COUNT IT ALL JOY

If I told you that God had a special gift to offer you that would make you strong and
beautiful, more precious than fine gold, and if accepted would protect you and prepare
you for heaven, would you want it?
- He is giving it to you daily, it comes in all shapes and sizes and is wrapped in so
many different types of packaging that we often fail to even recognize that it is a
gift, a blessing, nor see its value.
- Its called trials
-trials give us one of our greatest evidences that we are loved
-trials protect us
-trials come to call our attention to our weaknesses, lack, need, and keep
us dependent
-trials prepare us/learn to walk by faith vs sight and feelings

What are the purposes of trials and why do we need them?

Trials are one of the greatest evidences that we are loved:
For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, Now no chastening for the present seemeth
to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of
righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Heb.12:6&11
I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of
Ophir. Isaiah 13:12
A bar of steel is worth $5
When wrought into horseshoes $10
If made into needles $350
If into penknife blades $32,000
If into springs for watches $250,000
What a drilling the poor bar must undergo to be worth this! But the more it is
manipulated, and passed through the fire, and beaten and pounded, and polished, the
greater the value.
-Sir Henry Bessemer (1813-1898) British inventor & engineer
Just as the diamond cannot be polished without friction & pearls are formed by an
irritating process, nor can a man be perfected without trials.
We need to be broken, humbled, & virtually brought to the end of ourselves to be best
used of God.
Trial will come to you. Thus the Lord polishes the roughness from your character. Do
not murmur. You make the trial harder by repining. Honor God by cheerful submission.

Patiently endure the pressure. . Christ knows the strength of your temptations and the
strength of your power to resist. His hand is always stretched out in pitying tenderness to
every suffering child. To the tempted, discouraged one he says, Child for whom I suffered
and died, cannot you trust Me? "As thy days, so shall thy strength be." . . . MYP 97 & 98
Trials protect us:
We will never know until heaven just how many times our lives have been spared or our
course altered for the good because of trials

September 11 many lives spared by inconvenient annoyances

Oil pan leak on car 3 times in about 3 months
maybe God was giving me message it is time to sell my car and get something
more realistic for new circumstances
walking out to take care of leak, I had the thought give thanks
brought so much joy to go through it with the Lord
if nothing more, it is for great character development and opportunity to grow in
Jesus

Trials come to call our attention to our weaknesses, lack, need, and keep us
dependent:
My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing [this], that
the trying of your faith worketh patience. James 1:2&3
Here is the patience of the saints: here [are] they that keep the commandments of God,
and the faith of Jesus. Revelation 14:12

Grandpa asking same question 1.5 hours

doesnt matter how little or insignificant it seems these are sometimes greatest
tests
its NOT about what I need to get done but what God needs to get done in my
heart
accept grace - changes <3 at the deepest level
victory to the core
could count it all joy
Grandpa waking me up about 9 or 10 times in one night
very tired sometimes easier to give in
so thankful I recognized the battle and determined by Gods grace Satan was not
going to make me fall or give into my feelings
almost every week encountering a situation that deals with one of my greatest
weaknesses
massage at Sophie Lake
only guys
my commitment and policy
justifications/excuses

sometimes I simply long to graduate from this class BUT have to go through
course first (God loves us too much to fail the test without letting us retake it;))
- DO NOT GET AROUND
- Give thanks!
In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
1Thess. 5:18
Trials prepare us / learn to walk by faith vs sight and feelings:
God knows what is coming ahead in our experience and is seeking to prepare us just as
he tried to prepare Peter
Peter thought he knew himself where he thought himself strong he was weak if he
had learned lesson on the sea hed been ready for the great crisis
Day by day God instructs His children. By the circumstances of the daily life He is
preparing them to act their part upon that wider stage to which His providence has
appointed them. It is the issue of the daily test that determines their victory or defeat in
life's great crisis. DA 382
prepare us for the great crisis ahead because we are NOT ready
-must learn NOW to stop depending on our feelings and circumstances
and look beyond by the eye of faith
-faith is the ONLY element we will have in the last days
-our lives need to be 100% transformed or we will not be ready for heaven
This summers situation of finding Gods will & experiencing deep
disappointment
- deep <3 searching, stripped me, and broke me to a level I did not know I needed
- take me deeper in walk with God by faith not by sight
- wrestled with God and quit going by feelings and God triumphed in my heart
- I am really thankful for that dark day
- I am stronger in Jesus bc of it
How can we count it all joy?
- recognizing that everything passes through the hand of Christ before it touches us
"The Father's presence encircled Christ, and nothing befell Him but that which infinite
love permitted for the blessing of the world. Here was His source of comfort, and it is for
us. He who is imbued with the Spirit of Christ abides in Christ. The blow that is aimed at
him falls upon the Savior, who surrounds him with His presence. Whatever comes to him
comes from Christ. He has no need to resist evil, for Christ is his defense. Nothing can
touch him except by our Lord's permission, and 'all things" that are permitted "work
together for good to them that love God.' Romans 8:28. " Thoughts from the Mount of
Blessings 71
He will not strike one useless blow nor allow us to face more than we can bear
-

by faith realizing that there is a blessing in it even if just character development

and give thanks

privileged that God trusts us enough to allow it to come to us He has confidence

in what we can do through Him

How do we practically start experiencing counting it all joy?

- by spending quality time with God each morning this sets tone for clear vision
- by asking God to remind us in the midst of our trial
- take God at His word
- to allow Gods grace to change our hearts so we will experience the joy of victory
- give thanks
Its not just the big trials but the little ones that reveal who we are and what we need
God has high ideals for His children, a special calling, to use you here, and fit you in up
there. Let Him take you through His course. It will only make you better He wants to
turn you into gold bc you are so precious in His sight!
God does not keep us from but through trials through furnace of affliction we see our
need & let go of the dross to which we naturally (foolishly) cling. He will not leave you
alone in the fiery furnace, as with the 3 Hebrews He will be there with you!
Friends, the battle of manifold temptations and trials is going to get much more fierce,
intense as we enter these closing days of earths history. Dont be discouraged for the
storm is just before the rainbow.
Hes preparing you to graduate with flying colors!!
Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness
through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious
than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and
honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Receiving the end of your faith, [even]
the salvation of [your] souls. 1 Peter 1:6,7,&9

Every trial & temptation is an expression of God's trust in us & our response is the
evidence of our trust in Him...
-April 26, 2007
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who
are the called according to [his] purpose. Rom. 8:28