Jesus warned us that the road to life would be narrow and cramped, and few would be the ones finding it. Yet many of us are starting to feel the pressures of choosing this path.
But as the scriptures say nobody comes to Jehovah God unless he is called. So the Father invited us and we accepted to do his will and endure to the end.
Jesus said “pick up your torture stake and follow me” so this should give us an indication that our journey as a Christian is going to be hard and tough, and the longer this system go’s on the tougher it will become. Satan knows this and will send pressure from all directions, in the form of poor health, work, school, family, leaving us worn out mentally, physically, emotionally stressed, depressed and full of lifes anxieties.
These will increase and will get tougher, all with satans intentions of breaking our integrity to Jehovah God, as he tried with our faithful servant Job.
Yet we have an advantage over Job as we know who our adversary is and why he is constantly harassing us.
But the scriptures say at 1 Thessalonians 1:6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, seeing that you accepted the word under much tribulation with joy of holy spirit, “
So despite enduring hardship and difficulties under such tribulation and trials we can still find joy with help from the Holy Spirit.
The Holy spirit is our helper we cannot be expected to carry such a load on our own, yet we need to act in accordance with Gods word for the spirit to become manifest in our lives. Once we are living in harmony and putting Gods word into practice, Gods Holy spirit will strengthen us, and help us to endure even that which we believe to be the impossible.
But this is where immense love, faith and hope is also required, if we half halfheartedly believe then why should the Holy Spirit intercede on our behalf? The scriptures say 1 Corinthians 13:7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
So having a love for the truth and belief that Jehovah will not forsake us, will help us to see the light in the darkness of this world.
2 Corinthians 4:6 For God is the one who said: “Let the light shine out of darkness, ”and he has shone on our hearts to illuminate them with the glorious knowledge of God by the face of Christ.
Many of us rely upon our own strengths and understandings, hence why we spiral downward and never seem to be able to make progress, yet the purpose of each test presented is to strengthen us in preparation for that final test which the Bible calls the “hour of test” mentioned in Revelations 3:10 "Because you kept the word about my endurance, I will also keep you from the hour of test, which is to come upon the entire inhabited earth, to put to the test those dwelling on the earth”
So our suffering is not in vain, we are being strengthened for that which is coming, so let us not be in constant despair but see it as part of our spiritual training. No soldier go’s to war without being trained in combat on how to defeat the enemy.
So why would we who are soldiers of Christ, not expect thorough training to cope in this spiritual war, which is far tougher than any physical war, because we cannot see the enemy, who sets spiritual traps not just to wound us, but to kill us and rob us of everlasting life. If we pursue even under great difficulty, eventually our true spiritual nature that of Jesus Christ will be reflected, it’s only by endurance and suffering under such trials will this ever become possible, as Christ Jesus himself, a perfect man set the pattern for us to follow.
And as the scriptures point out at 2 Corinthians 4:7-10 However, we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the power beyond what is normal may be God’s and not from us. 8 We are hard-pressed in every way, but not cramped beyond movement; we are perplexed, but not absolutely with no way out; 9 we are persecuted, but not abandoned; we are knocked down, but not destroyed.10 Always we endure in our body the death-dealing treatment that Jesus suffered, that the life of Jesus may also be made manifest in our body.”
So when under going trial, let us see it as our training
let us endure with with patience, mildness and love, being long suffering all the time persevering in righteousness, proving the devil a liar and while soldiering on to our glorious end, which is soon in sight.
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