Ready or Not, here they come...

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. (James 1:2-4)

Charles Spurgeon reminded us, "The Lord gets his best soldiers out of the highlands of affliction." While none of us actually 'signs up' for trials, they come our way. We won't always 'delight' in those afflictions or trials, will we? Some of us will even complain that we don't 'deserve' the affliction because we have been doing everything God asked us to do. It doesn't matter how 'right' we live at times - those afflictions still come! Why? They build our faith, increasing our endurance under pressure, often even softening our inner man, making us more receptive to what God wants to do 'next' in our lives. 

I'd like to be at the place in life where I honestly could say, "I need nothing", but until I see Christ's face at the point of my physical death, I am always going to 'need' something in my life. There will always be opportunity for growth, endurance being less than 'perfect' on occasion. Faith is actually built upon the foundation of all that testing. Like it or not, we cannot escape the test! Affliction will come - distress and suffering are a part of human life that cannot be escaped. As I have said on numerous occasions, God doesn't say "IF" you encounter troubles, but "WHEN" you encounter them. They WILL come - we just need to be ready!

How do we make ourselves 'ready' for the afflictions that will come our way? We must keep our relationship with Jesus 'fresh' and ever growing. If we have lost that 'freshness' in our walk with him, it is time to seek his renewal. After all, the only way we will overcome the enemy of our souls is to have that nearness to Jesus maintained. Every relationship (including the one we have with Jesus) goes through periods of 'stagnancy' and needs a little refreshing to keep it vibrant. We have to make a conscious effort to maintain our human relationships, don't we? Why would it be any different with Jesus? 

The more we seek the face of Jesus, the more we may encounter trials and afflictions may come. It is just our enemy's way of trying to distract us from realizing his power is bigger than any trial or affliction. His power that dwells within us is BIGGER than the affliction, but we hear those words of our enemy, "Did God really say..." and we begin to doubt. Doubt is often our biggest hurdle when affliction comes our way. Not doubt that God can intervene but perhaps doubt that he will. WHEN trials come, draw close to Jesus. WHEN doubts enter in, listen for his voice and declare those doubts to be untrue. He isn't about to abandon us now. He has way too much love for us to allow that to happen. Just sayin!