T.R.A.I.L of your faith

There was a couple who used to go England to shop in the beautiful store. This was their 25th wedding anniversary. They both liked antiques and pottery and especially tea-cups. They said, “May we see that? We've never seen one quite so beautiful."

As the lady handed it to them, suddenly the tea-cup spoke, "You don't understand." It said, "I have not always been a tea-cup. There was a time when I was red clay. My master took me and rolled me and patted me over and over and I yelled out, "Let me alone," but he only smiled,"Not yet!!"

"Then I was placed on a spinning wheel and suddenly I was spun around and around and around. 'Stop it!! I'm getting dizzy!' I screamed. But the master only nodded and said, 'Not yet.'

Then he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat. I yelled and
knocked at the door. I could see him through the opening and I could read his lips as he shook hid head, 'Not yet'.

"Finally, the door opened, he put me on the shelf, and I began to
cool. And he brushed and painted me all over. The fumes were horrible. I thought I would gag. 'Stop it, Stop it!!' I cried. He only nodded, ‘Not yet!'.

Then suddenly he put me back in to the oven, not like the first one.
This was twice as hot and I knew I would suffocate. I begged. I
pleaded. I screamed. I cried. I would never make it. I was ready to give up. But the door opened and he took me out and placed me on the shelf.

An hour later he handed me a mirror and said 'Look at yourself.' And I did. I said, 'That's not me; that couldn't be me. It's beautiful. I'm beautiful.'

"I want you to remember, then,' he said, 'I know it hurts to be rolled and patted, but if I just had left you alone, you'd have dried up. I know it made you dizzy to spin around on the wheel, but if I had stopped, you would have crumbled. I know it hurts and it was hot and disagreeable in the oven, but if I hadn't put you there, you would have cracked. I know the fumes were bad when I brushed and painted you all over, but if I hadn't done that, you never would have hardened.
You would not have had any color in your life, and if I hadn't put you back in that second oven, you wouldn't survive for long because the hardness would not have held. Now you are a finished product. You are what I had in mind when I first began with you." God knows what He's doing [for all of us]. He is the potter, and we are His clay.
He will mould us and make us, so that we may be made into a flawless piece of work to fulfill His good, pleasing and perfect will.

Trials

We need to get to the place where we can say "I know that God has been holding me in the fires of affliction and I have felt His hammer upon me.
But I don't mind, if only He can bring me to what I should be. And so, in all these hard things my prayer is simply this: Try me in any way you wish, Lord, only don't throw me on the scrap heap."

The T-R-I-A-L of Your Faith

1 Peter 1:7:
7 these trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being
tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

All believers face such trails when we let our light shine into
the darkness. We must accept trails as part of the refining process that burns away impurities and prepares us to meet Christ.

As gold is heated impurities float to the top and can be skimmed off.
Likewise, our trials, struggles, and persecutions refine and
strengthen our faith, making us useful to God.


1. T-emptaition

2 Peter 2:9:
9Now if [all these things are true, then be sure] the Lord knows how to rescue the godly out of temptations and trials…

Just as God rescued Lot from Sodom, so he is able to rescue us from the temptations and trials we face in a wicked world. Gen 19

A. Every Christian experience temptation, Satan tries to catch
Christians unawares.

B. We must not yield to temptation. We can overcome through decision, discipline, determination, and divine help.

James 1:12:
12 God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation.
Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

Temptation comes from evil desires inside us, not from God. It begins with an evil thought and becomes sin when we dwell on the thought and allow it to become an action.

Like a snowball rolling downhill, sin grows more destructive the more we let it have its way.

The best time to stop a temptation is before it is too strong or
moving too fast to control.


2. R-esentment-: to feel or express annoyance or ill will at


1 John 3:14:
14 If we love our Christian brothers and sisters, it proves that we have passed from death to life. But a person who has no love is still dead.

A. Resentments dwindles the physical, dwarf the mental, and destroy
the spiritual life of an individual.

B. We can be released from resentments through love and prayer. One cannot love and pray for another person and hold resentment at the same time.

3. I-nferiority- of little or less importance, value, or merit

Philippians 4:13:
13 For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.

As we contend for the faith, we will face troubles, pressures. and trails. As they come, ask Christ to strengthen you.

A. Inferiority feelings hinder Christians from working for God as they should.

B. We overcome by doing, by moving ahead, by believing the Holy Spirit is within us, and that He is guiding, directing, and speaking through us.

4. A-ffliction
Psalm 119:67:
67 before I was afflicted I went astray; But now I observe thy word.

A. Christians suffer affliction like everyone else. Some blame God when they suffer.

B. We must trust God during affliction. He has a purpose in what He allows and can work it out for our good and His glory.

Romans 8:28:
28 and we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

God works in everything- not just isolated incidents- for our good.
This does not mean that all that happens to us is good, but God is able to turn every circumstance around for our long range good.

5. L-oneliness

Hebrews 13:5:
5.I will never abandon you.

A. Many people are lonely. Sin, sorrow, suffering, and separation
bring loneliness.

B. Christians need never be lonely. They have a “friend who is closer than a brother.” The Holy Spirit promised to “abide with them forever”.

John 14:16:

16And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever"

The Holy Spirit is the very presence of God within us and all
believers, helping us live as God wants and building Christ’s church on earth. By faith we can take possession of the Spirit’s power each day.


No matter what card life has dealt you don’t fold under the pressure turn to Jesus.

Have you been trying to push through difficulties on your own? If so, make a change right now. Start getting strength from deep within you, where the Holy Spirit dwells.
Instead of asking “why me?” we should respond to suffering with a new set of responses:

1) Confidence that God knows, plans, and directs our lives for the good. It’s hard to calculate sometimes, but God always provides his love and strength for us. God leads us toward a better future.

2) Perseverance when facing grief, anger, sorrow, and pain. We
express our grief, but we don’t give in to bitterness and despair.

3) Courage because with Jesus as brother and savior, we need not to be afraid. He who suffered for us will not abandon us. Jesus carries us through everything.


If that divine strength does not yet dwell in you, all you need to do to receive it is admit your sins, repent of them, and ask Jesus to be your Savior.

Surrender your life, all that you are and all that you are not, to him.

Let God be your strength. God does not want to just give us strength; he wants to be our strength.

2 Samuel 22:3:
3My God, my Rock, in Him will I take refuge; my Shield and the Horn of my salvation; my Stronghold and my Refuge, my Savior--