TRIALS
– OPPORTUNITIES NOT DIFFICULTIES
BREAD
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall
trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day
long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No,
in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life,
neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all
creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ
Jesus our Lord.
Romans
8:35-39 (NIV)
7 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these
surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a
messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three
times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace
is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that
Christ's power may rest on me. 10 That
is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships,
in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians
12:7-10 (NIV)
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good
of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be
conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many
brothers. 30 And
those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those
he justified, he also glorified.
Romans
8:28-30 (NIV)
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face
trials of many kinds, 3 because
you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be
mature and complete, not lacking anything.
James
1:2-4 (NIV)
BUTTER
“There are
two ways of getting out of a trial. One
is to simply try to get rid of the trial, and be thankful when it is over. The other is to recognize the trial as a
challenge from God to claim a larger blessing than we have ever had, and to hail
it with delight as an opportunity of obtaining a larger measure of divine
grace. Thus even the adversary becomes
an auxiliary, and the things that seem to be against us turn out to be for the
furtherance of our way. Surely, this is
to be more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” A. B. Simpson
“On Him then reckon, to Him
look, on Him depend: and be assured that
if you walk with Him, look to Him and expect help from Him, He will never fail
you. An older brother, who has known the
Lord for forty-four years, who writes this, says for your encouragement that He
has never failed him. In the greatest
difficulties, in the heaviest trials, in the deepest poverty and necessities,
He has never failed me; but because I was enabled by His grace to trust in Him,
He has always appeared for my help. I
delight in speaking well of His Name.” George
Mueller
HEART SAVOR
- · God gives me the grace sufficient to meet each need He allows. Not just merely sufficient – but overflowing. Grace ever giving way to grace.
- · Christ’s power is perfected in my weakness.
- · Trials are used to increase my faith. As I lean into Him through faith – He Who is ever able – I am strengthened by His achieving power. He has never failed me. Not once.
