Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (James 1:2-4)

I love it when the Lord speaks to me and says “Darren, everything is going to be alright.”  It is probably the greatest word of encouragement that he can give to me.  He says this to me whenever I need to hear it, which–honestly–is almost every single day.

I am like you.  Many things come into my life stirring worry and concern.  I must continue in the word of God in order to assure myself that I am going to be alright.  I have had financial problems.  I have gone through messy situations on the job and in the church.  I have had health issues.  I have had family and friends attack me and I have watched as some of my family members went through outrageous trials of their own.

So to hear God say that everything is going to be alright means as much to me as it probably would to you.

What I have come to understand is the power of the cross.  I do not apologize for hiding beneath it.  My entire provision is in the place of Jesus’ finished work there.  My health, my income, and my well-being are all tied to what He did for me. 

I am thankful that my God has grafted me into the vine of Christ.  I am thankful that my complete salvation and deliverance is assured. I may stand on the banks of the Red Sea looking at the enemy approaching with mighty power, but I know my God.   The sea before me will open up and I shall cross over to the other side on dry ground.  I shall only look with my eyes and see my enemy’s plans for me destroyed by the mighty hand of God.

I may stand before a giant that curses the very core of my belief in God, but I shall be empowered to throw a stone right between my enemies’ eyes and watch as he comes crashing down before me.

A thousand false prophets may declare for the entire world to hear that the Christian God has no power, but I know that my God is real and that His power and His word will stand.  It doesn’t concern me that I might have to stand alone because I know that in the hour of my testing my God shall stand with me strengthening me like He strengthened Daniel in the Lion’s Den, like He strengthened the three young men in the fiery furnace.  He won’t leave me in that place of suffering but will come into the fire with me.

But in order to come to understand that God will be with you in the fire, you actually have to go through the fire.  James said to consider it pure joy when you go through trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith will produce perseverance.  He said that when we persevere under trial our faith shall become mature and complete in Christ.

God’s encouragement is what strengthens me to face the trials that I face.  When He says everything is going to be alright, this thought enters the core of my being and the truth of it is simply known.

I pray for you today.  May God strengthen you in the face of all the trials you face on the road to your destiny.  I pray that you will overcome the world even as Jesus overcame and rose from the dead to sit by his Father forevermore.