The Call To Overcome: Personal Battles, Suffering

I have come as a Light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.

John 12:46 (NKJV)

Every life includes personal battles: trials, temptations, and hard-to-pass tests. Some of these hardships we make for ourselves. Others are cruelly thrust upon us. 

Either way, we’re called to overcome them. Because if we can't get past our own pain, how can we effectively fight Satan… or effectively fight for others?

  • God loved no man more tenderly than David, but his problems led him to depression: 'My tears have been my food day and night... I will say to God my Rock, 'Why have You forgotten me?' ' (Psalm 42:3,9).

  • God tested no man more sorely than Job, and his misfortunes led him to despair: 'He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone; and He has uprooted my hope like a tree' (Job 19:10).

  • God chased no man more surely than Jonah, because unforgiveness had consumed him: 'O Lord, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life' (Jonah 4:3).

  • God buffeted no man more times than Paul, but instead of self-pity, he boasted: 'I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me' (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Three of these four men might be considered to have caused some part of their suffering.* But all of them had the same action plan: They exposed their grief. They brought it to light. 

They dug around it with thoughts and prayers. Eventually, they hit the pay dirt of understanding!** 

Actors, models, and talent for Christ: 

Infection and mold grow best in darkness. So does suffering. The treatment begins with discovery! Therefore, open up!... to God and close friends.***

Against light, darkness is doomed to failure.

The Call To Overcome: Personal Battles, Suffering  (Part 9)

* Seemingly NOT Job.

** I choose to believe Job did, too.

*** 'Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much' (James 5:16).

*** 'If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness' (1 John 1:9).

NOTE: God is my Ghostwriter. If what I write is good, it’s from God. You may see notes to 'Actors, Models & Talent for Christ.' If you think you're not in show business, think again. Shakespeare said, 'All the world's a stage and all its men and women merely players.’ Mostly true. But you're not merely players. You are messengers and ambassadors for the King of kings.

Carey Arban