What does the Bible mean when it says we should count it all joy when you fall into various trials? What is this joy we must experience, and how do we come by it?

Life seems to be one trial after another. However, God has revealed an astounding facet of God's love that should give us the faith to soldier on.

Trials, instead of prompting a 'woe is me' attitude, should be re-evaluated as valuable experiences, nudging us into God's divine purpose for us.

Trials define who we are by placing choices before us, forcing us to have faith in God. Character is built by making right, though difficult, choices.

God uses trials to test our hearts, but He never places a trial before us to tempt us. God uses trials we bring on ourselves to draw us closer to Him.

Like a loving parent, God brings just the right pressures to bear to bring about necessary change in His children. Each trial has a place in His purpose.

God promises some Christians that He will keep them from the Tribulation, the 'hour of trial.' Here are the characteristics of those whom God will protect.

God is able to allow a setback or a handicap to help us transcend our trials, building sterling character. The weaknesses we live through make us strong.

Daniel 7:25 reveals the strategy of the enemy: a concerted effort of the Beast to physically, mentally, and if possible, spiritually wear out the saints.

Trials come in many forms, and when we are shaken by a big one—when the clock stops and the whole world changes for us—what is our response?

As God's children, we must undergo adversity to build endurance, character, and hope.

Why did God allow this tragedy? Why do the good suffer and the evil prosper? We want answers to these questions, but Jesus points us in another direction.

Satan accused God of hedging Job about on every side, saying that if God would let down the hedge, they could see what Job was really made of.

Of all people, one might think, Christians should be the most blessed, yet they often fall under heavy trials. Why does God allow this? What is His purpose?

Every previous event and decision in our lives has shaped our resultant character, including the bad decisions that led us down a wrong path.

The rigors God puts us through are not to crush us, but to shape us, transforming us into His image. True gain is walking through the anguish in victory.

Hard trials are not punishments from God for unrighteousness but tests of faith in which He is intimately involved to prepare us for the world to come.

Affliction is a necessary aspect of life, yielding strength of character, while ease and comfort weaken us. Christ was perfected as High Priest through suffering.

Even the accuser of the brethren made no accusations against Job, the first of several curious absences—things left unsaid—in the book of Job.

Greek and Roman myths have shaped the world view of Western culture, including our attitude toward hope, a concept which is often abused and distorted.

Acts 27 teaches that we must distinguish among several types of suffering. Regardless of the type of suffering, we must remember that God will deliver us.

Without daily contact with God in prayer and Bible study, and without continual contact with the brethren, we may lose the determination to persevere.

Today, the church is experiencing more overwhelming trials than ever before, indicating that God is preparing His people for the end time.

During the past century, the world has experienced 'practice contractions.' These birth pangs will increase until Christ returns to establish the Kingdom.

In God's hands, trials and afflictions are tools to produce refined character and joy, and to move us away from worldly choices and back to His purpose.

God uses trials to test and humble us, but He never impedes our ability to move forward toward His goal of creating us as a family in His image.

An outward trial can be a catalyst for character development. By testing ourselves, we can take the edge off the pressure of God testing us.

Calamities, trials, anxiety, evil, and calamities, as well as blessings, happen to Christians in order to become fashioned and molded into God's image.

The Potter and Clay analogy provides instructions for understanding character-building tests and trials in the life-long sanctification process.

We tend to think of the early Church as a 'golden age' of unity and momentum. But early church members experienced problems similar to what we face today.

Trials are a means to produce spiritual growth, unless we resort to super-righteousness, straining to please God by exalting our works.

Despite the privileged position of our calling, God does not cut us any slack in terms of trials and tests to perfect us. We must accept God's sovereignty.

The constant tests to which God submits His people enable them to build character by responding in faith. God perfected Abraham's faith through difficult trials.

Joseph knew and recognized his brothers before they knew him, even as God knows our guiltiest secret sins that we think we have effectively hidden.

Like Jesus and other heroes of faith, we need to look beyond the present to the long term effects of the trials and tests we go though, seeing their value.

We can be assured that we are God's heirs and offspring if we are led by the spirit, remaining on the sanctified path of fellowship, growing continually.

Solomon reveals that God is solidly in control of time. Knowing that God is sovereign over time should fill us with faith in God's workmanship.

For prayer to be successful, our petitions must be specific and synchronized to God's will, but we must patiently and humbly accept God's timetable.

The group that one fellowships with is less important than the understanding that there is one true church, bound by a spiritual, not a physical unity.

Persecution is a fact of life for a Christian. Jesus Christ says we are blessed if we are persecuted for righteousness' sake — here's why.

Numerous scriptures show the bad effects of impatience committed by ancient Israel, while the patriarchs, Jesus Christ, and the Father set examples of true patience.

The danger of abundant blessings is that we tend to forget the source of the blessings and cease being thankful. When we forget to be thankful, we forget God.

The valley-of-shadow imagery symbolizes the fears, trials, and tests needed to produce character, quality fruit, and an intimate trust in the shepherd.

Job's three 'friends,' exemplars of all men, made critical assumptions and judgments about Job on the basis of biased religious and cultural tradition.

If we yield to God's manipulation of our lives, we will handle stress constructively, developing a relationship with Him, bearing spiritual fruit.

In the turbulent and uncertain times ahead, we will need extraordinary fortitude and courage. Trials can improving perseverance or active endurance.

The book of James applies to us after the sanctification process has begun. The most effective way of eliminating sin is to do righteousness.

Paul conveyed to the Philippians his optimism that his imprisonment was actually a blessing, enabling him to magnify his effectiveness and bear more fruit.

Adam sinned, having abdicated his leadership position. His posterity has been cursed with overwhelming toil just to stay ahead. We are perfected by hardship.

The meal offering represents the fulfillment of the second great commandment, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Here is how to understand this offering.