Devotionals about Suffering & Trials
Suffering is not the evidence that God has left — it's often where He does His deepest work. The devotionals on suffering and trials below refuse easy answers and sit with the real pain while pointing to the real hope.
230 devotionals about suffering & trials
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230 devotionals in Suffering & Trials
December 30, 2019
Hope for the Future, Power in the Present
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”Jeremiah 29:11 If you got to watch any football over the weekend, you probably know by know that Clemson will be playing LSU in the National Championship. But if you misse...
joyDecember 6, 2019
Joy Beyond Happiness: Christ Has Overcome
Jesus said in John 16:33, “In this world, you will have trouble…”That’s almost like a disclaimer for life on earth , you are going to have trouble, whether you are in Christ or not. But the hope that we have is what separates us from the world, and that is why Jesus goes on to say, “But take hear...
perseveranceDecember 5, 2019
Press On: Finding Redemption After Failure
I’ve been reading through a year and a half of my devotionals I’ve written and came across this one from 2018. I love it, so it’s worth rereading. I hope you don’t mind...This life isn’t easy, in fact it’s hard. We all have struggled and we all have failed but we must move on...“Not that I have a...
faithDecember 3, 2019
Walking by Faith Through Life's Storms
So today I’m having surgery for an accident I had racing over the holiday. No big deal, I should be great in a few weeks. But that’s not what today is about. What I want to talk about is faith. Yeah, we talk about it a lot but it is essential we have it. It’s the core of what makes our salvation...
hopeOctober 30, 2019
Hope in the Midst of Waiting
Have you been praying for something for a long time and it hasn’t happened yet? I think at times we all have. Look, we all know that life isn't always easy, I dig it. And more so for a Christian who wants to live a life contrary to the world's philosophies. Sometimes it is tempting to throw in th...
patienceOctober 23, 2019
Learning Patience: Waiting on God's Timing
I have been forced to learn a lot about myself this year and one of the things I’ve learned is I need to get better with patience. Not only with life but mostly with people! I always thought I was a relatively patient person until I started trying to really learn what it meant to be patient...evi...
faithOctober 11, 2019
Walking by Faith, Not by Sight
19So we’ve been pounding out gratitude the last two weeks and while it’s always a great topic and one we need to continue to be intentional about, I want to shift gears a little bit. Why? Well, because I want to talk about something else, like faith! Ha! (And I’m in the book of Mark)I’ve been wat...
peaceSeptember 13, 2019
God's Peace vs. The World's Peace
Can we have peace in our hearts when our world is turned upside down?Pretty good question that requires an honest look inward. You see the kind of peace the world give us is pretty sketch at best. It can change on a whim with no notice at all. Happen to me three weeks ago, may have happened to yo...
jobs-storySeptember 6, 2019
Good and Bad Happen to All: Keep Eternity in Mind
Last thing on Job and suffering and let’s ring in the weekend. Job was a tremendously righteous man and suffered greatly. So do we assume that the more righteous we are the more suffering we are to expect? Not necessarily. The large part of Job’s life features God’s blessings in every way. You se...
sufferingSeptember 5, 2019
God's Way Out Isn't Always What We Expect
You ever notice that when we finally get out of whatever it is we are suffering from it never seems to be the way we thought we would get out of it? Like during our suffering we could never understand or see the way out that God has for us. It’s because it’s His plan for us not our plan for us. H...
sufferingSeptember 3, 2019
Job Had It Worse: Finding Perspective in Suffering
I hope everyone had a great long weekend! I did some traveling to keep my mind occupied and in doing so spent some time in the word. I was beginning to start to feel like everything was crashing down on me and I was getting the “why me” syndrome. I’m sure you know it. We begin to think we are the...
faith-in-trialsAugust 23, 2019
Faith Gets Us Through Tough Times
This is a hard morning to write to you all as within the hour or sending our message out yesterday, my father passed away. But I’m not going to sit here and talk about his death, but rather something he believed in and said often in the face of tragedy. “I don’t see how people make it through tou...
perseveranceAugust 13, 2019
Standing Firm: Building Faith Through Trials
I want to stay with Paul in Philippians because I think it’s important to understand how he was using his imprisonments as an advantage to further the message of Christ. “so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righte...
perseveranceJuly 3, 2019
The Crown of Life: Blessed Through Steadfast Faith
Wrapping up a short week, let finish this lesson in James. “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.”James 1:12 As we’ve talked about staying true to our faith under hard t...
wisdomJuly 2, 2019
Praying for Wisdom, Not Escape from Trials
Alright, so you are probably asking yourself, after yesterday’s message, “how exactly am I supposed to stay rejoicing during these hard times?” Well, I hear you and I get it. James is telling us to rejoice during our times of struggle because this faith produces perseverance. The Bible teaches us...
trialsJuly 1, 2019
Finding Joy in Trials: God's Shaping Through Suffering
Going to be a short week with the Holiday and travels but let’s make it count. So over the weekend Valerie was telling me about a friend who was going trough some tough times. While I certainly feel empathy I couldn’t help but reflect on the fact the If you live long enough in this world, you wil...
peaceJune 20, 2019
Finding Peace in the Journey, Not the Destination
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."”John 16:33 It’s the end of the quarter and I found myself slipping in and out what I call my “peace” or “serenity” yesterday. It gave me pause to th...
friendshipJune 7, 2019
He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother
I bet you wouldn’t think I would write about Neil Diamond would you? Well, I am...sort of. Stay with me here;I believe that the Lord Jesus wants me to encourage you to look after your friendships and not neglect them, nor take them for granted!We need each other, especially in these turbulent tim...
perseveranceMay 30, 2019
Hold Your Line: Faith Lessons from Motocross
One of the great things I love about sport, and in my case Motocross, is the parallels I can draw from it that relate to my life and more important my faith. pAs I am packing to leave for Florida in the morning I am overcome with anxiety and excitement! This is the chance to punch a ticket to “Th...
trialsMay 14, 2019
Beyond Our Strength: Learning to Rely on God Alone
Let keep digging into 2 Corinthians;“For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us...
weaknessMay 13, 2019
Embracing Weakness: When You Don't Know That You Don't Know
Hope everyone had a great weekend!I’ve thought about this all weekend and I wanted to start this week by discussing probably my most favorite verse in the Bible;“So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a mess...
perseveranceMay 7, 2019
Grinding It Out: How Perseverance Builds Christ-Like Character
Grinding it out and persevering builds character. Plain and simple. Something about endurance has the incredible capacity to refine you. I guess it’s kind of like a fire for silver, removing impurities and strengthening the character. Often because endurance goes hand-in-hand with trials and tria...
resilienceMay 6, 2019
Bounce Back: Finding Grit Through Faith
“Last night I took an L, but tonight I bounce back!” -Big Sean 😂😂Ok, I started this weeks devotional with this Hip Hop lyric mostly to be funny...but, it’s a great jumping off point. How fast do you bounce back after an “L” (loss)?One of the great tragedies in modern-day Christians is that we a...
resilienceMay 3, 2019
Learning Contentment: Bouncing Back from Loss
I’m totally entrenched in our topic we started last week and I want to wrap it up with a simple question? How quickly can you or do you bounce back from hardship and loss? (We are dealing with one now) Maybe it paralyses you into a depressed state? The key is learning to press on in life regardle...