Trials and Tribulations -
The Testing of Your Faith

his next topic is a very unpleasant one for many in the Body of Christ to talk about, much less ever fully accept in their walks with the Lord. Whether we like it or not, and whether we ever want to fully face up to this reality in this life, every single one us, saved or unsaved, will have to face a certain amount of adversity, conflict, trials and tribulations as we journey through this life - with absolutely no exceptions to this cold, hard, brutal fact.

As a result of living in a fallen, cursed and imperfect world as a result of what happened in the story of Adam and Eve, every single one of us will have to face a certain amount of trials and tribulations as we plow through this earthly life.

Many Christians have either lost part or all of their faith in the Lord as a result of getting hit with some severe torpedo shots. And unless you have a full understanding and a full knowledge as to why God will sometimes allow bad things to happen to good people in this life, you can have your personal faith levels in the Lord shaken to its very core depending on the level of intensity and severity of the storm cloud that may have just struck you.

The Bible tells us that God's people can perish for having lack of knowledge - and not having the right kind of knowledge to fully understand why bad things can happen to even good people in this life, especially to Christians, can cause you to perish in your own personal relationship with the Lord if you ever end up losing your faith in Him as a result of not being able to fully understand why He may have allowed some severe adversity to hit you in the first place.

Per the other articles we have in the Spiritual Warfare section of our site, I believe that you can learn how to keep some of the adversity that may strike you in this life away from you if you can learn how to properly plead the Blood of Jesus for deliverance and protection, along with learning how to mesh and flow with the Lord on dealing with storm clouds that may attempt to come against you by learning how to engage with your enemy or adversity in the same way that David did with Goliath.

The Bible tells us that we have to learn how to become good soldiers of Jesus Christ. If you can learn how to become a good soldier of Jesus Christ and learn how to walk with God's anointing in your life, then you can either keep a lot of these storm clouds from ever hitting you in the first place, or you can quickly defeat them once they do come knocking at your door.

However, as a result of living in this fallen and cursed world, even the best of God's true soldiers will still have to face a certain amount of conflict and adversity in this life from time to time. There is simply no getting away from it. And until we get the New Heaven and the New Earth after the millennial rule of Jesus from the city of Jerusalem, the curse of Adam and Eve will still stay in place on this earth, and as a result, we will all have to face a certain amount of storm clouds in this life - with no exceptions to this cold, hard, brutal fact and reality.

What gets many Christians in trouble in this part of their walk with the Lord is not having a full understanding of why this has to happen to them in the first place, especially since they are now born-again believers who are serving a God who is supposed to be all-good, all-loving and all-merciful.

The first question many Christians will ask when they are hit with any kind of a trial and tribulation is why? How can an all-good and an all-loving God allow me or someone else close to me get hit with such a severe trial or tragedy? How can God allow some of His own, especially the ones who are faithfully serving and following Him, get hit by something that at times will literally come right out of the pit of hell itself?

If God is our true heavenly and loving Father who has nothing but our best interests at heart, then how can He allow some of the following kinds of torpedo shots to come our way:

• Your 16 year son has just been diagnosed with a terminal illness and has only been given another 6 months to live.
   
• Your 25 year old marriage is now dissolving because your partner is trading you in for someone else.
   
• Your 18 year old daughter has just been raped and murdered.
   
• Your 4 year old son has just been abducted and raped by a local pedophile.
   
• You have just lost all of your life's savings as a result of corporate fraud and greed in the company you have been working for most of your working life.
   
• You have just lost three members of your immediate family in a fatal car crash or some kind of natural accident or disaster.
   
• You yourself have been the victim of some kind of random and senseless crime such as rape, robbery or assault.
   
• You just happened to be born into an evil and dysfunctional family where the mother and/or father will severely verbally, physically and/or sexually abuse you during part of your growing years in the family.

I could go on and on with some of the severe adversity that can hit anyone of us at anytime. No one on this earth is perfectly safe and perfectly immune from all of the different kinds of storm clouds that can come our way in this life.

When you really stop and think about this, and look back on some of the pure evil that a certain amount of people will have to face in this life, it is only natural to wonder how God Himself could allow some of these bad things to happen - especially to some of His own that have already been saved under the Blood of His Son Jesus Christ.

How can God just sit up there and watch some of His own take these kinds of pure evil torpedo shots? If God is all-powerful, and there is nothing that He cannot do, and He sovereignly operates on this earth, they why doesn't He protect more of His own from having to deal with some of these kinds of heavier trials and tribulations?

I believe there are three main reasons as to why God Himself will "allow" a certain amount of adversity to come our way in this life. And unless you have a firm and solid grasp of these three basic reasons, you could find your own personal faith levels in the Lord being shaken to its very core every single time you have to deal with one of these heavier types of storm clouds.

As I said at the top of this article, I believe that you can help keep quite a bit of this heavier dark side activity from ever coming your way in the first place. We have plenty of good articles in this site giving you the specific information and knowledge you will need to keep yourself at least partially protected from the pure evil that could come your way in this life like learning how to live in a full surrender with the Lord, learning how to fully trust Him with every aspect of your life, learning how to be led by the Holy Spirit, and learning how to engage with the enemy by using appropriate spiritual warfare operating under God's anointing and leadings to be able to do so.

At the end of this article, I will give you some of the specific articles we have in our site that will help keep you protected from some of the pure evil that could come your way in this life.

But as great as some this knowledge and information really is, even the most fully surrendered and most fully committed Christian will have to face a certain amount of adversity in this life, and for some, these storm clouds could end up being downright vicious, nasty and evil.

Just study the lives of some of the greatest saints in the Bible, and look at some of the severe adversity that each one of them had to personally face in their lives. The apostle Paul is a perfect example. In my opinion, I believe Paul was the greatest of all of the New Testament apostles, and he literally had to face hell and high water - and that was after he was saved and working full time for the Lord!

The revelation and knowledge that is in these three basic reasons and verses I will list below is once again something that every Bible-believing Christian Church should be preaching and teaching about on an occasional basis. Many in their flocks are living defeated and joyless lives in the Lord because they could never understand why God has allowed some of these trials and tribulations to come their way in the first place.

Their personal faith levels in the Lord have been severely shaken and they are no longer able to fully trust the Lord with their lives and the handling of their lives. As a result, many of these people have either lost their true calls in the Lord or they have never found out what their true calls may have been in Him since they no longer fully trust Him to lead their lives. And all of this is occurring because no one has ever attempted to take the time to sit down with them to try and fully explain this part of our walk with the Lord and why it has to occur in the first place.

Valleys, trials, tribulations, conflicts and adversities are all a part of this life and all a part of our walk with the Lord. As such, this should be something that should be talked about and taught on so the flock can be properly prepared and equipped to handle any kind of adversity that may come knocking on their doors - no matter how uncomfortable this topic may make others in the congregation.

I will first give you the three main reasons as to why each Christian will have to face a certain amount of trials and tribulations in this life. I will then end this article giving you some of the specific Scripture verses which will drive home the points mentioned in these three basic reasons, along with giving you three specific battle strategies you can use to take on any type of trial and tribulation.

3 Reasons as to Why God Will Allow
Trials and Tribulations to Occur in This Life

I believe there are three main fundamental reasons why each person will have to face a certain amount of trials and tribulations in this life. Each Christian really needs to get a firm grip on each of these three basic reasons.

Having the right kind of knowledge on why bad things will happen to people in this life will not only help you understand why these events will happen to everyone in the first place, but this kind of knowledge will also help you to be able to weather these types of storm clouds and then eventually get through them when they do come your way.

1. The Curse of Adam and Eve

As I said at the top of this article, and in many of the other articles in our site, the number one main reason why we will all have to put with a certain amount of turmoil, conflict and adversity in this life is all as of the result of the curse that Adam and Eve brought down upon this earth as a result of both of them directly disobeying a direct command from the Lord not to eat any fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

I believe that Adam and Eve represented all of mankind that would come after them when they were tested in the Garden of Eden, and when the both of them could not obey God's direct command to stay off of this one tree, they and everyone that would be born after them would all have to be born into and journey through this cursed world before we can make it into heaven.

As a result of the earth now becoming cursed, we now have all kinds of bad things that can happen to anyone of us at anytime. Our physical bodies are now subject to the death process. Sooner or later, every single one us will have to physically die before we can cross over to be with our Lord in heaven. And not only will our physical bodies eventually deteriorate, corrupt and eventually pass out on us, but they will also be subject to being able to receive all kinds of diseases, illnesses and sicknesses in this life.

Another consequence that we all have to put up with as a result of this curse is all of the imperfect weather and natural disasters that can occur at a moment's notice. Earthquakes, thunderstorms, lightning strikes, tornadoes, hurricanes, forest fires and volcanic eruptions can strike anywhere at anytime killing thousands of people at a moment's notice. And on top of all of the different natural disasters that can occur, we also have to deal with just natural accidents that can occur such as house fires and auto accidents.

As a result of every man and every woman being born into this world as flawed sinners in the eyes of our God, this now opens all of us up to the evil acts of others who have no regard for anyone but themselves. We thus all have to put up with and engage with a certain amount of people who will break some of God's laws in order to get what they want. We thus have criminals who are out robbing, stealing, raping, mugging, assaulting and murdering other people in order to satisfy the dark desires of their flesh.

As a result of a certain amount of people in this life who will always be choosing to live this life on the dark side, we are all forced to have local police departments to provide us with local protection, and each country also has to have their own armed services in order to protect them from other countries who would like to try to invade and control them.

Man has thus been warring with one other from the beginning of time, and it will not cease until Jesus comes back to set up His millennium kingdom from the city of Jerusalem. And until that glorious event finally occurs, we will all have to put up with a certain amount of evil from some of these bad and evil apples.

And then to top it all off, we still have to put up with Satan and all of his demons who are still allowed to roam this cursed earth to try and influence as many people as they can to do their evil biddings. As long as we have fallen angels and fallen humans who will refuse to get saved and sanctified through the blood of Jesus Christ, we can never have any kind of divine order on this earth. This is why Satan, all of his demons, and the rest of unsaved humanity will not be allowed to live with us in the coming New Heaven and New Earth kingdom.

This Adamic curse that we are all stuck with on this earth fully explains why bad things will happen to everyone - including all of the good people in this life who have never harmed or hurt anyone, and all of the Christians who have been saved and born again through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. This is why you will see some of the most godly, saintly, righteous, and good people in this life go through some of the most horrible and traumatic ordeals imaginable.

Though we have all been created equal in the eyes of our Lord, not everyone will get equal dealings in this life. Some people end up making a lot of money in this life, others will live in poverty for most, if not all of their lives. Some people will go through this life with not much physical illness or disease striking their bodies, and other people will fight one sickness and illness after another.

Some people will become victims of some type of crime and abuse, and others will go through this life and not have a hair on their head ever be touched or harmed. Some people will die and depart from this life at a very young age, and others will live to a ripe old age.

As a result of this Adamic curse, our earthly lives have now become very uncertain and completely unpredictable. We do not know what will happen to us two minutes from now, much less what will happen to us two weeks or two years from now.

As Christians, there is something that we must really grab a hold of with this curse factor now firmly and solidly in place on this earth. Though we are now all new creations in Jesus Christ as a result of our conversions to Him, and though we all now have the Holy Spirit residing and dwelling on the inside of us to help empower and lead us through this crazy life, none of this will remove the Adamic curse factor that is still in operation on this earth.

What this now means is that all Christians can get splashed from time to time with some of these bad things that can develop and occur at a moment's notice. Our bodies are not going to stop aging. Some of us can still catch different types of illnesses and diseases. Some of us can still end up being at the wrong place at the wrong time and thus end up being the possible victim of a crime or natural accident or disaster.

As a result of these curse factors still being fully in play, every single one of us will get hit with a certain amount of adversity in this life. And for some, some of these adversities could end up being very severe and traumatic. There is simply no getting around it or running away from it.

We have all been born into a war zone as a result of this curse factor. This is why the Bible is telling us that we have to learn how to become good soldiers of Jesus Christ. Good, brave and courageous soldiers will battle and engage with any type of adversity when they are faced with it. David did not run from Goliath when he appeared on the battlefield. He stood his ground, engaged and then defeated this huge giant when the rest of the Israelite army was too afraid to engage with him.

So if you want to know why bad things will happen to good people in this life, look no further than the Adamic curse that is still in full operation on this earth as a result of what happened in the story of Adam and Eve.

As a result of our fallen and sinful natures, we all have to be born into this cursed and fallen world and try to make it through this life in one piece before we can finally depart to be with our Lord in heaven. And one of the consequences of being born into this fallen and cursed world is that we will all have to deal with the ups and downs and uncertainties of this life.

Though God is totally sovereign in the ways that He works and operates on this earth, and though He can sovereignly choose to protect us from time to time from some of the bad and evil things that can come our way - we have to realize that God cannot stop every single little bad thing that could possibly come our way.

If He did, this would then fully remove every single Christian from the Adamic curse, and as long as we are living in this fallen and cursed world, this can never totally happen. As a result, every single person, including every single Christian, will have to face a certain amount of adversity and conflict in this life.

So the next time you see something bad happen to you, a loved one or someone else, realize that God is not causing most of these bad events to occur. These bad events are all occurring because of the Adamic curse that is still in full operation on this earth, not because our God is a mean or vindictive God.

This will now lead us to a very interesting dilemma as far as the fully surrendered and fully committed Christian is concerned. Per another article we have in our site titled "The Full Surrender," you can classify and group Christians into one of two main camps.

In the one camp is the fully surrendered and fully committed Christian. This Christian is walking, living and operating in a full surrender with the Lord. This type of Christian is walking and operating in God's perfect will for their life. They are being fully led by the Lord on their journey through this life, and they are all completing the divine calls, missions and assignments that the Lord has in store for them to complete in this life.

Then you have the other kind of Christian who is not operating in this full surrender with the Lord. They are out running their own lives and they are making all of their own decisions as to what goals and aspirations they should be striving for in this life. As a result of running their own lives, these Christians never complete what divine calls and assignments God would've had in store for them in this life had they turned the reigns of their life over to Him.

Now here is where a major dilemma can occur with the fully surrendered Christian. The fully surrendered Christian has major advantages over the Christian who has not fully surrendered themselves and their entire lives over to the Lord.

The fully surrendered Christian will be getting more divine protection and more divine guidance from the Lord. They will be producing more good fruit for the Lord with some of the works they will end up accomplishing, and as a result, some of them will end up getting the bigger and better blessings from the Lord either in this life or the next life to come

But here is what can get the fully surrendered Christian in trouble with the Lord if they do not know how to deal with any type of adversity that may come their way.

Everything is going great and good in their walk with the Lord. God is perfectly leading them from glory to glory, from strength to strength, from new adventure to new adventure and from promotion to promotion. But then it happens - some kind of adversity strikes. They have just caught their godly spouse having an affair behind their back, or their young son has just been diagnosed with a terminal illness, or they themselves may have been hit with some kind of major illness or some kind of impending financial disaster.

As a result of the severity of the storm cloud that has now just come their way, all of a sudden their high levels of faith in the Lord will take a major nose dive. Here they are, serving God with full intensity and full loyalty, and then all of a sudden God allows a thunderous torpedo shot to come ripping into their lives, shaking the very cores of their walks and existence with Him.

They start questioning and wrestling with God as to how and why He could allow something this severe to come ripping through their lives. Where was their divine protection? Why didn't God run interference and keep this bad thing from happening in their life? If God is supposed to have your backside covered as you are walking in this full surrender with Him - then why would He allow any type of severe adversity to ever come your way in the first place?

This will now lead us into the next two sections. These next two sections will give us the two additional specific reasons as to why God will allow adversity, and sometimes quite severe adversity, to come our way from time to time as we journey through this earthly life.

2. For Our Sanctification in the Lord

This next reason is not going to be a very popular reason for many Christians - but it is a very powerful reason nonetheless - and it is all for our own good and for own benefit. The second main reason God will allow all of His own to have different kinds of adversities, trials and tribulations come our way in this life is for our own sanctification in Him.

Per the article we have titled "Sanctification," God's ultimate and highest aim for all of us is our sanctification in Him. God wants to make us more holy like He and His Son Jesus. He wants to transform us into the express image of His Son Jesus Christ. He wants to consecrate and set us apart unto Himself.

God is the Potter and we are the clay. He wants to mold, shape and transform us into godly, righteous and holy saints. But this shaping, molding and transformation process can be a very painful process at times. And at times, a certain amount of adversity and conflict is what God will use to help shape, mold and transform us.

Some of the verses I will list below are very extreme, but very powerful. In the wording of some of these verses are some very profound and powerful revelation being given to us by the Lord as to why He is allowing some of these storm clouds to come our way in the first place.

A perfect example of this type of sanctification in action has to be with some of our soldiers who are returning back home from our war in Iraq, with many of them coming back home with some very severe and serious injuries. Some have literally lost arms and legs. I just recently saw two of them interviewed on TV.

When asked if they were bitter or mad as a result of the serious injuries they both had received, both of them responded back with some incredible statements. Both of them said that the severe and serious injuries that they had sustained actually helped them to become better people.

The one girl interviewed said before she had received her serious injuries, that she was a very judgmental and critical person. They both had taken too much of their lives for granted and really did not appreciate the little things of this life. After sustaining these types of serious injuries, both of them said they are now much more appreciative of every little thing in their lives. They now no longer take their lives for granted like they used too, and they now see where their priorities should all be set at.

They now see what is most important in this life. They now have a fuller and deeper appreciation of the value and sanctity of human life, and they will never again take for granted what time they still have left down here to do something very meaningful and purposeful with their lives.

Instead of letting their serious injuries totally crush and destroy their personal lives and what little time they still have left down here, they are both using their personal trials and tribulations as a spring board to become much better people - not only for themselves, but for their families and friends, and for the goals and aspirations that they want to pursue from this point on.

Adversity has a real way of humbling you. For those who are operating in too much pride, severe adversity has a way of knocking most of it right out of you. Once you see how powerless you really are against the real severe storm clouds of this life, and that you really need God's help and guidance to make it through this life in one piece, many people can be brought completely down from their high horses with one or two good torpedo shots.

This is why God will allow a certain amount of trials and tribulations to come our way in this life. These trials and tribulations will either make you or break you in your own personal walk with the Lord. Put someone through the fires of a real testing and you will find out very quickly what they are really made of.

Some people make their greatest strides in spiritual development and personal growth in the middle of these types of severe storm clouds. There is something about severe adversity that will either cause you to spiritually grow and mature in your walk with the Lord very quickly or it will cause you to quit and throw in the towel on both Him and with what He wants to do with the rest of your life.

Here are some of the positive qualities that can literally be burned and molded into your personality as a result of going through some severe storm clouds:

• Bravery
• Courage
• Boldness
• Patience
• Steadfastness
• Tenacity
• Perseverance
• Humility
• Self-control
• A calmer and more peaceful heart
• A kinder, softer and more caring heart
• Greater empathy and compassion for others
• Greater appreciation of the sanctity of life
• Greater appreciation of the other people in your life 
• Increase your faith and trust levels in the Lord

In addition to being able to mold and burn these kinds of positive qualities into your personality, trials and tribulations can also serve to burn out some of the negative qualities that the Lord really does not want operating in your personality such as:

• Pride
• Haughtiness
• Arrogance
• Callousness
• Self-centeredness
• Narcissism
• Self-righteousness
• Hard-heartedness
• Bad tempers
• Mean and vengeful spirits
• Verbally and physically abusive spirits
• Manipulating and controlling spirits
• Know-it-all attitudes
• Judgmental and critical attitudes

Again, I know this is not a real popular piece of revelation being given to us by the Lord, but as you will see in the Scripture verses I will list below, this is one of the main reasons that God will allow a certain amount of adversity to come our way in this life from time to time.

3. The Testing of Our Faith in the Lord

The third main reason that God will allow a certain amount of trials and tribulations to come our way in this life is for the express purpose of testing our faith levels in Him.

It's very easy to have high levels of faith in the Lord when everything is going good and great, but let any kind of severe adversity come knocking at our doors, and many Christians will start to lose their high levels of faith in God once the going starts to really get tough.

In some of the verses I will list below, you will see that God is making no bones about it. From time to time, He will personally arrange to have all of our faith levels tested out in Him.

Smith Wigglesworth, the great apostle of faith, had a very catchy saying. He said from great fights will come great faith. In other words, you can't develop great faith in the Lord unless you first have had your faith tested and developed with some great fights.

This is one of the ways that God will use to help increase your faith levels in Him - by sometimes having you go through some severe trials and tribulations. These trials and tribulations are thus being allowed by the Lord to come your way to see if you will hold fast to Him - to see if you will keep and hold your faith in Him no matter how bleak and hopeless things may look and appear to you in the natural.

The Bible tells us that we are saved by grace through "faith." So if we have already shown enough faith and belief in the Lord to accept Him as our personal Lord and Savior, then why does God have to test our faith levels in Him from time to time? Why can't God just accept whatever levels of faith we are currently operating at with Him and not have it tested out with any kind of trial or tribulation?

I believe that there is something very profound that is occurring with all of this that many Christians are not fully aware of. God is not testing our faith levels in Him just to be playing some kind of sadistic game with us. There is a very definite and specific reason that He will be doing this with each and every one of us from time to time.

Again, it is absolutely imperative and vital that each and every Christian get a firm and solid grip on why God will be testing each one of us out from time to time.

If you can fully grasp what I am about to tell you, and learn how to ground on this reason when you do have to face any kind of storm cloud - it will not only help to get you through your time of testing in one piece, but it will also help to keep your faith levels operating at the same levels as they were before the storm cloud had arrived, and from there, possibly help increase your faith to higher levels as a result of making it through the storm cloud with some kind of victory or deliverance.

Here is what I believe is occurring behind the scenes in the spiritual realm when God does decide to test our faith in Him from time to time:

The first class of beings that God created before He created the human race was the angelic host. In the Sanctification section of our site, we have another article titled "Pride Will Come Before the Fall." In this article, I give you several verses from the Old Testament that give us partial information and knowledge as to what had occurred to get Satan and one third of the angelic host cast right out of heaven.

Long story short, Lucifer was apparently given quite of bit of wealth and prosperity from the Lord, and then over a certain period of time it all literally went right to his head. Pride and major stupidity eventually entered into him and he then tried to literally exalt his own personal throne above God Almighty Himself.

Once he got to this kind of point of no return with the Lord, that was going to be it. God pulled the plug, and cast him and one third of the other angels who were willing to follow him in this direct open rebellion against Him right out of heaven with no chance of ever being able to make it back in. Satan and one third of the angels who were willing to follow him are now lost forever and will eventually spend the rest of their eternal lives in the Lake of Fire and Brimstone after the millennial rule of Jesus has passed from this earth.

What is most amazing about their story is that they were all living up in this perfect heaven direct with the Lord. They were all created equal and good in the eyes of God and they were all given an equal chance to make good in this perfect heavenly environment with the Lord. There were no other corrupting influences tempting Lucifer or any of these other angels when they were first set upon this perfect heavenly environment in which to live, walk and work in.

Lucifer was the first one to obviously go bad, and he somehow managed to convince one third of the rest of the angelic host to follow his insane plan to try and exalt his own personal throne above the throne of God Almighty Himself.

The point for us to really grab a hold of is what happens next with the big picture. Sometime after the fall of Satan from heaven, God obviously made a direct decision to create another class of beings - the human race. But instead of giving us the same chance as He gave Satan and one third of the angels to be able to live up in heaven like they were all given, God ends up creating another place for the human race to be born into and that is our earth.

God first starts off by setting Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. But when they proved they could not abide by His one simple little command to stay off of one simple little tree, God is then forced to cast them out of this perfect garden, and now our earth becomes cursed as a result of their one sin and transgression against Him.

What this now means is that the rest of the human race has to be born into this fallen and cursed world before we can make it into heaven. We are not given the same chance as Satan and one third of these angels were given. We do not get to try and make it up into God's third heaven where He and Jesus live and dwell in.

Why didn't God give us the exact same chance to make it up into His heaven like He did with Satan and the rest of the angelic host? Because He knew a certain percentage of mankind would eventually fall and rebel against Him just like a third of His angels eventually did. And He simply was not going to have this same type of scenario repeat itself once again up in heaven.

So the next plan for God to implement and carry out is to test all of mankind by having them born into a cursed, fallen and imperfect world after they had already proved to Him through the story of Adam and Eve that they could not pass their first test in the Garden of Eden. In other words, God is going to be turning up the heat as compared to what He first did with Satan and one third of these fallen angels up in heaven.

If you do not believe that God the Father is personally testing each one of us out from time to time in this life, wait until you see the specific wording in the verses I will list below. This life is a major testing and pruning ground with the Lord, and most people are wandering aimlessly throughout this life, totally clueless as to what is really going on behind the scenes with God the Father.

God is watching very closely every single person that has been born into this world. He is watching who will accept His free gift of eternal salvation through His Son Jesus Christ, and He is recording every single little thing that we say and do, along with recording all of the works that we are doing down here on this earth.

And one of the things that He is definitely watching and recording as far as all born-again Christians are concerned is whether or not we will all hold fast to our initial confidence and faith in Him.

The verses I will list below are very intense in the way they are worded. God has already lost a third of the angelic host that He had created as a result of them not being able to stay true, loyal and faithful to Him for the long run. And now He has to do the exact same thing with the human race. He simply has got to prune out all of the bad apples from all of the good apples. As a result, this earthly life is a major testing ground for each and every person that has been born into it.

If more people knew what the real eternal stakes were in this life and what is really going on behind the scenes with our Lord for the battle for our souls, more people would try and find this one and only awesome God of ours.

But as we all know, and as the Bible has already told us, not only will Satan and one third of the angelic host be forever banished from ever being able to make it back into heaven, but a certain percentage of the human race is also going to suffer the exact same fate, and eventually will be thrown into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone with Satan and the rest of his fallen angels at the end of millennial rule of Jesus from Jerusalem.

What this now means is that God will personally test all of His own from time to time with some of these trials and tribulations. And as the verses below will specifically tell us, the main reason that God will be doing it is to personally test our faith levels in Him, whether or not we will continue to hold fast to Him, and whether or not we will continue to walk in all of His ways and in all of His commandments.

Will we stand and hold fast to the Lord when any type of adversity comes knocking on our doors, or will we get mad at Him, walk out and bail out on Him just like Satan and one third of the angelic host manage to do in their own personal relationships with Him?

What this now means is that each and every Christian has to take these types of trials and tribulations very, very seriously - as they are all being used by the Lord to test our own personal faith levels in Him.

If we can't stay true, loyal and faithful to the Lord with whatever amount of adversity may come our way in this short lifetime - maybe God will wonder whether or not we can stay true, loyal and faithful to Him for the long run - which will be for all of eternity in the coming New Heaven and New Earth. Satan and one third of the angels could not stay true, loyal and faithful to the Lord for the long run, and look at what eventually happened to all of them!

In another article we have in our site titled "Holding Fast to the Lord," I give you some very extreme and powerful verses all showing us that once we have become saved and born again through the shed blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ - we can never, ever, turn our back on Him, leave Him, bail out on Him, forsake Him or ever lose our initial faith and confidence in Him.

We must each make an eternal commitment to the Lord that we will never, ever lose our faith in Him - and that we will never, ever consider bailing out on Him, leave Him or forsake Him in any way, shape or form - whether in this life or the next life to come.

The Bible has already told us that a certain percentage of people are going to once again try and come against the Lord at the end of the millennium kingdom once Satan is let loose for a short season from the bottomless pit.

Even in the most perfect environment that we will ever know with what we will be getting with this coming millennium kingdom where Jesus Christ Himself will rule this entire earth from the city of Jerusalem - there will still end up being a certain percentage of people who are going to do the exact same thing that Satan did up in heaven and try and literally overthrow our Lord from His holy city of Jerusalem.

And once again, God's judgment will come sure and quick, and every single one of these rebellious ones will be thrown into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone with the rest of unsaved humanity at the end of the Great White Throne Judgment - which will occur shortly after this last event occurs with Satan rounding up all of these rebellious ones to make one more last final attempt to try and rebel against the Lord.

Now on to some very heavy, very extreme, and very powerful verses that will back up the above three reasons as to why God will allow a certain amount of trials and tribulations to come our way in this earthly lifetime.

The Scripture Verses

The verses that I will now list below all really need to be meditated on, grounded on, believed on and burned into our memory banks for all of eternity as God is very serious on making sure that we can stay true, loyal and faithful to Him for the long run.

He doesn't want any more repeats with what happened to Satan and one third of His original angels up in heaven. He wants all of us stay true, loyal and faithful to Him for all of eternity, and He will make sure, at least down here on this earth, that each and every one of us be put through some of these testing fires from time to time to see how serious we really are about Him and the personal relationship that we have initially established with Him.

Again, I know these verses and the revelation being given to us in them is not a very comfortable one to be preaching and teaching about, especially in the feel-good environment that many of us like to live in. But to ignore this part of our walk with the Lord, and not to properly explain this kind of heavy activity to the flock is doing them a great disservice, and also ill-equipping them to be able to handle any kind of severe adversity when it does come knocking on their doors.

Many in the Body of Christ have had their personal relationships seriously damaged with the Lord as a result of not being able to fully understand why God will allow some of this kind of adversity to be coming their way in the first place. As a result, you have many wounded soldiers in the flock who can't seem to get themselves back onto God's playing field from the dugout where they are now sitting as a result of not being able to get over the severe adversity which have may have just struck them and their family.

Even some of the pastors and major leaders in the Body will wrestle with this dilemma if they have never really meditated on this type of revelation and got it worked deep into their mindset in the way they look and view things in this life.

This kind of knowledge and revelation is basic 101 knowledge and revelation that should be taught not only to every member of the flock, but to every budding pastor and leader in the Body of Christ - so they can not only have it for their own selves when they are forced to face their own personal trials and tribulations from the Lord, but so they can also have it to explain to other Christians and to the other members of their flocks when they eventually get hit with their own personal storm clouds.

Now on to the specific verses from our incredible Bible that will fully explain to us exactly why we will all have to face a certain amount of trials and tribulations in this life. I will once again break these verses down under their appropriate captions so you can keep these verses properly grouped together under their appropriate revelations.

1. The Curse of Adam and Eve

This first verse will completely set the stage as to why we will always have a certain amount of trials and tribulations coming our way in this earthly life.

This first verse is God the Father talking to Adam and telling him what the consequences of his act are now going to be - and that these consequences are not only going to fall on him and Eve, but to the rest of the world and all of the rest of mankind which would be born after him.

Then to Adam He said, "Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it':

"Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return." (Genesis 3:17-19)

Notice the very first thing God pronounces on Adam is "Cursed is the ground for your sake." In this very first sentence, God is cursing the very ground on which Adam will walk on from here on in. The ground is the ground of our earth. As a result, there is now a curse draped over this entire earth from this moment on.

As a result of this Adamic curse that has now occurred, we are not going to get the original environment that God would have liked to give all of us that was in the Garden of Eden.

Man will now have to work and sweat for his food, women will now birth children into this world with pain, and all men and all women will now have to eventually undergo a physical death process with our physical bodies.

God made Adam from the dust of the ground, and as a result of his one transgression against the Lord, he and everyone that would be born after him will all have to physically die and return back to this dust - which is the ground of our earth, hence people being buried in the ground and dust of this earth after they die and depart from this life.

As a result of death now entering into the big picture as a result of this earth now becoming cursed, we now have all kinds of calamities, disasters, crimes, disorders, chaos, weather disturbances and natural accidents and disasters that can occur at anytime and at any place. There are always going to be consequences to any kind of sin and transgression made against the Lord, especially when it is the first sin ever committed against the Lord by this first man and first woman.

As bad as this curse has made our earth and our way of living on this earth, thank our Lord and Savior for making a way of eventual escape from all of it with His sacrificial death on the cross. But until we all die and cross over to be with our Lord in heaven, every single one of us will have to put up with this curse that is still in full operation on this earth. As a result, every single one of us will have to put up with a certain amount of adversity, conflict, tensions, wars, fights, skirmishes, trials, tribulations and just pure downright evil from demons and other bad and evil people from time to time.

If God would move to stop every single little bad thing that could happen to us in this lifetime, then He would completely negate and cancel out this curse that originated from the story of Adam and Eve. If this curse got negated and cancelled out, then Jesus Christ would have never had to come down onto our earth to die on a cross to save all of us from our sins.

There is a perfect order in God's universe and in all of His creations. As a result, God is not going to be breaking this perfect order. Adam and Eve were told to stay off of this one tree. They could not do it. As a result, they brought down this curse upon our earth, and this curse will not be completely done away with until we get the New Heaven and New Earth. And until that event finally occurs, we will all have to put up with and battle against some of the bad things that can occur as a result of this curse.

So the next time you are hit with any kind of adversity or conflict in this life, do not blame God, since He is not the One causing most of these bad things to happen. These bad things are all occurring as result of the Adamic curse that is still in full operation on this earth.

If the truth really be known, and we will probably find all of this out once we enter into heaven, God is probably running more protection and running more interference from keeping some of these bad things from ever striking or hitting us in the first place than we would ever realize. But God cannot stop every little bad thing from hitting us. If He did, this would completely remove this curse factor from this earth, and that simply cannot be done at this time. His perfect order in this universe and His perfect creation of all things will not allow this to happen.

This will now lead us into the next section, as God will now start telling all of us loud and clear that trials and tribulations will now be a part of our daily lives as long as we are living and breathing on this earth.

2. In the World You Will Have Tribulation

These first 5 verses are going to tell all of us, loud and clear, that a certain amount of tribulation and persecution will always be a part of our lives and a part of this world.

1. "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)
    
2. " ... strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, "We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God." (Acts 14:22)
    
3. "Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution." (2 Timothy 3:12)
    
4. "Remember the word that I said to you, 'A servant is not greater than his master,' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you." (John 15:20)
    
5. "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. He guards all his bones, not one of them is broken." (Psalm 34:19)

Notice in the first verse that not only will we all have to face a certain amount of tribulation in this world, but then the second verse really hammers home the point that we will all have to face "many tribulations."

Put this together with the fact that we are dealing with a curse factor from the story of Adam and Eve, and the simple conclusion is that we have all been born into a war zone, and we will all have to journey through this earthly life facing a certain amount of trials and tribulations before we can finally enter into the real kingdom of God.

Jesus Himself could not have put it any better when He says in the last verse that if the world ended up persecuting Him when He was down here walking on this earth, then the world will also be persecuting all of us. As a result, no one will be getting out of this life without having to face a certain amount of adversity and conflict.

3. The Lord Will Test the Righteous

If you do not think the Lord will be testing each one of us from time to time, study the specific wording in the next 6 verses. Each one of these verses specifically state that God will definitely be testing all of His own from time to time.

The first verse I will list below will tell us that the Lord Himself will test the righteous. As you will see in some of the additional wording in these verses, one of the reasons God will test you from time to time is to see if you will hold fast to Him and to all of His ways and commandments for you to follow in this life.

1. "But the Lord tests the righteous, but the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates." (Psalm 11:5)
    
2. "But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot has held fast to His steps; I have kept His way and not turned aside. I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food." (Job 23:10)
    
3. "Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction." (Isaiah 48:10)
    
4. "The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests the hearts." (Proverbs 17:3)
    
5. Then the Lord said to Moses, "Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not." (Exodus 16:4)
    
6. "And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. Your garments did not wear out on you, nor did your feet swell these forty years." (Deuteronomy 8:2-4)

The second verse stated above is from Job, who probably had one of the most severe testings anyone could possibly imagine having in this life. Notice that Job was picking up that he was being tested by the Lord, and then gives the specific reasons as to why he was being tested - to see if he would hold fast to the Lord without turning away or bailing out on Him, and to see if he would still obey all of God's commandments and ways of living in this life.

The third verse uses one of the most intense phrases to describe how intense some of these tests can end up being. The three words are that sometimes God will test you out in a "furnace of affliction."

Some people in this life will have to face trials and tribulations that will end up being on the more severe and extreme side. When you are put through some of these types of extreme and severe trials, you will feel like you are literally going though a fiery furnace due to the heat and intensity of these types of trials and tribulations.

The last two verses are talking about when God tested the Israelites in the wilderness for forty years before they were allowed to enter into the Promised Land. Notice that they were definitely being tested by God before being allowed to enter into this Promised Land. Then God once again gives them the specific reasons as to why He was testing them - to see if they would still be willing to walk in all of His laws and commandments.

When you really study the wording in all of these verses, there is no doubt that the Lord will test all of His own out from time to time to see if we will hold fast to Him and continue to walk in all of His ways and commandments - no matter how rough and tough things may get from time to time.

Many people have bailed out on the Lord in their own personal relationships with Him as a result of some of the severe tests that may have been brought their way because they did not fully understand why these trials and tests were coming their way in the first place. This is why this topic must be taught on some type of an occasional basis in every single Christian Church so that the flock will at least know why they will all have to face a certain amount of tribulation in this life.

4. The Testing of Your Faith

These next two verses are going to add to the ones just listed above. The next two verses will now get to the real heart of this matter.

In addition to God testing you to see if you will still follow all of His ways and all of His commandments, there is still one more big thing that He is really going to test you out on from time to time - and that is your personal faith levels in Him. As Job stated in one of the above verses, God was testing him to see if he would hold fast to His steps.

Our faith and belief levels are our lifelines to the Lord. Our personal relationship with God is only as good as our faith and belief levels are in Him. The stronger your faith levels are in the Lord, the better and deeper your personal relationship will become with Him. The weaker your faith levels become, the weaker your personal relationship will become with Him.

This is why the Lord will test your faith levels in Him from time to time - to see how serious you really are about Him and whether or not you will hold fast to Him through the most trying of circumstances.

As I said at the top of this article, God has already lost a third of His angelic host while they were living with Him up in heaven. God doesn't want to have any more repeats of this kind of open rebellion against Him once we all enter into heaven. This is why I believe He is going to personally test each one of us out from time to time down here on this earth.

This is why trials and tribulations are so important in this life, and why we must take them very seriously and not complain about them when they do come our way - as these trials and tribulations will be what will weed out the ones who are really serious about staying true, loyal and faithful to the Lord from those who are going to bail out on Him the minute any type of adversity ever comes their way.

Again, the specific wording in these two verses are very intense, and they really do give us incredible revelation on the big picture. They are showing us exactly what God is doing when He sovereignly chooses to allow a certain amount of tribulation to come our way in this life.

1. "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ ... receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls." (1 Peter 1:6,9)
    
2. "Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy ... Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter ... therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator." (1 Peter 4:12,16,19)

Notice in the first verse that the Lord is specifically targeting our faith when He allows trials to come our way. He really hammers home this point when He says that our faith in Him is even more precious than any of the gold of this earth. He then makes an extreme statement when He says that this faith will then be "tested by fire."

Having your personal faith levels in the Lord tested by fire is not something most people want to hear or talk about in this current day and age. When everyone is always looking for the easy way out, and wanting to slide through this life without having to experience any type of suffering, trials or tribulations, many pastors have decided not to talk or teach about this topic because it is so uncomfortable to talk about - even though sooner or later various types of trials, tribulations and sufferings will eventually be coming all of our way.

Near the end of the second verse, it specifically says that sometimes we will suffer as a result of the will of God, and that when it does happen, not to be ashamed of it and to continue to try and do good with our lives and stay fully committed and loyal to the Lord - no matter how trying and severe the trial or tribulation may end up becoming.

If any of you are going through any type of trial or tribulation at the present time, or if you should enter into one anytime in your near future, really chew and meditate on the wording in these two verses, as they are both a real mouthful.

God is giving all of us more than enough revelation and more than enough fair warning when He starts out the second verse above in that we are not to think it strange if we happen to get thrown into some kind of fiery trial. In other words, trials and tribulations will eventually come our way sometime, someplace and somehow if we live long enough on this earth.

5. For Your Sanctification in the Lord

As hard as this next reason is for many to believe, one of the main reasons God will allow a certain amount of trials and tribulation to come our way in this life is for the express purpose of making, molding and transforming us into a better and more holy people - in other words, for our own sanctification in Him.

Here are 4 very good verses, especially the first two, that will definitely show us that God is coming after our sanctification in Him when He allows some of these trials to come our way.

1. "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." (James 1:2)
    
2. "And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope." (Romans 5:3)
    
3. "Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:16)
    
4. And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:9)

The first two verses literally tell us to "count it all joy when you fall into various trials" and that we should actually "glory in tribulations." At first this may appear to be a bit masochistic, but when you see the reasons that will follow, you can see what the Lord is trying to tell all of us.

The first two verses go on to tell us that trials and tribulations will test our faith in the Lord, and when our faith levels have been sorely tested, this will then help improve our character. In other words, we can become a much better and holy people in the Lord if we allow the fires of a real test to help shape, mold and transform us.

Ask any real athlete, and they will all tell you that the rigors and trials of their training and competitions that they have gone through have made them much better and stronger people as versus someone who refuses to face any kind of adversity head on when it does comes knocking on their doors.

The first verse tells us that the testing of your faith will help produce greater levels of patience in you, and that if you work with the Lord in allowing Him to mold what qualities He wants to work and impart into you, then you can learn how to become "perfect and complete, lacking nothing" in Him.

The third verse then adds some more perspective to all of this when it says that these "light afflictions" are just for a "moment" in the big picture. Our life down here on this is earth is not even the snap of a finger as compared to the eternal time frame that is operating up in heaven. Sooner or later, all of our trials, tribulations, afflictions and adversity will end and we will all have eternal peace once we enter into heaven to be with our Lord.

This is why when you are faced with any kind of adversity in your life, especially adversity that may be on the more extreme and serious side, to keep all of this in proper perspective with the real big picture. Sooner or later, we will all die and depart from this earth. And when we do, all of the trials and tribulations that we have either gone through, or may still be going through when we die, will all drop off of us like a heavy sack of potatoes.

All of the burdens, weights and oppressions of these trials and tribulations will immediately dissipate once we cross over and meet our Lord and Savior face to face. There will eventually be full and final healing and restoration for all of us once we enter into heaven. This is why the above verses are telling us to keep all of this in proper perspective with the big picture.

If your daughter has just been murdered in this life, you will be fully re-united with her once again when you cross over into heaven. And she will have already been made perfectly complete and perfectly whole once again by the Lord by the time you arrive to meet her.

If you are bound to a wheel chair for the rest of your earthly life as a result of a severe car accident, you will be given a brand new, glorified, spiritual body once you cross over into heaven that will never fail, give out, or age on you ever again!

What gets many people in trouble when they are hit with any type of adversity in this life is that they can't see two inches in front of their faces. They can't stop and see the big picture for what it is - that all of these trials and tribulations are just for a brief moment as God is telling us in these passages, and that sooner or later all of them will eventually end, never again to be able to pull us down into their death grips.

Notice that Paul states in the third verse that we should not lose heart when afflicted by trials. He says that these afflictions are "working for us" a far more "exceeding and eternal weight of glory."

Paul then states in the last verse that he would rather boast in all of his infirmities, because he knows that the power of God can rest on him to help get him through all of these trials and tribulations. He then ends the very last verse saying that he actually takes pleasure in these infirmities and persecutions because he knows that when he becomes weak during the course of these trials, that he will eventually get stronger, since he will be given God's grace and power to be able to make it through these trials.

Paul found the secret as to why God was allowing some of these trials and afflictions to come his way in the first place - and it was all for his own sanctification in the Lord. As a result, he could end up making the extreme statements that he was actually taking pleasure and boasting in this kind of heavy activity with the Lord.

I know this kind of revelation is very heavy and very deep. But this revelation really needs to be meditated on and assimilated into our minds and heart so that we can be properly prepared to handle any type of storm cloud that may attempt to come against us.

6. We Walk By Faith - Not By Sight

Now that we know that God will personally test our faith levels in Him from time to time, these next set of verses will seal the deal as far as our faith in the Lord is concerned. These verses will all tell us that we must now learn how to walk in this life by total faith and belief in God - not with what we see in the natural with our physical eyes.

These verses will tell us that we must learn how to do the following:

• Walk by faith, not by sight
• The just shall live by his faith
• Live by faith in the Son of God
• We must learn how to go from strength to strength and faith to faith in the Lord

We have all heard many of these verses preached and taught about in our local churches, but you really don't realize the extreme importance of this revelation until you are thrown head first into the middle of a fiery trial. These types of verses will then come fully alive for you in a way that you may have never known before.

This is why trials and tribulations will elevate and strengthen your faith levels in the Lord. Once you are thrown into the middle of a fiery trial, you will either lose part or all of your faith in the Lord due to fear and really getting mad at God for allowing it to happen to you in the first place - or you will grab a hold of the Lord in a way and with an intensity that you may have never known before, because you will now know that the only way that you are going to be able to make it through this storm cloud in one piece is by completely relying on God's grace, power, and guidance to help guide you through it.

As a result, you will be forced to lean and rely on God with much more intensity than you may have ever done before. But as a result of this heavier leaning and heavier reliance upon the Lord, your present faith and belief levels in Him will grow beyond what you ever thought was possible in this life because you will see how He will personally help get you through this storm cloud in one piece.

Once you see God supernaturally start to move to help you with your crisis, it will completely blow you away with what He can do for you and how far He can actually go to help deliver you from your predicament.

As I said at the top of this article, Smith Wigglesworth, the great apostle of faith, would always say that from great fights will come great faith in the Lord - and some of the trials and tribulations that will come your way in this life is what will cause some of these great fights to come your way in the first place.

I know some of this type of heavier revelation is tough stuff to try and swallow, but this is the way the Lord has the game set up. We either learn how to play the game and become victors and overcomers in this life when these storm clouds do come against us, or we let the struggles and adversity of this life totally defeat and bring us down where we can no longer function for either our Lord or any of our family members or close friends.

The choice is ours. All God can do is give us His knowledge from His Word as to how the big picture is really set up and how we are to deal with the adversities of this life. We either choose to learn how to become good soldiers and good overcomers in the Lord and face these storm clouds head on when they do come our way like David did with Goliath - or we can choose to bail out on Him, our family, our friends and this life in general.

Now here are some very powerful verses all telling us that we have to learn how to live in this life with total faith, trust and belief in our one and only Lord and Savior - with absolutely no turning back, wavering, doubting, or bailing out on Him - no matter what life, hell or the devil tries to throw our way!

1. "For we walk by faith, not by sight." (2 Corinthians 5:7)
    
2. "But the just shall live by his faith." (Habakkuk 2:4)
    
3. "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." (Galatians 2:20)
    
4. "Now the just shall live by faith; but if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him." But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul." (Hebrews 10:38)
    
5. "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." (Hebrews 11:6)
    
6. "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith." (Romans 1:16)
    
7. "Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, whose heart is set on pilgrimage .... They go from strength to strength." (Psalm 84:5,7)
    
8. "My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality." (James 2:1)
    
9. "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful." (Hebrews 10:23)
    
10. "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, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that He will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." (James 1:5)
     
11. So Jesus answered and said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, 'be removed and be cast into the sea,' it will be done. And all things, whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive." (Matthew 21:21)

Notice that not only are all these verses telling us to live by a strong faith in our Lord, but they are also telling us to not let it waver. And if we let our faith waver and tremble, we will become double-minded and unstable in all of our ways because we will end up being like a wave of the sea being helplessly tossed to and fro from the heavy winds that are coming against it.

This is a very graphic, but very good illustration as to why we have to learn how to develop high and strong faith levels in the Lord - so we don't let adversity knock us all over the place like a ping-pong ball when it does come knocking on our doors.

If you can learn to keep your faith levels up in the Lord, especially during the middle of a trial and tribulation, you will be less likely to roller-coaster with your mind and emotions - and you will thus have more peace and tranquility as you continue to keep pressing through the storm cloud to its eventual end.

7. Fight the Good Fight of Faith

Not only must we learn how to walk by faith, but we must also learn how to use our faith to help us overcome all of the obstacles that these trials and tribulations will present to us. In other words, we must learn how to put our faith into action. And when you are thrown into the middle of any type of fiery trial, you will be forced to put your faith into major action.

These next set of verses are extremely powerful. The Lord is really driving home the point with some of the wording in these verses in that we must learn how to fight the good fight of faith and stand fast in this faith to the very end, no matter what comes our way to try and knock us off course.

Each one of these verses will show us the extreme importance that we not let go of our faith in the Lord, and that if we hold on to it to the very end, we will become eventual victors and overcomers in Him, and eventually gain victory, deliverance and whatever blessings and rewards God will want to bestow upon us for making it through some of these trials and tribulations.

These next set of verses are whopper power verses. Burn these verses into your memory banks if you really want to learn how to become a good and mighty soldier of Jesus Christ. The revelation that is in these verses are the key to being able to get God to give you an eventual victory and deliverance, no matter how severe the storm cloud you may be facing, and no matter how hopeless things may look to you in the natural.

One of the ways God will test your faith in these trials and tribulations is to see if you will hold on to your faith in Him to the very end and through some of the trying circumstances that will occur throughout parts of the trial. Here are some of the most powerful verses in all of the Bible about the importance of having a strong, powerful and unwavering type of faith in the Lord.

1. "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called ..." (1 Timothy 6:12)
    
2. "For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world - our faith." (1 John 5:4)
    
3. "Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong." (1 Corinthians 16:13)
    
4. "... if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you have heard ..." (Colossians 1:23)
    
5. "Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life." (Revelation 2:10)
    
6. "Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called "Today," lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end." (Hebrews 3:12)
    
7. "But you who held fast to the Lord your God are alive today, every one of you." (Deuteronomy 4:4)
    
8. "And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations." (Revelation 2:26)
    
9. "To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne." (Revelation 3:21)
    
10. "He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels." (Revelation 3:5)
     
11. "For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises." (Hebrews 6:10)
     
12. "Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise." (Hebrews 10:35)
     
13. "Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been proved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him." (James 1:12)
     
14. Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, "Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it." (Numbers 13:30)
     
15. "And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people ... And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke." (Acts 6: 8,10)
     
16. "... and the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens." (Hebrews 11:32-34)
     
17. "By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household ... By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would afterward receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he as going ... By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son ..." (Hebrews 11:7,17)

Every single one of these verses are a major mouthful! These verses are loaded with major revelation and knowledge from the Lord on how to become victorious warriors in this life, even through some of the most difficult and trying circumstances you can possibly imagine.

Notice in the last four verses God is specifically pointing out Caleb, Noah, Stephen and Abraham as men who walked with great faith in the face of very difficult odds and difficult missions they were all facing. And every single one of them ended up becoming total victors and overcomers in the Lord as a result of their strong and unwavering faith in Him. Each one of them had successfully completed all of the assignments and missions that the Lord had given to them.

If you are looking for good spiritual role models, these giants of the faith are some of the best of the best. And our one and only Bible has recorded all of their deeds so we can study and learn from them and why they were all able to become so successful for the Lord in the divine missions that He had sent them out on.

Other major giants in the Bible are King David, Moses, Joseph, Samson, the apostle Paul and many of the prophets such as Samuel, Jeremiah, Isaiah and Daniel. All of these men received great calls from the Lord, and though most of them had their own personal shortcomings, every single one of them held fast to the Lord and eventually accomplished everything that He wanted them to get done for Him.

This is the way that we are supposed to live this life - to live for the express purpose of accomplishing whatever God's personal will is for each one of us.

As we all know from first hand experiences, this life is rough, and we will all have to face a certain amount of trials and tribulations in this life. This is why these verses in particular are so extremely important and so vital to have a full understanding on.

It is only by the grace, power, guidance and help from the Lord can we even begin to make it through some of these trials and tribulations in the first place - and the only thing that will get God to want to move on our behalf through some of these trying circumstances is our total faith and belief in Him that He will actually help us to fight some of these battles.

The second verse mentioned above is a real fascinating one when it says that our faith is what can overcome the world. It is quite obvious that it is God working through us and for us that will overcome all of the adversity of this world - but God is really trying to drive home the point with the wording of this verse is that it is our faith in Him that will get Him to want to move on our behalf to overcome any obstacle, roadblock or trial that may want to come our way!

This is why our faith in God will be tested from time to time. One, to see if we hold fast to Him, and two, to increase the levels of faith we already have in Him to higher levels - as the Bible tells us that our faith levels are actually capable of growing in the Lord. And great fights and great trials is what will help increase our current levels of faith to these higher levels because we will be forced to rely on God and His supernatural help in a way that we may never done before.

And once you see God supernaturally move in to really help you out, then your faith levels will move up the next level. This is why the Bible tells us that we can go from "faith to faith" and from "strength to strength." This specific wording is telling us that our faith and strength in the Lord can literally move from one level to the next highest level as a result of being forced to put our faith into major action to engage a fiery trial.

All of these verses are telling us that we are going to have to learn how to develop the mindset that we are going to become good and brave soldiers for the Lord, and to be willing to take on any adversity that may come our way and not run away from it. Peter could not have walked on water unless he first stepped out of the boat to walk on that water. David could not have defeated Goliath unless he had first stepped out onto the battlefield to face him head on.

We can either run and hide when a storm cloud does get ready to come our way, or we can step out onto the battlefield with God totally by our side like David did against Goliath, and face our giants and storm clouds head on operating under God's anointing and power to be able to do so.

8. God Will Preserve You Through the Trial

Not only can God bring you eventual freedom, victory and deliverance from the trial if you are willing to hold fast to Him to the very end of it, but He can also help keep you properly preserved during it so that you can make it out in one piece.

These next set of verses will show you that God:

• Preserves the faithful
• Preserves the souls of His saints
• Delivers them out of the hand of the wicked
• Delivers him out of them all
• Makes a way of escape
• Guards all their bones - not one of them is broken
• Can give you perfect soundness of mind, body and spirit through the trial
• Will properly support you through the trial

If God is wanting you to go through a specific trial for your own sanctification and for your own testing in Him, then He will make sure to keep you properly supported, uplifted and protected during the trial.

Study the wording in each of these verses very carefully as they will show you that God can supernaturally keep you in one piece as you continue to press on through the trial.

1. "For the Lord preserves the faithful ..." (Psalm 31:23)
    
2. "These forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing." (Deuteronomy 2:7)
    
3. "Your garments did not wear out on you, nor did your feet swell these forty years." (Deuteronomy 8:4)
    
4. "You who love the Lord, hate evil! He preserves the souls of His saints; He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked." (Psalm 97:10)
    
5. "And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong ... Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all." (Acts 3:16)
    
6. "My God sent His angel and shut the lions' mouths, so that they have not hurt me ... So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no injury whatever was found on him, because he believed in his God." (Daniel 6:22-23)
    
7. "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. He guards all his bones, not one of them is broken." (Psalm 34:19-20)
    
8. "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed - always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh." (2 Corinthians 4:7-11)
    
9. "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 Corinthians 10:13)

Notice in the last verse that God will not allow you to handle something that is beyond your abilities to be able to handle. In other words, if God is going to allow a specific type of tribulation to come your way, rest assured you will have what it takes to be able to make it all the way through. God will not test you beyond what your personal limits may be.

Notice in verses two and three, that the Israelites, while being tested in the desert for the forty years, "lacked nothing," and that their garments did not wear out on them nor did their feet swell on them during the entire ordeal. In other words, God kept them properly supported with the necessary food and clothing to help them get through it.

As long as you are walking in a full surrender with the Lord, and have not brought down any unnecessary tribulation on yourself as a result of engaging in any type of serious sins, these tribulations, when brought your way by the Lord, will have the necessary provisions and supplies given to you so that you can make it all the way through them.

Notice in verse 6, that Daniel came out of the lions den without having a hair on his head harmed "because he believed in his God." David defeated Goliath without suffering a broken bone.

If you can keep your faith levels from dipping too low with the Lord, make a personal commitment that you will hold fast to Him, and have faith that He will eventually bring you out of the trial in one piece and with some kind of victory - then you can expect God to keep you properly supported, properly protected, and properly uplifted so you will have everything you will need to make it through the trial to the very end of it.

9. All Things Will Eventually Work Together For Good

This next verse is another one that you will hear every preacher and teacher talk about - and for very good reason. This next verse will tell us that God will eventually work out all things for good for those who love Him and for those who have been called by Him to complete His purposes in this life.

Here is another very powerful verse for every single person who has fallen into a trial or will be falling into one anytime in the near future.

"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28)

Notice that God can work all things for good, but there is a condition attached to it. It is for those who love God. In other words, it is for those who have established a good personal relationship with Him.

If you are walking in a full surrender with the Lord and have established a very good personal relationship with Him, then expect God to eventually work out all things for the best, no matter how bad and how hopeless some things may appear to you in the natural in your present set of circumstances.

When you are in the middle of some of these fiery trials, sometimes you can't see two inches in front of your face. This is when you have to totally trust God to work everything out in His time frame and in His way. And when you look back on everything at a later date, you will then be able to see how God eventually worked out everything for His own good.

10. God Will Be Totally With You During the Trial

Some of the trials and tribulations that you may have to face may have some length to them. These trials and tribulations will obviously vary in how long each of them will last. Some will only last a few days, others a few weeks, some even longer at several months, and then you will have those on the heavier side that can last a certain number of years.

No matter how long each of these trials will end up being, these next set of verses will really drive home the point that God will be with you from the very beginning of the trial to the very end of it. He will stick with you through thick and thin. He will totally be by your side no matter what goes down and no matter how ugly things may get from time to time.

If your trial is going to have any considerable length to it, you will really need to ground and believe on the verses I will now list, as they will help you stay the course to the very end of it.

1. "Yea, 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." (Psalm 23:4)
    
2. "Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me! For my soul trusts in You; and in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, until these calamities have passed by." (Psalm 57:1)
    
3. "The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; for You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You." (Psalm 9:9)

The first verse is an absolute classic. It has been quoted so many times, that even many in the heathen and secular world have heard of it. It has been used in movies, in songs, and in public and private speeches all across the world. Everyone can witness to the words "though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death."

For true Christians, this verse has major meaning, as we all know that no matter how bad and dreadful the valley is that we are walking through, that our Lord will always be there with us and will help comfort and take care of us as we walk through this valley.

Notice the last two verses are telling us that God will also be our refuge as we bide our time waiting for the trial to end - which will now lead us right into the next section.

11. Waiting on the Lord

As a result of some of these trials and tribulations having some kind of considerable length to them, there will be many times that the only thing left for us to do after we have done all of the battling that the Lord has wanted us to do, is to simply wait for Him to finally end it.

These next verses will all hone in on the point that there will be those times that all we can do is wait for the Lord to make His final move to end the trial once and for all. These verses need to be added to all of the other ones listed above to help give you all of the ammunition you will need to get through and weather any type of storm cloud that may come your way.

1. "The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord." (Lamentations 3:25)
    
2. "I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord!" (Psalm 27:13-14)
    
3. "For evildoers shall be cut off; but those who wait on the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more ..." (Psalm 37:9)
    
4. "Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy." (Psalm 126:5)
    
5. "O Lord my God, I cried out to You, and You have healed me. O Lord, You have brought my soul up from the grave; You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit ... For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning." (Psalm 30:2,5)

As the last two verses are telling us, you may start the trial up with tears and mourning, but eventually you will end up reaping joy in the morning if you hold fast to the Lord and wait for His deliverance.

12. God Will Eventually Deliver You

Most trials and tribulations will have a bit of length to them, otherwise they would not be real trials. As a result, you will have to hold fast to the Lord for a certain length of time.

If you are thrown into any type of waiting mode with the Lord while going through a trial, the one thing you will have to hang onto is that the Lord can and will eventually deliver you if you continue to put all of your faith and trust in Him to do so - and hold that faith and trust in Him to the very end of the trial.

These next set of verses will tell you two things:

First, that absolutely nothing is too impossible for God to deal with or handle - no matter how grave, no matter how hopeless and no matter how severe your present set of circumstances may be. These are the kinds of verses you will really need to ground on when faced with trials and tribulations that are on the more severe side. Remember - God can eventually work all things out for His and your own good, which will include handling any severe trials that may have come your way.

Second, the other set of verses will tell you that God can eventually deliver you from the trial if you hold fast to Him. Though you may get really impatient while waiting for your deliverance, remember that God is working patience and other godly qualities and traits into your personality during the course of your trial. As a result, He will be the One to decide how long the trial will last - not you or the trial itself. God has full control of every little thing on this earth, including you and every little detail of your life.

1. "For with God nothing will be impossible." (Luke 1:37)
    
2. But He said, "The things which are impossible with men are possible with God." (Luke 18:27)
    
3. But Jesus looked at them and said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." (Matthew 19:26)
    
4. Then Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." (Mark 9:23)
    
5. As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, He said to the ruler of the synagogue, "Do not be afraid; only believe." (Mark 5:36)
    
6. "The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles." (Psalm 34:17)
    
7. "He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and broke their chains in pieces." (Psalm 107:14)
    
8. "For You, O God, have proved us; You have refined us as silver is refined. You brought us into the net; You laid affliction on our backs. You have caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; but You brought us out to rich fulfillment." (Psalm 66:10)
    
9. "Then they cry out to the Lord in their trouble, and He brings them out of their distresses. He calms the storm, so that its waves are still. Then they are glad because they are quiet; so He guides them to their desired haven." (Psalm 107:28)
    
10. "You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself." (Exodus 19:4)
     
11. "For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us ..." (2 Corinthians 1:8)
     
12. "And the Lord restored Job's losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before ... Now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning ..." (Job 42:10,12)

The last verse is talking about what God did with Job. This man probably had one of the most severe testings any man could possibly go through in this life. And yet he held fast to the Lord with his faith and in his personal relationship with Him. As result, God ended the trial and gave him twice the amount of blessings than what he had when he first entered into the trial.

The last sentence is speaking volumes as to what God can do for you with an eventual deliverance when it says that the latter days of Job ended up being more blessed than what he had from his beginnings - and this man had a very blessed life at his initial beginnings.

Notice verse number six, where it says that the Lord can deliver you out of "all" of your troubles, not just some or part of them.

Bottom line - God can break the chains of your bondage no matter how severe and no matter how strong those chains may appear to you. God can fully deliver you and fully restore order back in your life if you will ride on His back and be guided by the Holy Spirit as to what chess moves you will need to make on your end to make it out of the trial.

13. Suffering for Jesus' Sake

As a result of every single one of us having to go through a certain amount of trials and tribulations in this life, an additional thing that we will all have to put with and endure is a certain amount of actual suffering.

I know the word "suffering" is something that most of us do not want to hear about, much less talk about it or actually experience. But whether we like it or not, and whether we want to face up to it or not, suffering is not only a part of this life and this world, but it is also an actual part of our walk with the Lord.

Some of the trials that are on the more heavy and extreme side will bring with them a certain amount of mental, emotional, spiritual and possibly physical suffering with them.

Victims of bad natural accidents and different types of illnesses and diseases can all bring with them physical suffering to some degree and to some extent - and in some of these heavier cases, we will be talking about extreme suffering.

People dying of terminal illnesses, people sustaining horrible injuries in severe car accidents and people being burned over 80% of their bodies in fires can all go through a horrible of amount of not only mental and emotional suffering, but a great deal of physical suffering as well.

Again, God is not causing all of these bad things to happen, thereby causing this kind of horrible suffering. Since the Bible tells us that there is no darkness in God, there is no way He could cause some of these bad and horrible things to occur.

These bad and horrible things are all occurring because of the Adamic curse that is still in full operation on this earth. And until this curse is fully and finally removed in the New Heaven and New Earth, a certain amount of physical, mental and emotional suffering will not only be a part of this world and life, but it will also be a part of our individual and personal walks with the Lord.

To try and run from this reality, or to try and ignore it is just simply ill-equipping yourself should you ever be forced to personally deal with it either for yourself or a close loved one. And sooner or later, a certain amount of physical and/or mental suffering will eventually come your way. This is why every single Christian needs the knowledge, revelation and understanding on this entire part of the walk with our Lord - so they can properly handle this type of adversity and suffering when it does come their way.

This is where you will really need to ground on the next set of verses I will now list if the trial or tribulation that has just come your way has a certain amount of physical, mental or emotional suffering coming along with it. These next set of verses will tell us that we must learn how:

• To suffer for Jesus' sake
• Be willing to suffer shame for His name
• Be willing to suffer for righteousness' sake
• Be willing to suffer for doing good
• Be willing to suffer for doing the will of God

One of the verses I will list in this section will tell us some of the things that the apostle Paul had to suffer - and that was after he had been saved and was working full time for the Lord. Here were some of the specific things he had to go through:

• Whipped with 39 stripes five different times
• Beaten with rods three times
• Stoned one time
• Shipwrecked three times
• In prisons frequently
• Often in sleeplessness, hunger, thirst, cold, nakedness, weariness and toil
• In perils of waters and the sea, robbers, his own countrymen, Gentiles, false brethren, the wilderness and the city

Trials and tribulations are obviously all relative. There is always somebody that will have it much worse than what you will ever have in this life. If the apostle Paul, who I believe was the greatest of all of the New Testament apostles, had to go through a certain amount of trials and tribulations in his walk and in his call for the Lord, then you can bet your bottom dollar that every single one of us will also have to go through a certain amount of adversity and conflict in this life - no exceptions.

When you do have to undergo any kind of suffering in your walk and in your call for the Lord, really meditate and chew on the wording in these next set of verses. They will help bring peace and comfort to your mind, to your soul and to your emotions if you can grasp this deeper revelation that at times we will all have to face a certain amount of suffering for our Lord's sake in this life.

1. "For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake." (Philippians 1:29)
    
2. "So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ." (Acts 5:41)
    
3. "But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you are blessed ... For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than doing evil. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit ..." (1 Peter 3:14, 17-18)
    
4. "But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you." (1 Peter 5:10)
    
5. "Are they ministers of Christ? - I speak as a fool - I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness - ..." (2 Corinthians 11:23)
    
6. "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter." Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 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, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:35)
    
7. "For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." (2 Corinthians 5:1)
    
8. "For I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." (Romans 8:18)

The first verse really lays it out for all of us - that not only must we have faith and belief in our Lord, but that we must also be willing to suffer for His sake. As a result of working for the Lord and being His ambassadors and representatives on this earth - there are times that will simply have to stand up and be willing to suffer shame, ridicule and possibly some kind of persecution for being willing to do and say the right thing, along with doing the will of God for our lives.

Each Christian should develop the strong mindset that if Jesus Himself was willing to come down to our earth to undergo the most extreme and brutal form of physical punishment known to mankind at the time that He came down to our earth - that we should also be willing to do the same thing for Him if the call or need ever dictates that we face a certain amount of trials, tribulations and suffering.

If Jesus was willing to suffer and die for us, then we should also be willing to suffer and die for Him, even if it means having an early departure from this life. If Jesus was literally willing to die for us, then we should also be willing to die for Him.

For those of you who may end up going through trials and tribulations on the more extreme side, really meditate on the last three verses. Verse number six is a major power verse where it says that absolutely nothing in this life will ever be able to separate us from the love of our God.

Our Lord will stay with us through thick and thin. No amount of trials, tribulations, distresses, persecutions or demons will ever be able to separate us from our Lord as long as we are willing to hold fast to Him. Hold fast to the Lord, no matter how trying and severe the trial may end up becoming, and He will hold fast to you.

Remember what the two last verses are telling us. This earthly life is just for a brief moment compared to the eternal time frame that is operating up in heaven. Sooner or later, we will all leave and depart from this life. And when we do, we will all enter into heaven and all of our trials and tribulations will be no more.

As verse number 7 is telling us, this life may be able to destroy our physical tents on this earth such as our bodies and any physical possessions we may have, but it cannot touch or destroy the buildings, the mansions, our new spiritual glorified bodies or whatever else God may have in store for us on the other side once we cross over to be with Him for all of eternity. Any sufferings, trials and tribulations we may have to experience and go through in this earthly life are just for a very brief moment compared to what is waiting for all of us up in heaven.

Sooner or later, all of our trials and tribulations will eventually end, along with all of the pain, heartache and suffering they have brought with them. As the very last verse is telling us, all of the suffering we may have to undergo in this life will never compare with the glory that God has in store for all of us on the other side!

Keeping Unnecessary Tribulations
From Coming Your Way

I believe there are two types of tribulation that can come our way in this life. The first kind are those that are being "allowed" by the Lord to come our way for our own sanctification in Him and for the testing of our faith in Him as all of the above Scripture verses are telling us.

The second type of tribulations are those not are not coming from the Lord. These are tribulations that are coming our way as a result of something that we may not be doing right in Him.

Since we will all have to go through a certain amount of tribulation in this life as a result of the Lord Himself allowing some of these tribulations to slip through on us, no Christian with half a brain should ever be tempting his fate in this area by getting out of line with the Lord and thus allowing himself to draw unnecessary tribulation his way.

Here are some of the areas that will draw unnecessary tribulation our way in this life.

1. The Full Surrender

Per the article we have on this topic in the Bible Basics section of our site titled "The Full Surrender," this area is without question, the number one reason why so many Christians draw unnecessary tribulation their way in this life.

Bottom line - each Christian can only live their lives in one or two ways. They can either choose to fully surrender their entire being and their entire lives over to the Lord for His direction and handling, or they can choose to run their own lives, calling all of their own shots and doing all of their own things.

In the above article on the full surrender, I give you all of the appropriate verses from Scripture to show you that this is what God is really wanting from each and everyone of us. He leads and we follow - not vice versa.

Now here is how you can draw unnecessary tribulation your way in this life if you are not walking in this full surrender with the Lord.

If you walking in this full surrender with God where He is the One that will now be guiding and directing your life in the directions that He will want it to go in - what this now means is that you will now have God's divine guidance and divine protection operating in your life. The reason you will have His divine protection is because you will never make it into the calls and goals that He has in store for you unless He can first keep you safely in one piece as you journey through this life to complete your divine missions for Him.

If God has calls and goals that He will want you to be able to reach in this life, then not only is He going to have to lead you so that you can reach these calls and goals, but He will also have to protect you along the way so that you can eventually reach those finish lines. If God doesn't fully protect you along the way, a lot of the natural adversities that could come your way as a result of the Adamic curse could prevent you from ever fulfilling your full destiny in Him.

If you are walking in this full surrender with God where He is now the One who is in total control of every aspect of your life, then what this now means is that if you have any type of adversity coming your way, then this adversity is being allowed by the Lord to come your way for the specific reasons mentioned above.

God is not "causing" some of these adversities to come your way, but He is "allowing" some of them to slip through so that He can use them to sanctify you and to also test your personal faith levels in Him from time to time.

As a result of God deciding what tribulations will be allowed to come your way in this life, what this now means is that God will be keeping a lot of unnecessary tribulation from ever coming your way in the first place. This is an incredible perk and blessing that you can receive from the Lord if you are willing to enter into this full surrender with Him.

Now here is what gets so many Christians who are not walking in this full surrender with the Lord in major trouble in this life. If you are not walking in this full surrender with the Lord, then God is not leading your life in the specific direction that He would like it to go in. And if He is not divinely leading your life in the directions that He will want it go in, then this now means you will not have His divine protection operating on your life. And if you do not have God's divine protection operating in your life, then you will become an open and easy target for demons, for the other bad and evil people in this life, and for all of the other different natural accidents and mishaps that can occur at a moment's notice.

If God is not divinely leading and protecting your life, you could end up in a bad car accident that will cause serious injuries, and those serious injuries will then cause a major trial and tribulation to come into your life - and this is all occurring because you did not have God's full protection on your life to protect you from this car accident in the first place.

If God is not divinely leading you in the chess moves that you should be making in this life, you could end up marrying the wrong person and end up taking all of the wrong jobs - which can then lead to major trials and tribulations down the road.

Half of all marriages are still ending up in divorce, and I don't have to tell you the severe pain and trauma a messy divorce can cause in your life - and again, all of this adversity is coming your way because you did not rely on God's leadings as to who you should be marrying and what specific jobs you should be taking in the first place.

There are a million and one things that can hit you in this life that will cause major trials and tribulations to come your way - and all of these trials and tribulations are hitting you with full force because you did not have God's full divine protection on your life in the first place as a result of refusing to enter into this full surrender with Him.