<\/p>\n
1 Peter 1:3-9<\/strong> – 3\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!\u00a0In His great mercy\u00a0He has given us new birth\u00a0into a living hope\u00a0through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,\u00a04\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>and into an inheritance\u00a0that can never perish, spoil or fade.\u00a0This inheritance is kept in heaven for you,\u00a05\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>who through faith are shielded by God\u2019s power\u00a0until the coming of the salvation\u00a0that is ready to be revealed\u00a0in the last time.\u00a06\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>In all this you greatly rejoice,\u00a0though now for a little while\u00a0you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.\u00a07\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>These have come so that the proven genuineness\u00a0of your faith\u2014of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire\u2014may result in praise, glory and honor\u00a0when Jesus Christ is revealed.\u00a08\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him\u00a0and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,\u00a09\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n V6<\/strong> \u2013 Looking back to James 1:2<\/strong> where James tells us to consider it \u201cpure joy\u201d Jesus was very open in letting all who would listen know that anyone, and everyone, who followed him would have trials and tribulations.\u00a0 He said “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.\u201d Matthew 5:10<\/strong>\u00a0 In Matthew 10:22 <\/strong>Jesus says \u201c<\/strong>You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.\u201d\u00a0 Matthew 24:9 <\/strong>records Jesus prophesying “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.\u201d\u00a0 Jesus gave a warning and promise in Mark 13:9-13 \u201c<\/strong>9\u00a0You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues.\u00a0On account of me you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them.\u00a010\u00a0And the gospel must first be preached to all nations.\u00a011\u00a0Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 12\u00a0\u201cBrother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death.\u00a013\u00a0Everyone will hate you because of me,\u00a0but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.\u201d\u00a0 There are also many verses in the epistles that foretell of the suffering and trials that will come to us: Romans 8:17,36, 2 Corinthians 1:7, Philippians 3:10, James 5:10-11, 1 Peter 3:14, 1 Peter 4:16, Philippians 1:29<\/strong>).\u00a0 We are plentifully warned and foretold that all who follow Christ will go through trials.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s separate trials from correction.\u00a0 Sometimes we persist in sin, or start down a path of sin, and the Lord corrects us.\u00a0 Of course, we know that the Lords corrects His own.\u00a0 He does it because of His great love for us.\u00a0 Like our earthly fathers corrected us from their love for us, so our Heavenly Father corrects us out of His love for us.\u00a0 Only God\u2019s correction is perfect, never designed for punishment, but it is designed for correction, and is confirmation to us that we are His and He loves us (Hebrews 12:6<\/strong>).\u00a0 Discipline is not trials.\u00a0 Discipline is the result of wrong doing.\u00a0 Trials are when we have done nothing wrong, but are persecuted because Christ loves us and because we love Him and are His disciples.\u00a0 Remember that the battle we fight is spiritual (Ephesians 6:12<\/strong>).\u00a0 So discipline that we deserve is from God\u2019s love for us.\u00a0 Trials are the attacks of the enemy because we belong to God.\u00a0 Now some people do not want to consider such things.\u00a0 They don\u2019t want us to put too much emphasis on spiritual.\u00a0 They don\u2019t want us to see a devil behind every door.\u00a0 Family, sometimes our flesh is the reason we sin.\u00a0 But truly I have found that the great danger, the more frequent mistake, is not putting too much emphasis on the spiritual behind matters, but the ignoring of the spiritual behind matters.\u00a0 That is what is related in His Word.<\/p>\n In these noted verses we find that is clearly stated that we are persecuted because we belong to Jesus.\u00a0 The enemy has evil intent.\u00a0 Yet he is the unwitting tool of the Lord to strengthen and build us.\u00a0 God is always in control.\u00a0 We see from the book of Job that Lord put constraints on the devil.\u00a0 He would allow the testing of Job, but God restrained the enemy from killing Job.\u00a0 In the end, the Lord gave to Job more than he previously had.\u00a0 More importantly, Job was strengthened and his faith in God proved.\u00a0 Yes, Job suffered, but then He was blessed for being faithful.\u00a0 In the verses quoted above we see that we are told that we will<\/em> have troubles and sufferings in this world.\u00a0 However, we are not alone in our sufferings, Jesus has promised us peace, comfort and His fellowship through it all (John 14:27, 2 Corinthians 1:4, Deuteronomy 31:6, Hebrews 13:5<\/strong>).<\/p>\n In these verses telling us that trials will come to those who truly love Jesus there is also a prophecy, also a promise.\u00a0 The promise is that those who endure shall be with God forever.\u00a0 So how do we have joy in the midst of suffering?\u00a0 It is that the foundation, yes even the fount of our joy, our pleasure and our delight is not found in anything or any person in this world. \u00a0Our joy, our eternal and unshakable joy is based on our great and sure hope. It is that no matter what we go through, no matter how hard the times are, regardless of suffering and extreme grief in this world, these things are something that is separate from our joy in the Lord, who is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10<\/strong>). Happiness in this world is a blessing.\u00a0\u00a0 Good circumstances in this world are a blessing.\u00a0 We all like it when everything is going well.\u00a0 Then we are happy.\u00a0\u00a0 Yet the world can turn on a dime and everything in this world can go from very good, to very bad, in an instant.\u00a0 Then, the happiness in my worldly circumstances changes to sorrow.\u00a0 But the joy we have in the Lord is never lost.\u00a0 Our joy is based on what does not change, our God and His promises (Numbers 23:19<\/strong>). With our hearts and spiritual eyes focused on Jesus, our joy remains.\u00a0 We never lose God, therefore we never lose the sure hope that we have of one day being beyond the trials and suffering in this world and eternally with God the Father, Jesus His Son and the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 In fact we get stronger in the trials.\u00a0 Our hope burns brighter and calls to us even deeper in our souls.\u00a0 With our eyes focused on the Lord, the trials and horrors of this world are juxtaposed beside the sure blessings and hope, and the sure love and grace of God.\u00a0 The difference is obvious.\u00a0 The choice is obvious.\u00a0 It is the picture of evil and ugly personified next to the picture of the beauty and love of all that God is.\u00a0 Yes, our joy grows stronger and brighter in trials. \u00a0The deeper the trial, the more clearly we see the difference.\u00a0 Trials break the illusion that we have of our joy being complete in the ways of this world.\u00a0 In this world we have many joys and blessings, but the true blessings are from God (James 1:7<\/strong>).\u00a0 If we wisely view our blessings and consider who it is who provided them, we see it is God.\u00a0 We look to God, and the hope He provides, and there is our joy.\u00a0 Pure and eternal joy! Trials and suffering reveal the beauty of God.\u00a0 Trials and suffering show us the foolishness of clinging to the ways of the world and they show us the wonder, beauty and blessings of clinging to God.\u00a0 With our eyes firmly focused on God, our joy never wanes.\u00a0 Happiness in the world is a roller coaster, but the joy of the Lord remains.\u00a0 In fact, it grows within us and cannot be separated from those who love the Lord. \u00a0No trial can separate us from the joy of the Lord.\u00a0 Not ever! \u00a0Praise God!\u00a0 Family, let us live in the joy of the Lord.\u00a0 Thank you Jesus!<\/p>\n Psalm 150:6<\/strong> – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Micah 7:7<\/strong> – But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Micah 6:8<\/strong> – He has shown you, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 1 Peter 1:3-9 – 3\u00a0Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!\u00a0In His great mercy\u00a0He has given us new birth\u00a0into a living hope\u00a0through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,\u00a04\u00a0and into an inheritance\u00a0that can never perish, spoil or fade.\u00a0This inheritance is kept in heaven for you,\u00a05\u00a0who through faith are…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[899,1336,1870,129,1638,1872,272,1841,7,593,104,1869,1700,180,100,44,93,101,1873,1874,496,90,1871,10,126,327,882],"class_list":["post-429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-blessing","tag-circumstances","tag-clinging","tag-corinthians","tag-correction","tag-deuteronomy","tag-discipline","tag-ephesians","tag-god","tag-happiness","tag-hebrews","tag-horrors","tag-james","tag-jesus-christ","tag-john","tag-joy","tag-mark","tag-matthew","tag-nehemiah","tag-numbers","tag-persecute","tag-peter","tag-philippians","tag-romans","tag-salvation","tag-suffering","tag-trials"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=429"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":430,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429\/revisions\/430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\u201cwhenever\u201d, or \u201cwhen\u201d we go through trials.\u00a0 Now Peter is telling us to rejoice in our great salvation that we have received through Jesus Christ, and to continue to rejoice in our salvation, though we will <\/em>\u201csuffer grief in all kinds of trials.\u201d\u00a0 Trials are not fun, but we can remain in the \u201cpure joy\u201d as James called us to do.\u00a0 How can we \u201csuffer grief\u201d through a myriad of trials, and still retain our pure joy?\u00a0 Let\u2019s remember who and what our pure joy is.\u00a0 The joy that the Lord has given us is not based upon the circumstances in this life. It is based upon the eternal position we have with God through Jesus our Lord.\u00a0 Let\u2019s consider and agree upon that before moving on.\u00a0 Let\u2019s stop and think about it.\u00a0 The joy that the Lord has given us is not based upon the circumstances in this life. It is based upon the eternal position we have with God through Jesus our Lord.<\/p>\n