Richard Roberts
Do you know people who seem never to have a problem? They have plenty of money, are never sick, and everything goes right for them … but they wouldn’t know God if they met Him coming down the road? Yet you are struggling.
If you know someone like this, it doesn’t take long to start making comparisons. Their situation is on the “green grass” side of the fence, looking good. Your situation is on the other side ― battling and fighting everything Satan is throwing at you. You may be at the point of saying, “I don’t want to fight anymore. I’m just going to give up.”
Don’t give up, the fight is worth it! The apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, Accept, as I do, all the hardship that faithfulness to the gospel entails in the strength that God gives you (2Timothy 1:8 PHILLIPS). In another passage Paul told Timothy, You … must endure hardship as a good soldier (2 Timothy 2:3 NKJV). In other words, accept the fact that when you serve the Lord, you’re going to face some difficulties.
Christian can expect Satan to attack with trials and trouble. But the Bible says, When all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your lives … don’t resent them as intruders, but welcome them as friends (James 1:2–3 PHILLIPS)!
“Give me a break!” you may say. “How can I welcome my trials as a friend?” James gives the answer in verse 4. He says that although trials come to test your faith, they produce endurance so that you can stand firm and say, “No matter what, I am going to overcome!”
