Month 4 - Endurance | Week 1 - Joy in Trials

Scriptural anchors for us through M3 - Week 4:

James 1:2–3 (ESV)

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”

Hebrews 12:2 (ESV)

“Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith…who for the joy set before Him endured the cross.”

Entering Month 4: The Long Obedience

We now step into Month 4 - Endurance, the moment in our discipleship journey when the Lord shifts our thoughts from serving well to serving long.From obedience in the moment to obedience that can withstand the highest pressure, longest delay, the most disappointment, and build impenetrable spiritual resistance.

We pray you never have to meet the endurance of violent martyrdom, but ultimately, that is the call we are answering and preparing for.

If Month 3 revealed the hidden posture of a servant, Month 4 reveals the holy spine of a disciple.

Scripture insists again and again that endurance doesn’t begin with determination, grit, or inner resolve.

Endurance begins with joy.

Not the joy of circumstances.Not the joy of comfort.But the joy of Christ formed within us - a joy that remains even when harsh trials rise.

The Upside-Down Beginning: Joy in Trials

James opens his epistle with a command, up front and center, a command that our flesh would instinctively revolt against, that the world would view as foolishness, and that could even be offensive to those walking through trials themselves:

“Count it all joy… when you meet trials.”

Not joy after.Not joy beyond.Joy in. Joy when.

This doesn’t mean emotional pretending.It is spiritual perceiving.

James teaches us that trials aren’t interruptions to spiritual formation - they are the very forge of it.

The “testing of faith” is the ancient word dokimion - the refining of metal (Silver) under heat. The metal (Silver) is heated until impurities rise and the craftsman can see His reflection.

This is what God does through our trials:He heats the life of his disciple until Christ’s likeness begins to shine.

Joy, then, is the recognition:“God is forming something in me right now.”

Joy is not a feeling.

Joy is revelation. It is an acknowledgment, so deep that the enemies’ whispers and taunts begin to pale in comparison to the truth and calling of God.

Examples of Joy-Fueled Trials

We aren’t short of martyrs and saints to be inspired by and learn from within the Kingdom of God, and it feels almost cheap and frivolous to type, speak, and walk through this part of the program without grounding this perspective in the reality and awe of what fellow believers have walked through before us. It is easy to speak of Joy through trials, hard to read others’ journeys through it, and even harder then to put it into practice.

So I encourage you to saturate yourself in the wealth of others’ experiences of this Joy, to humble yourself before the weight of their suffering, and to be pulled up by the strength of their Joy for Christ, regardless and in the face of the most severe of trials.

There is an endless list, plenty you have likely heard of, and plenty from within scripture. However, below is a selection of 5 from the Post-apostolic Era that you may not have heard of, who showed unfathomable Joy through extreme trials:

Perpetua & Felicity (c. 203 AD) - Thrown to wild beasts in Carthage

A noblewoman and a slave who faced martyrdom with supernatural courage, encouraging believers for centuries.

Blandina of Lyon (d. 177 AD) - Tortured repeatedly during Roman persecution

A young slave girl who endured unimaginable torture joyfully, astonishing even her executioners.

Athanasius of Alexandria (296–373 AD) - Exiled five times for defending Christ’s divinity

Stood joyfully “against the world,” unwilling to compromise the truth of the Incarnation.

Jan Hus (1372–1415 AD) - Burned at the stake for preaching reform

Faced the flames singing, believing truth would outlive his death.

Richard Wurmbrand (1909–2001) - Tortured for 14 years in communist prisons

Testified that he met more joyful Christians in prison than anywhere else on earth.

What can we learn from these awe-inspiring stories and examples? Let’s explore some of it below.

The Pattern of Christ: Endurance Fueled by Joy

Hebrews 12:2 gives us the blueprint:

It doesn’t say that Jesus endured the cross through raw willpower.He endured “for the joy set before Him.”

The joy of redeeming His people

The joy of obeying the Father

The joy of resurrection

The joy of kingdom victory

The joy of opening the way back to God

Joy fueled endurance.Joy pulled Him forward.Joy strengthened His suffering.

And now, through our union with Christ,His endurance becomes our endurance.

What Christ conquered “for the joy,”We now face “through the joy.”

What Scripture Teaches Us About Joy in Pressure

1. Joy is a weapon, not a mood (Nehemiah 8:10)

“The joy of the LORD is your strength.”Joy pushes back despair.Joy resists fear.Joy anchors the soul when circumstances shake it.

2. Endurance is formed through pressure, not ease (Romans 5:3–5)

Paul reveals a holy chain reaction:Suffering → Endurance → Character → Hope.Ease cannot produce what holy pressure forms.

3. Joy is different from optimism (John 16:22)

“No one will take your joy from you.”Optimism needs conditions.Joy needs only Christ.

4. Christ’s strength becomes ours (Colossians 1:11)

“Strengthened with all power… for all endurance and patience with joy.”Endurance isn’t self-produced.It is Spirit-given. It is a gift, and if so, then so are the trials, and thus - JOY.

The Formation Work of Trials

For some reason, across churchianity, there is a stigma attached to trials. A great misunderstanding of what trials and blessings actually are. The prosperity gospel disease has crept into our pews, and the enemy has established a stronghold of pride and a self-sufficiency culture. There is a floating mist around us of miscomprehension that a trial is somehow attached to a sin, that a trial is the punishment or absence of God.

When in reality and scripturally, it is THE EXACT OPPOSITE.

A trial is not evidence of abandonment.It is evidence of intimacy and deep formation. It is the silver furnace of God, a gift for those he can trust to grow.

Trials reveal to us:

Where our joy has been misplaced

Where our hope has been shallow

Where our strength has been self-made

Where our faith has been untested

Trials expose the false foundations so the True Foundation can be built.

God doesn’t waste pressure.Pressure is His chisel.Trials are His tools.Endurance is His masterpiece.

This Week’s Practice

Here are 5 practices for the week to kick off this new formation of endurance:

1. Name your trial before God

If you feel you are facing a trial. Bring it into the light.Do not hide it or harden around it. Bring it to The Father.

2. Ask the Spirit for joy, not escape

Pray:“Lord, show me the joy set before me.”

3. Fix your eyes on Jesus, not the pressure

Set your gaze where Christ set His, on God’s victory.

4. Begin to identify what God may be forming in you

Endurance?Humility?Patience?Trust?

5. Share a burden with a brother or sister

Endurance is also cultivated in community, not isolation. “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” James 5:16 (ESV)

Reflection Questions

Where am I currently facing pressure or trial?

How have I been interpreting this trial - as interruption or as formation?

What joy does Christ set before me in this situation?

What part of Christ’s endurance do I need Him to impart to me today?

How can I practically “count it joy” this week?

A Pastoral Word: Joy Makes You Unshakeable

The Kingdom doesn’t produce disciples who never face storms.It produces disciples who learned to rejoice in the midst of them.

Joy won’t make your life trouble-free.It will make your faith stronger.

Joy arms you with endurance.Endurance shapes you into Christlikeness.Christlikeness prepares you for glory.

This is the work of Month 4:

To become a people who rejoice under pressure because we see Christ in the fire.

Watch / Listen / Read

Watch

Corrie Ten Boom Interview on Suffering & TrustA short but powerful testimony of why joy survives even in the deepest darkness.

Listen

Though You Slay Me - Shane & Shane (feat. John Piper excerpt) Starting 03:22A song of honest suffering that leads to worship, reminding believers that every trial is producing “an eternal weight of glory.”

“The Furnace and the Fourth Man” - sermon clip from Alistair BeggA clear, biblical picture of endurance in trials and the presence of Christ in the fire.

I Know - Austin Sebek

“I Know” is a declaration forged for endurance. It doesn’t ignore pain, pressure, or uncertainty - it sings through them. The song anchors us in the unshakeable truth that even when circumstances are confusing, God is constant, present, and working.

“Trust” by

Jonathan Ogden

“Trust” is a song built for the moments when your strength runs thin and all you have left is dependence. Ogden writes with a simplicity that feels like Scripture whispered back to God - a reminder that endurance doesn’t come from trying harder, but from leaning deeper.

Read

C.S. Lewis - The Problem of Pain, Chapter on Divine Goodness - LINKOne of the clearest explanations of why God forms His children through trial.

Richard Wurmbrand - Tortured for Christ - LINKA firsthand account of joy and endurance forged in persecution.A sobering but strengthening companion for M4.

📅 This Week’s 30-Min Rally Point

Pastor Zach was unfortunately unable to meet last wee,k so we are looking forward to the session during our 30-minute rally point this Thursday at 7:00 PM EST via Zoom.

🕖 Zoom Time: Thursday @ 7:00 PM EST🔗 Click to join the Zoom call - Zoom URL

Sneak Peek - Month 4, Week 2: Strength in Weakness

Next week, we move deeper into the formation of endurance by confronting a truth that reshapes the entire Christian life:

God doesn’t wait for you to become strong before He uses you -He reveals His strength precisely where you are weak.

We will explore:

Why God allows weakness so that His power may rest upon you (2 Corinthians 12:9–10)

The difference between natural strength and spiritual strength

How weakness makes room for intimacy, dependence, and supernatural power

Why true endurance is never self-reliance, but Spirit-reliance

The world despises weakness.God inhabits it.

Next week, we will learn how.

God is with us!

Father, You are the God who meets us in the fire, the God who forms endurance in the places we would never choose, and the God who gives joy where the world expects despair. Teach us to “count it all joy,” not because the trial is pleasant, but because You are present. Fix our eyes on Jesus - the One who endured the cross for the joy set before Him. Form in us the same joy, the same endurance, the same steadfastness.

Strengthen us with all power according to Your glorious might so that we may endure with patience and with joy. Purify our motives, Fortify our hearts, and make us a people who stand firm through pressure, fire, testing, and time. Make endurance our worship. Make joy our strength. Make Christ our focus. In His holy name we pray, Amen.

I’m glad you’re here.

Let’s run the race - Eyes Up, Chin Up!

Grace and peace,

Sam Johnston

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