Precious Products Of Tribulation

We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.
Romans 5:3-4

The Christian life is not a parade but a battle in which the opposition is intense and the enemy tenacious. But you can neither be defeated nor disheartened—as long as you remember the one with whom you are at war and the one with whom you are at peace!

Abraham Kuyper probes the power and purpose behind victorious spiritual warfare.

WALK WITH ABRAHAM KUYPER
“When we are attacked, when our opponent takes hold and attempts to throw us, only then does our strength appear.

“Each fierce attack inspires more determined resistance, and we put forth all our strength to remain standing. And thus endurance is born.

“Tribulation and struggle call forth strength to endure; endurance produces the confidence of proven character; and with that new confidence, hope waxes stronger—the hope of never being overcome by an assailant, the hope of winning the crown.

“Thus the child of God, struggling against the forces of evil in and around him, discovers within himself a God-given strength which enables him to endure all assault triumphantly.”

WALK CLOSER TO GOD
When called upon to stand, the believer knows where his strength lies.

Paul explained it this way: “I can do all this through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13).

Each “round” with the enemy, each conflict successfully met in the strength of the Lord, only serves to make you stronger for the next. More patient. More experienced. More enduring. More hopeful. More like Christ.

There is no more glorious way to live in this world than to “glory in our sufferings.”