine biblical faith in the Lord, then you are likely to come under scrutiny and to face much rejection, even by pastors of “churches” and by others who profess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

For, it appears the majority of what are called “churches” today are these institutions (businesses) created by humans which are being marketed to the world and which are incorporated under (combined, merged, partnered with) the state (the government), all of which God forbids. And since they are targeting the world with their “product,” and they want to attract the world to their gatherings, they have also altered and diluted the gospel to make it less offensive and more appealing to the ungodly of the world.

[Matthew 21:12-13; John 2:13-17; Acts 5:27-32; 1 Corinthians 1:10-13; 1 Corinthians 3:1-9; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; Philippians 3:18-19; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22; Revelation 13:5-8; Revelation 18:1-5]

But Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

For by God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our own doing, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to righteousness in walks of obedience to God’s commands. We are no longer to permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it results in sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23).

So, if that is what you are believing, and putting into practice, and teaching to others, don’t be surprised if you are being met with much opposition, even from the “Christian” community and from “the church.” For, the church partnered with the world and with the government is promoting the altered gospel intended to appease and to please the flesh and to not offend the ungodly of the world. So don’t get discouraged if you lose friends or if many professing Christians no longer accept you, but they reject you, instead.

We are to consider it all joy when we encounter such trials, for we are going through these trials to learn endurance so we can grow to maturity in our walks of faith in obedience to our Lord. And the biblical gospel is definitely under attack right now in the USA, and Christians are being hated more because of the bad name many people in power are giving to the name “Christian.” But we are to be those who persevere through it all, for in the end we will receive the crown of life God has for those who love him.

[Matthew 5:10-12; Matthew 7:21-23; Matthew 10:16-25,34-39; Matthew 24:9-14; Luke 6:22-23; Luke 9:23-26; Luke 12:49-53; Luke 21:12-17; John 15:18-21; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-17; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Ephesians 6:10-20; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Peter 2:24; Revelation 6:9-11; Revelation 7:9-17; Revelation 11:1-3; Revelation 12:17; Revelation 13:1-18; Revelation 14:1-13]

What the Lord Says

Based off Isaiah 43:1-44:5
An Original Work / February 24, 2014
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

This is what the Lord says to you:
Fear not, for I have chosen you.
I have summoned you by your name.
You are mine. I died, you to save.

When you go through your trials, so deep,
I will be with you; you will not sink.
You are so precious always to me.
Trust in your Lord, Savior and King.

This is what the Lord says to you:
He who gave salvation to you;
Who delivered you from your sin;
Takes your burdens now upon Him:

Forget the former things of your life.
Give of your heart not now up to strife.
See all the new things I have for you.
Walk in vict’ry. Trust in what’s true.

This is what the Lord says to you:
He who made you; who will help you:
Do not fear what humans may do.
Walk in freedom. Follow what’s true.

Drink of my Spirit given for you.
Trust in my mercy, for I love you.
I have a plan for all of your life.
Follow my ways. Do what is right.

When We Encounter Various Trials
An Original Work / October 5, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love