I am Dr. Michael Brown of Ask Dr. Brown Ministries and welcome to God Today. You know, Jesus gave His disciples an interesting word of encouragement right before He was going to be crucified. He was going to leave them and then He was going to be resurrected. And He said this to them in John 16:33, “In this world, you will have tribulation. But, be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
See, friends, sometimes we think as followers of Jesus that nothing bad is going to happen to us. As followers of Jesus, it is just going to be blessing upon blessing and all will be well and we won’t have difficulty or challenge. But that is not the reality in this fallen world.
In Acts 14, Paul and Brananabs encourage the believers and tell them through many tribulations they must enter the Kingdom of God. And in Romans 8, Paul wrote and said that nothing will separate us from the love of Christ. And he said not tribulation, not testing, suffering, pain. See, sometimes when you go through hard times, you think, “What is wrong with me?” Or, “Why is this happening? Has God forsaken me?” The fact is, Jesus told us to expect these things in this world. The tribulations make us stronger. The testings purge and purify us. They develop our faith, our perseverance, and our character.
Paul writes in Romans 5 that through tribulation we grow in perseverance, and perseverance produces character, and character produces hope. When you work out at the gym, they have a saying, “No pain, no gain.” This is often the way it is in the Kingdom of God. Through testing, we grow. Through tribulation and challenge, we become stronger. Don’t be discouraged by the difficulties. It could be that the difficulties are a direct result of your obedience to God. That is why this opposition from the world, and Satan, and the flesh. But, “Be of good cheer!” Jesus said, “I have overcome the world.” And in Him, we too overcome. You take hold of His victory and through those you overcome every tribulation, every test.
Let me pray for you. Father, I pray for each viewer right now. Some of them in the midst of a serious attack. Some of them in the midst of tribulation that seems unbearable. Some, Lord, not just for a day, but for weeks, and months, and years. I pray they would take hold of the victory of Jesus today. I pray, in you, they would be lifted above every challenge. They would find grace, and hope, and strength, and will grow and that, Lord, everything Satan means for evil, you Lord would turn for good. We ask you to do it. In Jesus’ name. This is Dr. Michael Brown. You have been watching God Today.