Through Many Tribulations!

"We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God."
Acts 14:22b

Recommended Reading Romans 8:18-19

"When seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong became the world's most famous cyclist, his consecutive victories--the most in history--were made sweet by what preceded them: a bout with cancer. Diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1996, cancer that had already spread to his brain and lungs, Armstrong dropped out of cycling to fight his disease. He returned to cycling and won the Tour de France for seven straight years (1999-2005).

Armstrong's greatest years as an athlete--and now a worldwide advocate for cancer research--were preceded by the most difficult years of his life. His experience illustrates a universal, and biblical, principle: the harder the battle, the sweeter the victory. In fact, the apostle Paul put it this way: entry to the kingdom of God is always accompanied by "many tribulations" (Acts 14:22b). Those who enter the kingdom of God by way of the coming Tribulation will echo Paul's words while praising the God who made their salvation possible (Revelation 7:9-14).

If you're experiencing a trial right now, recognize its ultimate outcome: a deeper dependence upon God and gratefulness for your victory in Christ.

There can be no victory where there is no combat"

Those are not my words........they were in a devotional today by David Jeremiah!!! But they are my words indirectly. By that, I mean AMEN. It is what I was going to say in this blog that has been stirring in my head and heart for a couple of weeks, but then there it was already written out for me.

A small group of wonderful, godly friends and I have been meeting for almost four years now on Monday evenings. We are truly kindred spirits, soul-mates, iron sharpening iron. The trials that have been and are still being endured, just within our small group, have been amazing. It has varied in intensity, in specific uniqueness to each person, in length of time...............but mostly the desired out come has been a depth of trusting God that was not there before the testings came.

I don't mean to hint at all that we weren't trusting God before, but the surety of what that looks like is becoming more and more obvious. We can see it in each other, as well as in ourselves. It is the visible kingdom of God that comes through TRUSTING GOD in tribulations.