How Trials Reveal And Strengthen Your Faith

This is Episode 10 of our Foundations of Faith Series

Pressure doesn’t mean your faith is failing; it might be the exact moment your faith is being refined into strength. We open the mic on a tough but honest question: how do you keep speaking faith when everything feels like it’s falling apart? From the first line of 1 Peter 1:7 to the last practical step you can take today, we walk through how God uses heat not to destroy belief, but to burn away what can’t last and bring the real thing to light.

We break down a clear, usable framework for your words under pressure: shrink your confession to simple agreement instead of performance, catch negative talk without shame, and borrow God’s language from Scripture when your own voice shakes. You’ll hear how short, true phrases—“God, you are still faithful” and “Your word is still true”—can stabilize the heart faster than long, forced declarations. Along the way, a heartfelt shout‑out honors a pastor whose steady encouragement modeled what it looks like to stand strong for others when the fire is hottest.

Grounded in a concise word study of 1 Peter 1:7, we trace how trials prove authenticity just as fire purifies gold. Then we tour the great case studies: Abraham tested into covenant, Joseph refined by the word, Israel’s wilderness revealing the heart, the three Hebrews whose bonds burned but bodies didn’t, and Peter, for whom Jesus prayed not for escape but endurance. The takeaway is simple and freeing: testing is promotion, not punishment. Fire exposes fear, doubt, and insecurity, but leaves what is eternal—faith that becomes perfected, established, strengthened, and settled.

We close with activation: a prayer, a bold confession, and a daily practice to pair your hardest situation with three promises you can speak. If this journey helps you steady your voice and recover your footing, subscribe, share with a friend who needs courage today, and leave a review so more people can find teaching that keeps them rooted in the Word.

Transcript

Opening Theme & Core Promise

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This is your season. This is your moment. This is faith revealed.

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Faith revealed.

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Welcome back to Faith Revealed.

Testing Of Faith Explained

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I'm VM Mansfield, and today we are working out of our Building Faith section in our Foundations of Faith series by addressing the reality that every believer faces, which is the testing of faith. Faith that is never tested can never be trusted. Trials don't weaken faith, they reveal it. They refine it, they strengthen it. What if the fire you're facing isn't designed to break you, but to burn away everything that keeps your faith from shining? Faith is not weakened by pressure. Faith is revealed. Faith is refined and strengthened by the pressure that your faith experiences. In 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 7, it reads that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it be tried with the fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. This episode reveals how God uses pressure not to destroy your faith, but to purify it and bring it to its highest strength.

Shout‑Out To Pastor Jack

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Before we get into that, it is time for a big old faith-revealed shout-out. And today we want to give a very special shout out to Pastor Jack Cascaden in Crystal River, Florida. When I was just learning, uh when I didn't really know what I was doing yet, playing guitar and stuff, Jack Pastor Jack would let me sing and let me play guitar in his church. He encouraged me, he believed in me, even had me preach. Those moments. Uh seriously, those moments mattered more than he probably ever realized. He supported this ministry, our podcast, and every endeavor that we've ever stepped into when faith looked like it was under fire. Jack stood the test. He helped people stand strong, uh prayed for people, encouraged people, ministered to people. That's the mark of a true shepherd. He's a tremendous pastor and does a truly fabulous work for God. He's fed people, ministered to music, and served him tirelessly. He's one heck of a preacher, too, I'll say that. He's an incredible singer, musician, guitar, he plays guitar, steel guitar, piano. Honestly, I think he can play anything he touches. But the the cool thing is he does it with excellence. Pastor Jack has given his life to the ministry. And he doesn't do it for recognition, but purely for the love of Jesus. Jack, we honor you. We thank you. We're deeply grateful for you, the role that you've played in our lives and in this ministry. Uh, thank you for standing with Faith Revealed. You're deeply appreciated. We love you, buddy.

Listener Question On Speaking Faith

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Today's question comes from Jordan in North Carolina. Jordan writes, You taught that faith must be spoken to be active. My problem is that when I go through trials, I feel overwhelmed and my words become negative. How do I keep speaking faith when everything is falling apart? Well, Jordan, that's an incredibly honest question. And it's one that probably almost every believer faces at some point. I would venture to say that a lot of believers face at most points. Uh feeling overwhelmed in trials doesn't mean your faith disappeared. It means pressure is trying to crowd your voice, not cancel your faith. Okay. Here's the foundation to settle first. Faith being spoken doesn't mean you never feel overwhelmed. It means you choose which voice gets authority when you are overwhelmed. Scripture never says faithful people always speak perfectly in the terms of what we think is called perfectly. Okay. It never said that. Um I'm gonna move this around here. I'm gonna get comfortable because we're we're gonna settle in here for this for this episode. Uh sorry about the mic noise. Okay, it shows us that people who return to the word when pressure pushed them out of balance or off of balance. Okay, that that's that's what happens. Here's how to keep speaking faith when everything feels like it's falling apart.

Four Practices To Guard Your Words

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So, number one, reduce faith speech to agreement, okay? Not performance. When you're overwhelmed, don't aim for long declarations. How they say it, ain't nobody got time for that. Faith stays active through simple agreement, saying, God, you are still faithful. Done. Leave it there. Okay. A few minutes later, your word is still true. It's enough to keep faith alive. Okay? And and in short, true words are better than long. You you don't want you don't want to have these big long forced statements. Short, true words are always going to be the better option. Okay? Number two, catch catch negative words quickly. Without condemnation. Don't don't get yourself into condemnation. Oh, I shouldn't have said that. I'm I'm messed up. No, don't do all that. Just just catch them. Stop saying them. Negative words don't mean that you failed. They reveal where pressure is. Okay? When you notice them, don't panic. Correct the direction. Not the moment. Just correct the direction. David often poured out in distress. And then he deliberately realigned his speech back to truth. So speak to anchor yourself, not to fix everything. Speak to anchor yourself back in the scriptures. So when you're experiencing these things, speak the scriptures. Your word is still true by his stripes. But you know, whatever the case, he'll keep me in perfect peace. Your mind's obviously on him. You're quoting scripture. He'll keep me in perfect peace. His mind's stay. Okay, so let's let's get back to a stability uh position. Okay, so keep yourself anchored. Uh you you want to you want to use faith-filled words. Okay, so you you don't obviously want to use a bunch of defeat, uh, but you want to keep in mind too that faith-filled words aren't always spoken to change circumstances immediately. They're spoken to keep your heart anchored. Uh, your words stabilize what whatever you whatever you say, so your words can stabilize you, or your words can absolutely just wreck you. Okay, so use faith-filled words to stabilize and keep you anchored and stabilize before they shift into anything else. Okay, number four, borrow God's words when you feel weak. In intense seasons, lean heavily on scripture. Reading, repeating the word. Uh that that isn't less spiritual. Okay, it's often the strongest form of faith is in speech. When emotions are overloaded, let God's voice carry you when yours feels shaky. Okay? It's it's wisdom, it's it's it's solid, trust me. Remember, silence is better than unbelief, but truth is better than silence. If you can't speak faith yet, just pause. Rather than agree with the fear, the doubt, and the unbelief or whatever's happening, just pause. Then return to truth as soon as you can. Faith isn't measured by never slipping. Okay, that's a big misconception that people have, and I don't know where they get it from. Nobody can tell me. Uh, but faith isn't measured by by you never slipping, it's measured by always coming back, always, always staying anchored in the word. And and here is the anchor truth to remember. Faith stays active, not because you never speak negatively, but because you refuse to let negative words be your final confession. Trials don't disqualify you from faith. Pressure doesn't silence God's promises. Even whispered truth in a storm still carries authority, and heaven has to respond to that. Okay? Uh, I hope that helped answer your question. Stay tuned. We're gonna get, we're gonna get well into this uh episode, and you're going to you're going to have a lot more answers as we continue uh through this episode. That's why I placed your question on this episode so that you get one big continuous answer. I try to do that every time. It's not always easy for me to get your questions in the right episode. Um, but sometimes it hits, and sometimes it works, and I think

1 Peter 1:7 Word Study

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this one will. Uh, let's look at 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 7. Okay. That the trial of your faith being found being much more precious than gold that perisheth, though it be tried in the fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. The word trial, that's the one that everybody wants to hang up on. The proving of something. A test to reveal authenticity, examination that brings out true nature. Dacamine is your word. Your trial is not exposing your weakness, it's exposing your genuine faith. The word precious is to meos, and it means of great value, highly esteemed, costly, rare. God considers your faith under fire more valuable than gold. Okay? That's why he went on to say this tried with a fire. Porosis is a burning, refining, a purification process by intense heat. That's why it's porosis. Okay, it's purifocation, purification. That's where the word purification comes from, is the word porosis, okay? So teaching that fire does not destroy gold. Okay, it's a purifying. That's what purosis is. It's purifying, it teaches us that it doesn't destroy, it perfects it. Okay. The word found it just means discovered, revealed, brought to light. Okay, the trial uncovers what God has placed inside of you. We think that this stuff is always pointing to the negative. For whatever reason, we've always been taught and wired in in the churches have done this to us, that we've always been wired to focus everything on the bad. And I know that somebody's gonna write me, and please do, I want to hear from you. Uh leave a comment, email me, do something. Uh, join our Facebook group, just look at at Faith Revealed Media, and you'll find us on Facebook. Uh, you can address me there, we can talk there. Uh, but everybody's focused on the on the negative. And that some I was gonna say somebody's gonna write to me and say, well, well, you know, you only preach on the on the positive. Yeah, well, good. That's what people need is positive. They don't need negative, they have enough negative around them. So

Why Faith Is Tested

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write to me if you have a problem with that. Stop focusing on all the negative. Listen, the trying of your faith isn't always an outcome of negative. It it what it does is it brings, it surfaces your faith. And at some point you realize that you've got more faith than you ever thought you had. Not a bad thing. Okay, so why is faith tested? God never tested faith to see if you have it, he tested it to prove it, right? God, if God really knows everything, he don't need to test you to find out what your outcome is going to be. He knows what your outcome is gonna be. James chapter 1, 3 said, knowing that the triangle of your faith worketh patience, trial produces endurance. Endurance produces maturity. Maturity produces stability. A faith that has survived the fire is a faith that the enemy can no longer intimidate. See? Comes out pretty simple at the end, doesn't it? I'm I'm gonna show you some examples where faith came under fire in the scriptures.

Biblical Case Studies Under Fire

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Okay, for one, we use him all the time, but Abraham. Genesis 22 1, it came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham and said unto him, Abraham. And he said, Behold, here am I. So God did do it. The word tempt is the is the Hebrew word Nisa. It means to test, to prove, to examine. Abraham's trial was not punishment, it was promotion into covenant. That's the part we miss. We think, oh, God tested me, he's mad at me. No, it's promotion. It's an absolute promotion. Listen, anytime you want to get go higher in your job or you want in school or whatever, you have to take a test, a proficiency test. Do I meet the state requirements to excel and go to the next level? Do I meet the only place that we don't have to do this is in churches. We'll just put anybody in any position, whether they're qualified or not. We've got sound guys that's been there for 30 years that don't even know what a game knob on a mixing console does. You know, but they're the sound guy. We got video guys that wouldn't know an SD card from a drive, you know, an external drive. And they're they're the that's the video expert. That's the sound expert. You you got poor old Betsy been leading the singing for 400 years, sitting behind the old dusty upright piano, and and she don't know but three songs. We will put anybody in any position just because they say they can do it. Everything else in the world requires a testing out. Well, listen, just because we do it don't mean God does it. There's a testing out with God. And the outcome is is advancement. It's not destruction. Okay, so that's that's the point I wanted to make. I did go on a little bit of a rabbit trail there, and hopefully a bunch of pastors are are listening to that, and you fire those sound people that have no sound experience. Okay, Psalms 105, verse 19. Under the time, until the time that his word came, the word of the Lord tried him. Okay, we're just talking about Joseph there in Psalms 105. All right, God's word grew him until he grew into what God promised. Okay, look at Israel in Deuteronomy chapter 8, verse 2. And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led these 40 years in the wilderness to humble you and to prove you to know that to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments or no. Testing reveals identity. Now look, there's three Hebrew boys over here in Daniel chapter 3, verse 27 in Nebuchadnezzar's furnace. And the princes, the governors, and the captain and the king's counselors being gathered together, saw these men upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was a hair of their head singed, neither was their coats changed, nor the smell of smoke had passed on them. That fire that should have absolutely consumed them only consumed their bondage. That ought to preach to you the trying of your faith. I'm sorry, excuse me. Peter, and let's look at Peter in Luke chapter 22, verse 31. And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has desired to sift you. Or has desired you that he may sift you as wheat. Verse 32, but I have prayed for you, that your faith fail not, and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. Jesus didn't pray that the trial to end, he prayed for the faith to endure. That's vitally important to understand. Okay, so when when you're when your faith, when you feel like your faith's under fire, there is you a ton of biblical examples from cover to cover, from Old Testament to new. You notice we like to do that so that we don't pigeonhole ourselves. This is something that that has been produced from cover to cover, is when your faith is under fire, you've got to understand and come to the under come to the knowledge that God already knows your outcome, but you don't know your outcome. All right. He is not pro testing your faith to see if you have faith. He knows if you have faith or not, but you don't know where your faith exists. All right. And what that does is it doesn't only show you, but it shows everything around you that you have got the faith to pass the test. So if you're gonna get a job, if say, let's say I'm an employer and I'm gonna hire you to do uh, let's say it's welding, and I'm gonna hire you to be a welder, okay? And you say, Oh, I've been welding for 50 years. You're 38 years old. I've been welding for 50 years. Already a red flag. But, you know, I actually hired a guy that kind of anyway, we won't get into that. Uh so you you've been welding for 50 years. Well, I can take your word for it. You look like you're 60, so I can take your word for it. All right. So you've been welding for 50 years, and oh yeah, I've welded here. I can weld underwater, I can weld bridges, I can weld buildings. Listen, anyway, you know, all these things, I'm qualified. I put you out there on a job and this building falls over. How's that gonna work out? No. Everybody with half a brain tests everybody out. All right, you're gonna you're gonna pass a test before you're hired. You're gonna you're gonna have a qualification rating or certificates that that where you've passed these tests saying you are qualified to do that job. Don't think everybody when today's market and and world wants to be an apostle, they want to be a prophet. Nobody wants to be a teacher anymore. Nobody wants to be an evangelist, nobody wants to be a pastor. Oh, I'm prophet, so I'm apostle so-and-so. Listen, stuff your titles, let's go back to Jesus. How's that? I said it. There it is. It's my podcast. I'll say what I want. Stuff your titles, they mean nothing to me. I don't care if you think you're bishop, I don't care if you think you're apostle, I don't care if you

Promotion Not Punishment

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think you're prophet, I don't care if you think you're the freaking Pope. Listen, stuff your titles, let's go back to Jesus. They mean absolutely nothing. These people think they can walk out and they get a big old ring on their finger. You're gonna kiss my ring. I'm apostle, I'm bishop so-and-so. Got the gold chain, the straight collar like the Catholics wear. They got all this garb on, all these decorative things on, and they walk out and I'm a bishop so-and-so, never qualified for to pass to pray for a flea. I'm bishop. The church is the only place this exists. Okay? So listen, let me bring you back to a reality here so that you don't think that there's something wrong with you. That's why I'm saying all this. I don't want you, our listeners, to think there's something wrong with them. There's nothing wrong with you. Listen, everybody goes through these processes. The trial of your faith being found more precious than gold that's tried into fire. There is a reason that this is happening to you. And the reason is God is trying to promote you. But I fear that the church that you belong to or that have belonged to, or the religious leaders that you've succumbed to, have never taught you this process because they're too high and mighty on their thrones as apostles, prophets, pastors. I'm bishop, so I'm apostle so and so. You'll bow to me. I actually have a particular person in my mind when I do that. That's how he said, I'm apostle so and so. And his arms would like he was some. Listen, that guy ended up anyway, uh it just sickens me. It really does. Uh, can you tell? It just disgust. I loathe the thought of it. Sound like the Grinch. All right, but I don't want you to think there's something wrong with you just because you know these people act like nothing ever happens to them. Listen, fire exposes what is temporary, but it reveals what's eternal. Gold survives the fire. Fear does not survive the fire, doubt does not survive the fire, unbelief does not survive the fire. Carnel, carnal thinking does not survive the fire. Insecurity does not survive the fire. But what remains after the fire is faith in God, as it was always intended that you would walk in faith. Okay, 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 17 says, For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Your trial is not weakening you, it is working for you. Get a hold of that. All right. Now I want to activate something in you. So let's put this into work. All right. Romans chapter 8, verse 27, or verse 28 says, and we know that all things work together for the good of them that love God and to them that are called according to his purpose. The fire becomes your ally when you see. God working in it. Just like the

Fire Reveals What Lasts

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Hebrew children. James chapter 1, verse 12 said, Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, for when he is tried, he shall receive a crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Endurance reveals maturity. First Peter chapter 5, verse 10. But the God of all grace who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that you have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. Fire produces four things perfected, established, strengthened, and settled. There's four right there. Write those down. Put those on your mirror. Write them in lipstick. Men, probably shouldn't do the lipstick thing. All right. Take a Milwaukee marker and write it there. Faith becomes unshakable after it survives the shaking. Okay? This is vital. Listen, I want you to get this. Fire perfects you. Fire establishes you. Fire strengthens you. Fire settles you. Alright, there's nothing wrong with you because this is happening. Oh, just I've heard people say God doesn't love me. He keeps testing me. Listen, maybe he loves you more than the ones you're watching on TV. All right. I don't know. I'm not bashing the TV people, by the way. Anyway, uh, I don't want you to think that friends with a lot of those guys anyway, but uh, you know, that but that's what I'm trying to bring to light is the separation gap that the people sitting on their couch watching the rest of the people on TV or watching the people on TV, they think that there's this hierarchy or something like God loves those guys more than he loves you. That's entirely

From Affliction To Glory

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not true. You're just as much the body of Christ as they are. Okay, there is no separation to that. There is no division to that. You are as much the body of Jesus Christ as they are. And you got to understand that you are his body. You are 100% his physical body. You are his body in the earth. And listen, he is going to make sure his body is capable of doing the job. If you go watch these athletes and stuff, what do they do? They have a job to do, right? Where do they go? They go to the gym, they work out, they exercise, they stretch. Listen, something as simple as golf, pro golf. Everybody thinks it's just a like a not even a sport. Listen, those guys are athletes. You can't tell me Tiger Woods wasn't an athlete. They're athletes. So what am I saying? That there is a routine of effort to make sure that you are qualified, capable to do the job. Okay. You are in shape to do the job. Yeah. You're in shape to do the job. You don't want, listen, if you call the fireman to come rescue you out of your house, you don't want some 400-pound guy that's going to roll his way in, roll his way out. All right, that can't walk, that's got bad knees, got bad

Activate Your Faith In Trials

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back, bad neck. I don't want that guy saving my life. Listen, I'm gonna end up having to save his. See what I mean? There's a qualification. That's what God is doing to you. There's nothing wrong with you. There's not a problem with you. You're not straight off, and God is punishing you. Like, listen, I deal with all of them. So these people that come and they say, Yeah, my church told me that God was punishing me and this is why this is happening. Listen, that is not true. Stop listening to these stupid people that try to control you simply by fear. God has not given you a spirit of fear. Don't allow these churches, these pastors, these preachers, these whatever they call themselves to manipulate you by a spirit of fear. God has not given you spirit. And for God's sake, stop sending those people your money. Quit funding fear. That's the problem with America right now, everything is funded by fear. And fear is funded. All right. Fear sells better than anything else, and I'm not selling it and I'm not buying it. I am giving you an answer that comes straight out of the Bible that will tell you that there's nothing wrong with you. God is working you into a place where you can excel and grow, and you are getting into a promotion state when that is happening. That is not you going backwards. Your trial is not proof that your faith is weak. It's proof that your faith is valuable. Fire doesn't destroy real faith, fire exposes it. Pray this with me. Lord, refine me through my trial through this trial. Purify my faith. Strengthen my spirit, and let what remains be unshakable. I want you to confess this. Say, my faith is being refined, not destroyed. I will come out of this stronger than I went in. Now I want you to do something. I want you to write down one situation that has been testing your faith. And next to it, I want you to write three scriptures that declare God's promises over that situation, and I want you to speak them daily. And when you speak them, I want you to think fire is temporary, the faith it produces is eternal. I am being refined into strength.

Prayer, Confession, Next Steps

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That's where we're going to stop today. I want this to settle in you. Let the word settle in you, let it let it guide your steps, let it, let it work for you. Let the word work for you. If faith revealed has helped you uh to grow to become closer in your walk with God, I want you to help us by by uh leaving a review, leaving us a comment, um, share these episodes with your friends. If you're watching us on uh YouTube, then make sure you subscribe and you ring the bell so that you get notified uh about further episodes that that are coming out. Uh we don't want you to miss any future teachings. And we want to thank you for being part of the Faith Revealed community. And until the next time, may God continually bless you abundantly. Thank you for tuning in to Faith Revealed. Please subscribe, share, and join our email list to receive our monthly magazine and teaching updates, keeping you rooted in the Word. We appreciate

Closing Thanks & Community CTA

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you keeping us in your prayers, and we will see you next week right here on Faith Revealed.