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If what I believe about Jesus doesn’t translate into how I live, then what’s the point? Belief has to affect behaviour for it to be faith.

Acts 14:22

God’s people have their trials. It was never designed by God, when He chose His people, that they should be an untried people. They were chosen in the furnace of affliction; they were never chosen to worldly peace and earthly joy. Freedom from sickness and the pains of mortality was never promised them; but when their Lord drew up the charter of privileges, He included chastisements amongst the things to which they should inevitably be heirs.

Trials are a part of our lot; they were predestinated for us in Christ’s last legacy. So surely as the stars are fashioned by his hands, and their orbits fixed by Him, so surely are our trials allotted to us: He has ordained their season and their place, their intensity and the effect they shall have upon us. Good men must never expect to escape troubles; if they do, they will be disappointed, for none of their predecessors have been without them.

Mark the patience of Job; remember Abraham, for he had his trials, and by his faith under them, he became the “Father of the faithful.” Note well the biographies of all the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs, and you shall discover none of those whom God made vessels of mercy, who were not made to pass through the fire of affliction.

It is ordained of old that the cross of trouble should be engraved on every vessel of mercy, as the royal mark whereby the King’s vessels of honour are distinguished. But although tribulation is thus the path of God’s children, they have the comfort of knowing that their Master has traversed it before them; they have His presence and sympathy to cheer them, His grace to support them, and His example to teach them how to endure; and when they reach “the kingdom,” it will more than make amends for the “much tribulation” through which they passed to enter it.

(Reference: Spurgeon’s morning devotions 08_03_2020)

It is not true that if you follow God’s will, you will have a life of ease. Often, the way of God involves circumstances in which we must trust in the Lord and draw on His truth and strength.

Jesus was the God-man. Yet His life on this earth was filled with trials He had to endure. And we should expect to encounter trials during our sojourning in this world, but we can endure if we draw strength from the One who has paved the way for us.

Commenting on the New Testament’s command that we’re to rejoice and be glad when undergoing trials, Philip Yancey said: By using words like “Rejoice!” the apostles were not advocating a spirit of grin-and-bear-it or act-tough-like-nothing-happened. No trace of those attitudes can be found in Christ’s response to suffering, or in Paul’s…

Nor is there any masochistic hint of enjoying pain. “Rejoicing in suffering” does not mean that Christians should act happy about tragedy and pain when they feel like crying. Rather, the Bible aims the spotlight on the end result, the productive use God can make of suffering in our lives. To achieve that result, however, He first needs our commitment of trust, and the process of giving Him that commitment can be described as rejoicing.

We should also, not be so quick to assign the source of our trials and troubles to our enemies, or even to Satan, who can not harm a single hair on our head without permission. God has everything in balance, in perfect and total control.

Ecclesiastes 3:11

He has made everything beautiful and appropriate in its time. He has also planted eternity [a sense of divine purpose] in the human heart (love of God)[a mysterious longing which nothing under the sun can satisfy, except God]—yet man cannot find out (comprehend, grasp) what God has done (His overall plan) from the beginning (creation) to the end (judgement).

He has made everything beautiful and appropriate in its time. He has also planted eternity [a sense of divine purpose] in the human heart [a mysterious longing which nothing under the sun can satisfy, except God]:

• I will write my laws on their hearts. (Jeremiah 31:33)
• Christ came to fulfill the Law. (Matthew 5:17)
• There is no Law against Love. (Galatians 5:22-23)
• I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. (Ezekiel 36:26-27)
• The love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:39)

—yet man cannot find out (comprehend, grasp) what God has done (His overall plan) from the beginning: In the beginning God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them (Genesis 1:1,27), to the end; At the end, there is the revelation of the glory of Christ (1 Peter 4:13), and time for judgment (1 Peter 4:17), Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, (Hebrews 9:27).

Some people are of the opinion that once you believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God, then you are “born again”, and at the mention of the name of Jesus, miracles take place, which ninety-nine point nine per cent of the time does not happen. This might lead some to either doubt the existence of God or subscribe to the notion that God only listens to certain people (so called “men of God”), who are superior to mere mortals. Despite what scriptures says that there is only one Intercessor, that is Christ Jesus, not Paul formerly known as Saul of Tarsus, or Simon known as Peter or any other Saint or Virgin Mary or founder of some new-age religious denomination.

The use or mentioning of the name of Christ is aptly demonstrated by the event reported in Acts 19:13-16; Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” 14 Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15 One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” 16 Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.

Be careful, therefore, you miracle-worker, whether you believe that you have been sent by God, or simply because you believe in God. There is only one Miracle-worker, and only one Intercessor. Do not lead God’s flock astray. Every single sheep is important to Him. Not only does He have special punishment for those that leads His flock astray, He moves Heaven and Earth to bring back stray sheep to the fold. Glory be to God the Father, Glory be to God the Son, and Glory be to God the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, so it is now, and so shall it be forever more. Amen.