by Dr. Johnnie Blount
Trials, Endurance, And The Promise Waiting On The Other Side Of The Valley
Saints, the Word of God is clear: we will face trials, tribulation, and persecution for the Gospel’s sake. So why are we surprised when hard times arrive? James tells us that trials produce maturity. They make us complete, lacking nothing. We say we want to grow in the things of the Lord, but growth only comes through experience, and experience only comes through the very difficulties we are tempted to run from.
We Will All Go Through, But Not Everyone Overcomes
We will all go through trials, but not everyone overcomes them. There are believers who allow trouble to drain the life right out of them. It takes their finances, their health, and their peace. It destroys relationships because they never learn to rest in the season they are in, trusting that this too shall pass. You can choose to rest, or you can choose to carry the burden. Either way, you are going through. The question is whether you will trust the Word or trust your circumstances.
The Word Gives Strength And Faith
“The more you focus on the Word, the smaller the mountain becomes. It is the Word that gives us strength, courage, confidence, and faith.”
Think of it like a football training camp. Camp is brutal. Your body may fail you. The coach may push you to your limit. But that pressure is always revealing character. The Lord cannot entrust you with the fullness of what He has prepared until you have come to maturity. I speak with people daily who are still wrestling with the exact same struggles they had fifteen years ago — because they have not allowed patience to do her perfect work in their lives, their attitudes, or their finances.
Keep the Faith
Look at Joseph. He was betrayed, forsaken, lied about, and falsely accused. His own family beat him and left him for dead. Can you imagine the hurt, the fear, the confusion — lying in that pit, waiting to die? Then his brothers returned, and his hope must have surged. Freedom. Food. Home. Instead, they sold him into slavery. Yet Joseph held on to the dream God had placed in him as a young man. He did not know how or when it would come to pass, but he kept the faith.
He could have fallen into depression. He could have quit — and I suspect he quit many times in his mind. But his heart kept coming back to the dream. Who is to say he never lay awake wondering if death in a foreign land was preferable to one more day of this suffering? Yet God continued to bring the dream to his remembrance, and it held him steadfast.
Endure As You Go Through
“If Joseph could endure — without the Bible, without the church, without family — how much more should we be able to stand with the Spirit of God living within us?”
The Father is telling us to rest. He is saying, “I have this.” Death may be knocking at the door, but the Psalmist reminds us we are only passing through the valley of the shadow of death, we are not camping there. We shall pass through, and we shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Stay In The Presence Of the Word
Faith has nothing to do with what we see in the natural world. Faith comes by hearing the Word. Stay in the presence of the Word; through Scripture, preaching, worship, and fellowship with faith-filled people. What you consistently hold in your mind will eventually produce itself in your life. Stay aligned through your meditation, your words, and your attitude.
Let Patience Have Her Perfect Work
Remember what Joseph said to the very brothers who had destroyed his early life: What you meant for harm, God meant for my good. That is your testimony too. Everything the enemy has sent against you will work for your good — if you will let patience have her perfect work.
Patience Always Produces Maturity
Patience always produces maturity. Maturity always produces promotion. Promotion always opens new doors and ushers you into a new season. The best is still ahead — for you, your family, and your ministry. And your mistakes? Jesus covered every one of them before you ever made them. Walk forward in confidence. The dream is still alive.
FAITH · PERSEVERANCE · GROWTH
Rooted in James 1:2–4 · Psalm 23:4 · Genesis 50:20 · Romans 8:28
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