Surviving | Experience His Mercy & Grace!

“The keys to surviving suffering are patience and faith.”

We are happy to tell other churches about your patience and complete faith in God, in spite of all the crushing troubles and hardships you are going through. This is only one example of the fair, just way God does things, for He is using your sufferings to make you ready for His Kingdom, while at the same time He is preparing judgment and punishment for those who are hurting you.

(2 Thessalonians 1:4-6 – The Living Bible)

The keys to surviving suffering are patience and faith. When we are faced with crushing troubles and hardships we can have faith that God is using them for our good and for His glory – these troubles will better prepare us for His Kingdom. Knowing that God is fair and just gives us confidence that He has not forgotten us in our troubles, and that, in His timing, He will relieve us of our suffering and will judge those who persecute us.

As we live for Christ, we will experience troubles and hardships. Some say troubles are a result of sin or lack of faith. But Paul teaches that they may be a part of God’s plan for believers. Our problems help us look upward and forward, not inward (Mark 13:35-36); they help build strong character (Romans 5:3-4); and they help us be sensitive to others who also must struggle (2 Corinthians 1:3-5). In addition, problems are unavoidable because we are trying to be godly people in an ungodly world. Your troubles may well be a sign of effective Christian living.

There are two dimensions of the comfort mentioned by Paul. We can be comforted in knowing that our sufferings strengthen us, making us ready for Christ’s Kingdom. We can also take comfort in the fact that one day everyone will stand before God; then, wrongs will be righted, judgment will be pronounced, and evil will be terminated.