By I believe there is a misconception often times about the Christian walk and that it promises a life free of pain, hurt and suffering. Unfortunately, the truth is quite the opposite. Jesus promises us that we will have suffering. It’s a guarantee.
‘I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.’
John 16:33
I know it’s not something we want to hear – we much rather read about all of the blessings, mercy and grace, but suffering is something we cannot ignore. Our trials can either make us or break us, we each have a choice. Learning how to persevere in trials will help strengthen you to move forward and make the most out of every situation.
Here are a few important tips on persevering in the midst of your suffering:
1. Realize You’re Either Going to be Hot or Cold
Whatever trial you’re facing, there is only one choice we’re going to have to make- we’re either going to completely move toward God (hot), or we’re going to draw away from him (cold). There is no standing still in the middle and being lukewarm in your trials. There is no neutral option. Every choice you make in the midst of your suffering will reveal the decision you made in your heart.
Now, being “hot” and moving towards God doesn’t always look very pretty. Sometimes it can mean we temporarily unleash our pain, hurt, anger and frustration on Him while we beg and plead with God telling Him how “we don’t understand” and that “this isn’t fair”, but ultimately we make the choice to stick with Him through it. Being “hot” means we choose to acknowledge and trust that God is sovereign and not lean on our own feelings or understanding of things. It means we know God is the only one who gives and takes away and we made the decision to stay with Him no matter the cost.
Being “cold” means we don’t trust God to handle our situation. It means we have completely chosen to walk away from Him in this area and take matters into our own hands. As you can imagine, this will only lead to more pain, add to our suffering and leave us with feelings of hopelessness and despair in the long run because God is the only one that can work all things together for our good (Romans 8:28).
Only God can turn a MESS into a message, a TEST into a testimony, a TRIAL into a triumph, a VICTIM into a victory.
2. Decide to Have the Right Attitude
“It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.”
The reality is that we all have the freedom to choose how we will react to the trials in our life. This brings us back to the decision we made to be “hot” or “cold”. We can either choose to learn from the difficulties we face and allow God to strengthen us and grow from it, or we can choose to be negative, blame God, doubt His word or even reject His existence.
The problem is never that God isn’t being faithful, but rather it’s that we blame God over our wrong interpretation of His promises which were made according to our own plans. We might not be able to change or control our circumstances, but we certainly can control our attitude and how we choose to react in each situation.
Our attitude in our suffering will influence the actions we take and it’s only with a right attitude that we can get good results. Choose to focus on God instead of on your adversity because what consumes your mind will control your life.
3. Trust God in Your Adversity
We have hope in the midst of our suffering.
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28
No part of our trials and suffering is ever in vain; it serves a purpose. Yes, God promises us we will have suffering in this fallen world, but He also already gave us the victory over our trials. This means as long as you continue to trust God and stay with Him, the suffering you are going through will not be the end of you – you will have victory over it in the end!
God draws near to the broken-hearted and the crushed in spirit (Psalms 34:18), He will never abandon you in your hardships. He will walk with you every step of the way. When we put our trust in God and trust His process, we are able to take the weight off of us and the pressure of having to go to battle alone. The deepest level of worship is showing God you trust Him by praising Him in the midst of pain and suffering.
4. Avoid Dwelling on Your Problems
Dwelling on your problems keeps you stuck.
What’s a nine foot tall giant to a star-forming God?
Dwell on the size of your God not the height of your giant
-Louie Giglio
It’s normal to feel grief, hurt and suffering. However, focusing on your problems will not solve anything. Instead of fixating on that pain and adversity, focus on the one above it all. God is our ultimate source of strength. By shifting your focus to Him you will be able to persevere through the difficult trials because you won’t be focusing on the size of your crisis, but rather on how big the God you serve is!
5. Accept That God’s Ways Are Higher
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
-Isaiah 55:8-9
It may feel uncomfortable, but we have to accept that sometimes we just won’t have all the answers to why God has allowed us to go through certain trials or tests in our life. Yet we must be humble enough to admit that God’s plans and purposes are perfect; they have no flaws. Just because we don’t understand why He may be allowing certain things to happen, doesn’t mean that God is not in control of the situation.
Sometimes we fall into the trap of questioning God’s intentions, but instead of letting our thoughts get the best of us, we must keep reminding ourselves that His ways and thoughts are much higher and far greater than our own.
6. Don’t Give Into Your Emotions
It can be discouraging when you pray for your situation to turn around and for things to get better but nothing seem to be changing. You might feel like giving up because you don’t see any progress, but that’s when God reminds us to walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). Don’t give into fluctuating emotions. Just because you don’t see God working in your life or turning your situation around doesn’t mean He isn’t.
Sometimes we can miss out on an opportunity for God to bless us because we give into our emotions and give up too soon. What do you do when what God told you (what He promised you) isn’t matching up with what you’re seeing?
God had a plan for victory that involved the Israelites marching around the walls of Jericho 7 times. The Israelites could have given into their emotions and stopped after the first few times because they didn’t see anything happening – their situation wasn’t changing with each lap. If they did that, they would not have received their blessing. What if you’re on your 7th lap right now and your situation is about to turn around, but you chose to give into your emotions and give up before your blessing? Instead, choose to wait on God and persevere through your trials.
7. Submit to God and Obey Him No Matter What
No trial, hurt or suffering will last forever. When we wholeheartedly choose to submit to God and obey Him no matter the cost, the hardships we face will only draw us closer to Him and help strengthen our faith.
In the Old Testament, Job is a great example of someone who chose to submit to God, obey Him and persevere until the very end. Job’s story is one of extreme suffering – he lost all of his children and wealth in a day! He also suffered from painful sores and had no support of his friends or wife. Not only did he not have support, but his wife even told him he might as well give up and just curse God and die. (Job 2:9).
Job did nothing to deserve this suffering, yet he kept enduring until the end and persevered through extremely difficult trials and was willing to submit everything to God and obey Him. Are you willing to do the same?
God later restored Job’s fortunes and blessed him with twice more than what he had before in all areas of his life.
In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation.
1 Peter 5:10
Your suffering will not last forever. Don’t forget that you already have the victory over it. Choose to persevere through this difficult time. Never stop praying and seeking God in the midst of your difficulties as He develops your character making you more like Jesus. He will make a way for you even when there seems to be no way. He is the only one that can create a miracle and a blessing from our trials.
Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
-James 1:4
It is after I have made my resolutions that the battle begins. Not only will the devil tempt me more, but I shall also have to take misunderstandings and even bad will, from neighbors who resent my change for the better.
My worst enemy, however, will be my own human nature. It will dislike the harder course of action which I am now following. My imagination, my old habits, my likes & dislikes, these will cooperate in order to make me abandon my resolutions. On such occasions I ought to get busy with some activity which will help me overcome, or at least disregard my lower nature’s rebellion. God will send me light & strength in due time if only I not hold on to my resolutions in the present darkness of fears, doubts and dislikes.
So true Randy! God bless you 🙏🏼❤️