Finding Joy in Trial: 5 Helpful StepsSample

Use today to review each of the Five Daily Steps to Counting It All Joy.

Step One: Rejoice in the Lord—Always, Always, Always. Because we know that God has a plan in our affliction and that everything He allows to enter our lives He permits because of His great love for us, we can indeed rejoice. We can also rejoice not just because of what God is doing in the trial but because of what He has already done for us in Christ and because of our secure and intimate relationship with Him. Because we have Christ, no matter what is going on around us, there is always reason to rejoice. He is the light at the end of the longest tunnel of trial.

Step Two: Entrust Your Trial—Give it All to Him with Thanksgiving. Once you have shared all of the details of your trial with the Lord, entrust each one to Him. Give everything that concerns you over to Him. Place it all into His sovereign, all powerful, all-wise, and loving care. Because He cares for you. And each time you take a moment to entrust your trial to the Lord, make it a point to offer thanksgiving for who God is or something kind He has done for you. Thank Him for what He is doing in the midst of your trial even if you are unable to see a reason for giving thanks. Trust Him. He knows best—always. Rejoice! And give thanks.

Step Three: Think on Truth—Believe God’s Word and Trust His Promises. We must believe what the Bible says about who God is and rest in His character. We must cling to what the Scripture says about us rather than believing our feelings or trusting the conclusions we may be drawing from our circumstances. And we must believe God’s promises, embrace them in hope, and rest in them. We must fix our minds on truth.

Step Four: Guard Your Heart—Take Every Thought Captive. We must choose not to listen to any thought that does not line up with the Word of God. Our mind is so prone to wander to dark places. We must keep it on course. We must take these thoughts captive and instead meditate on the Word of God feeding our heart and our mind and our soul with truth.

Step Five: Contemplate Excellence—Fix Your Eyes on Jesus Alone. Rather than trying to figure everything out, just fix your eyes on Jesus. Don’t look to the right. Don’t swerve to the left. Just keep your eyes on Him. Seek to pursue Him. Seek to please Him. Humbly, obediently, and faithfully follow Him. Even if you don’t know where you are going.