March 4, 2022 YOU WILL HAVE TRIBULATION
John 16:33 “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
James 1:2-4 “Count it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
Ephesians 6:16 “In addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.”
One thing for certain, in the world, we have tribulation and we have trials! I must admit that I do not always ‘count it all joy when I encounter various trials.’ Trials come in all forms, including disease and sickness, addictions of all sorts, division, conflict, depression, corruption, broken relationships, financial, and wars and rumors of wars. In the early church, the most difficult and trying tribulation came as a result of their faith. (That may say a lot about us.) Another thing for certain is that trials and tribulations test our faith. Obviously, Jesus was saying that there was something to be gained in experiencing trials; trials are not just random happenings we must endure with no possibility of benefiting from the trials. The testing of our faith produces endurance. Instead of complaining about the trial or trying to escape the trial, we are to let endurance that is being worked out in us have its perfect work; the perfect work is that we will be ‘perfect and complete, lacking nothing.’ At times can be on the mountain top where everything is wonderful and we can just sail through life-and we can thank God for those times-but we do not always live on the mountain top. In the good times, our faith may not be put to the test; it is in the fire and in the trials and tribulations that our faith is tested. In the heat of the trial, it is our faith that enables us to endure. Once we go through the trial with endurance, it’s like getting a ‘certificate of completion’ and we find that we are ‘perfect, complete, and lacking nothing’-we endured the trial, we overcame. Of course we cannot overcome or endure trials as God intended in our own strength; Jesus was our example and He tells us to take courage, because just as He overcame the world and all of its trials, so can we. Not only can we survive the trials, but we can derive benefit from the trials. We are to be like the seasoned warrior who comes out of the battle a victor. We are told to ‘take up the shield of faith;’ with our shield of faith we can extinguish all of the flaming arrows of the evil one. Even though we may be having difficulty ‘counting it all joy’ when trials come, let us be moving toward what James says about trials and let us not loose heart in the trials, and by faith believe that God does a good work in us as we endure the trials. It is a blessing indeed to be able to have peace even in the most difficult times-because Jesus overcame the world, and we are in Him and He is in us, we can have peace. Tribulations are difficult; but God is able to produce good fruit in us in the midst of the trials.
James 1:12 “Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.”
Blessings,
Buddy
RSS Feed