WHEN FACING A NEW DIFFICULTY.
Note To Self; When Faced with a Difficulty, don’t let it get you down, turn It into an Opportunity to talk To GOD about It. Use it as a stepping stone to ascend, not descend or allow it to be an anchor to pull you down emotionally and spiritually. Trust Him to undertake to Glorify Himself and mature you through the process. Hard, but spiritually beneficial! He is using this for your spiritual development- no kidding!
Oh, and note to self, REJOICE! What??? Yep, Rejoice, exult, glory the word means “confident boast, a triumphant, joyful confidence” based on what you KNOW what God is ultimately doing with this difficulty… He has shown you in His Word…” We can rejoice {triumphant boast, triumphant joyful confidence}, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope…” -{Read Romans 5:3-4}.
The purpose is to produce endurance, character and hope. Endurance, is the ability to keep going when we feel like giving up. Sometimes its been said of a long distance runner that they “hit the wall,” that point when they are tempted to give up, stop, quit, but they keep going, running through the pain…and they have trained to do so. So, endurance in the spiritual realm is to keep trusting God in the hard events of life, the difficulties, the hurts, those things that like “hitting the wall,” tempt us to give up, but with each difficulty we initially, quickly respond to relating and relying on Him, trusting Him as we have a history with Him of His past faithfulness to fuel our faith to keep going, keep trusting, not allowing the hard, difficult, tearful, soul wrenching pain at times rip away at our hope, confidence, trust in Him! “Endurance” is the ability to bear up under trials in a God honoring way and persisting, not gritting your teeth but in a joyful confidence, Naturally we complain, murmur, resent and lash out in anger at our circumstances and even God that He has somehow let us down, betrayed us by allowing difficulties in our life. It’s not fair! But the Spirit of God as we yield to Him, His Word He produces this in us produced by the Holy Spirit in us. And as a result we see our faith is genuine as we pass the test our character is revealed as genuine and we grow in Christlikeness and hope is strengthened and sustained in us by the Spirit of God in us. Troubles are difficult, painful, heartbreaking at times we don’t deny that and everyone in the world experiences different type, the difference is they are of spiritual profit for the follower of Christ they are not useless but useful! Troubles are like the Gym, we get to work out in and where spiritual characteristics are developed and revealed under the stress, pressures of the trials, tribulations, suffering, we encounter.
Have you ever started to try and get fit? Maybe after a little bit of exercise you find yourself out of breath, huffing and puffing, you’re in worse condition than you thought, and you realize you have to build up your stamina, muscles to get fit, stronger, so you can achieve your goal over time. So as it is in the physical realm so it is in the spiritual realm!
We are not “perfect” in our spiritual maturity. Even Paul, thirty years after his conversion in Philippians 3 says he had not “arrived” but forgetting what lies behind he pressed on… So, neither are you or me, we are “growing ” in our faith, we have not arrived at Christlikness in our thinking, doing and trust in God. Again Paul teaches us one reason for the “afflictions” he and his compatriots encountered them when he wrote, “In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead.”-{2 Corinthians 1:9}. Did you see God’s Purpose in this? He used troubles to wean Paul and companions of self reliance and unto God dependency, for that is the safe place and God honoring place. Relying on ourselves is foolish when we have God to rely upon who raises the dead! God had a purpose in Paul’s pain and the process was troubles, the afflictions they had been in, and Paul saw it and acted upon it by rejecting self reliance and instead relying, transferring his trust onto the LORD!
Endurance is about trusting Him for longer stretches of time though suffering, under great pressures, troubles, difficulties! And the process in this passage to do so? Troubles. The word speaks of great pressures, tribulations, suffering! How do we know? His Word tells us this is one way He uses troubles in our life! His purpose is to spiritually draw us to Himself, and to develop a deeper more solid faith anchored in Him and His Word. He uses troubles to develop us, increase our spiritual stamina, the process He uses at times is Troubles, suffering, tribulations, great pressures!
God is not out to destroy, but Develop us and Display Himself to us and through us In our difficulties!
Suffering plus perseverance produces character. Christlike character, integrity is developed, through submission to His Word in responding to troubles His way. Christlike character comes through being developed on the road of suffering! And this character produces a certainty of hope, a future good, that will not disappoint. The Greek word,” “Kataischuno ” translated “disappoint,” means primarily “to put to shame, humiliate, to disgrace.” -{Read 1 Cor 11:4-5} and as used in this present verse to disappoint or frustrate one’s hope. -{Read Rom 9:33; 10:11,; 1 Peter 2:6}–{preceptaustin}. Vine writes that this hope “does not put the believer to shame (but)… on the contrary, being freed from illusion and despair, he is able to go boldly on his course through this life, knowing that he will not be disappointed. (Collected writings of W. E. Vine) . As one translation says, “We are not ashamed to have this confidence.”
His hope in us does not put us to shame, “because…” here he gives the reason for saying that, “Because,,,” God loves us… He has poured out His love into our heart through the Holy Spirit. God loves us and has gifted us the Holy Spirit to enable us to know this, understand this. “Poured out, ” literally means to lavishly pour out to overwhelming, not an inconsistent trickle, bit a lavish pouring out to overflowing! “Poured out,” -” Ekcheo” is “present tense,” which means it began at a point in time and continues, it has not stopped, will not stop, be cut off, reversed, withdrawn, but continues to be poured out and poured out, there is no slow down, or diminishing of His resource of love, for He is eternal and His resources are eternal, without end. SO never fear, that He no longer loves you or ahs stopped it cannot be for He has said and He still says, He ahs “poured out His love ” for you through the Holy Spirit who has been gifted to us! Also the tense is “Passive” which means it is something done to us, we are the recipients of His love, It is His love for us not our love for Him is what Paul is saying!
One of the ministries the Holy Spirit to us is to make sure we know that God loves you, unreservedly and without end! As one writer says it is like parched ground that is soaked by rain. How refreshing and comforting and liberating, enthralling, humbling and wonderful is the thought, the truth that God Almighty, in need of nothing or no one outside of Himself, Creator and sustainer of Heaven and earth…. loves you!
We suffer, go through many troubles, trials, great pressures and God develops perseverance in us and in turn they shape our character and hope, the certainty of future good is produced in us, our trusting God grows amidst trials, troubles, suffering, tribulations. God has purpose to produce spiritual depth and maturity in us and the process He chooses to use is troubles!
I had to remind myself and speak this truth to myself this morning.. and choose to delight in His Purposes and Process, because I know what He says and wants me to “KNOW” and remember from His Word from Romans 5:3-4.
- His PURPOSE– To bring about Perseverance- Character- Hope.
- His PROCESS– through Troubles
- PERSPECTIVE– Look at your troubles through His Word and live your life knowingly and accordingly! It will work out for good, and His honor!