GOD USES PROBLEMS AND PERSECUTION TO PERFECT YOU
"We can rejoice when we run into problems...they help us learn to be patient. And patience develops strength of character in us and helps us trust God more each time we use it until finally our hope and faith are strong and steady.”
~ Romans 5:3-4 (TLB)
Here is the final of five ways God uses problems and persecution in your life: God uses problems and persecution to PERFECT you.
Problems, when responded to correctly, are character builders. God is far more interested in your character than your comfort. Your relationship to God and your character are the only two things you are going to take with you into eternity.
Christian singer, Helen Berhane, wrote a song of victory while in the terrible conditions of an Eritrean shipping container cell for almost three years:
Christianity costs you your lifeRESPONSE: God is at work in my life—even when I do not recognize it or understand it. It is much easier and more profitable when I cooperate with Him. This is the way to victory!
But at the end, its outcome is victory
The beating of the Hebrews with the whip was awful
The waves of the sea and the mighty wind
Crushed by the stone, suffering by day and night;
Paul’s faithfulness was tested by a sword.
Christianity costs you your life
But at the end, its outcome is victory
The journey of Ruth was a hope where there was no hope;
A sacrifice was paid even for a despised tribe.
Although there was nothing promised for Ruth
By faith she made her way toward Nazareth
And she entered into Jesus’ genealogy.
Christianity costs you your life
But at the end, its outcome is victory[1]
PRAYER: Thanks be to God who gives us the victory!
1. Ibid, p.106.
Standing Strong Through The Storm (SSTS), a daily devotional message by SSTS author Paul Estabrooks. © 2011 Open Doors International. Used by permission.
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