The Christian life is not easy and nowhere does it say in the bible that after you accept Jesus Christ into your life that the rest of your life will be fine and dandy. In fact, Jesus himself said in John 16:33 “In the world, you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” Jesus tells us that challenges, trials, and tribulations are guaranteed in this world but he also provides us the solution which is just to trust in him.

James 1:1-3 says “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” This verse clearly says that trials in life are not always a bad thing but an opportunity for us to test our faith. When Christians are faced with trials how we react in these situations reveals where our walk with God is and how much we trust in him. Do we cling to Jesus and ask him to help us? or do we seek to get out of these situations in our own way? Psalm 34:17-18 says “When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” The Bible asks us to cry out to the Lord when we are faced with all kinds of trouble and the Lord who hears our cry will deliver us and save us from our troubles in one way or the other.

Facing trials with Joy sounds extreme and not for the faint of heart but this is the very essence of Christianity. We all live in a world filled with sin and a broken world surrounded by broken people. If one thing is guaranteed for any Christian in this world then that is trials and tribulations. These are bound to come and will happen but the bible says in Isaiah 41:10 “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”  This is easier said than done because what is the first thing we do when faced with trials, we fear and we panic and get anxious and we try to make sense of things on our own instead of taking it to God. The Bible asks us to put our trust in him and He will strengthen and guide us during times of trial in our life. We can only experience this when we are actually faced with trials. That is why the bible says that we need to look forward to trials with Joy since it develops our faith as Christians.

Romans 5:2-5  says “Through him, we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” This verse asks us to rejoice in our sufferings because it produces Character and that is what we need to do as Christians to develop Character so that we will eventually know exactly what to do when faced with trials, which is to put our trust completely in God. Remember that trials will always come in our life, the more we face these trials by trusting in God the more we will be prepared for the remaining trials in our life. Face your trials with Joy, because it is these very trials that are going to shape you and mold you into the person that God wants you to be in this life.