Moreover [let us also be full of joy now!] let us exult and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance. And endurance (fortitude) develops maturity of character (approved faith and tried integrity). And character [of this sort] produces [the habit of] joyful and confident hope of eternal salvation. Such hope never disappoints or deludes or shames us, for God's love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us. Romans 5:3-4
Let’s be honest, for us to rejoice in our troubles and sufferings the Holy Spirit has to be the power in our life’s causing us to rejoice. It is easy for us to tell ourselves that we have to be the ones, who on our own look past the world and our situations to Jesus. But it is impossible for us to do that through mere human abilities. Our Father will not permit us to. This Truth can be seen when Jesus took on a servants towel and said that He was going to wash Peter’s feet. Peter got all religious on Jesus and said that he would never allow Him wash his feet. Well, Jesus told Peter, that if he did not let Him wash his feet, then he could have none of Him. Because the Truth is that Jesus has to do it for us.
Peter said to Him, You shall never wash my feet! Jesus answered him, Unless I wash you, you have no part with (in) Me [you have no share in companionship with Me]. John 13:8
We are going to have troubles in this world and our Father will bring us out of all of them and then He will lead us right into another problem. This cycle of life will cause us to rejoice and be full of joy. Because as the process repeats itself, over and over again, we grow up. As our Father causes us to triumph in everything, we become unswerving in our confidence that He is in control of us and that He never looses.
Too many condemn themselves, believing that they have done something wrong and that is why the trouble has come upon them. Others are out there binding the daylights out of satan, blaming him for the problem, when it is actually our Father causing the situation to happen. We are told plainly to rejoice when troubles come, because greater is He that is in us, then he that is in this world. Our Father, through His power, will actually cause us to begin to rejoice and hope for problems. The Truth sets us free and the Truth is that if you want to grow up in Christ, you need problems that our Father conquers through us.
As our Father repeatedly does this for us, what use to seem so major to us, no longer is even thought of by us. As our Father brings us through these events, He causes us to look past our own life’s and to the life’s of others. Pretty soon, He is causing us to think and intercede for others and the mind of Christ that He has given us actually begins to take no thought for our own life's. So if you are having what seems like one persecution and trial after another, rejoice, your saved and our Father is growing you up. The worry would be if you actually weren’t having any troubles.
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