Turn Your Troubles into Triumphs
“Pressure can crack pipes But it can also creates diamonds. So You can also
turn your troubles in to Triumph”.
We live in a world of
troubles and often holds the upper hand to our dreams, our desires, and
ultimately to our destinies. It's everywhere but turning those
troubles into triumph, now that's the challenge. Jesus Himself experienced
trouble and warned His disciples “In this world
you will have trouble. But take
heart! I have overcome the
world.” (John 16:33) Paul said he
was "troubled on every side" (2 Corinthians 4:8) it is reasonable to
expect trouble in our lives as well. Psalm 34:19 says “Many are the afflictions
of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all” Homer who
wrote the Odyssey and John Milton who wrote Paradise Lost were blind. Beethoven
was deaf when he composed some of the world's greatest symphonies.
HOW CAN YOU TURN YOUR TROUBLES INTO TRIUMPH?
1. BY FAITH
Bible says “For every child of God defeats this evil world
and we achieve this victory through our faith.” (1 John 5:4 NLT)
Paul said “We Walk by
Faith, Not By Sight" (2 Corinthians 5:7).
1. THE OBJECT OF FAITH: ALMIGHTY GOD – SEEK and KNOW
HIM
Hebrew 11:6 says “Without
faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must
believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him”
Faith is no better than its object. Weak faith in God is
better than strong faith in anything else. Faith is what counts. It is not the
size of your faith it is the object of your faith that really counts.
2. THE ORIGIN OF FAITH: THE WORD OF GOD –LISTEN and HEAR
HIM
Where do we get it from? We get it from God's Word.
Romans 10:17 says, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of
God."
3. THE OBJECTIVE OF FAITH: THE WILL OF GOD – SUBMIT
and YIELD TO HIM
Psalm 40:8 says “I
delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”
By this we may judge the credibility of our faith. Do we
want God's will or our own will, God's way or our way? Christ prayed, and all
who follow him still pray, "Not my will, thy will be done."
4. THE OPERATION OF FAITH: THE WORK OF GOD –LOVE and OBEY
HIM
James 1:22 says “Do not merely listen to the word, and so
deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”
5. THE AUTHOR AND PERFECTER OF FAITH: LORD JESUS –REMAIN
and FIX OUR EYES ON HIM
"Let us fix our
eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith …”( Hebrews 12:2)
"Walk by
faith" is to walk as Scripture directs (Romans 10:17) Faith has two ends,
and at each end stands Christ. He is the author (beginner) of your faith
and the Perfecter (the end) of your faith. Faith is God’s way of allowing
you to experience the natural and the spiritual at the same time. Faith is what
brings the things God has provided for us from the spiritual realm into the
physical realm (Heb. 11:1). Everything the Lord does for us is accessed through
faith.
2. BY His WORD
Psalms 119:71 king David Said “It is good for me that I have been
afflicted, that I may learn your statutes.”By definition, affliction is painful
to endure. How could we ever call it good? Yet that is exactly what the
psalmist said about his own troubles. One of the purposes of affliction is to
teach us things we would not otherwise know. Until hard times come, our
knowledge of God and his Word tends to be rather superficial. Psalm 119:67 says
“Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word” David
experienced extreme hardships, including the profound grief of losing a child
and a best friend. Later, David’s own son led a rebellion against him. As
drastic as these trials are, they were just few of the many difficulties he
endured. Yet even in times of deep suffering, David found hope and peace in
God. He declared it good that he was afflicted. Why was his affliction good?
His affliction was good, because it led to his learning and treasuring the law
of God. Martin Luther commented that he never learned the Word until he was
afflicted. His sufferings then became his best schoolmasters.
3. BY His SPIRIT
“John, your brother and companion in the
suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in
Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the
testimony of Jesus. 10 On the Lord’s Day I was in the
Spirit,…….” Revelation 1L9-10
St. John the Apostle, the beloved disciple of Jesus, knew how to turn
trouble into triumph. John was exiled to a small island called Patmos. The
Romans used it to exile their political prisoners. Why did they deport John? It
was because of his preaching of the Word of God and his testimony of Jesus
Christ. John was under pressure. He was banished but he was blessed. He
continued into his Nineties with his ministry. He was still excited! John knew
how to finish well. John was preserving when the going got tough. God is with
John and He can turn misery into majesty, grief into glory and trouble into
triumph. Our God takes you when you are down and lifts you up in His hand.
Bible says John was in the Spirit. He was not in a pulpit he was on the Island
of Patmos. He was out of his friends and family but he was not out of God’s
presence! John had God’s presence and protection. God was using the storm to
perfect and fulfill John’s mission. When in the storm we need to be in the
Spirit and not in the flesh. Have your eyes on God and not on yourself.
They can shut John off from his dear ones but not from his God! God turns our
eyes off the storm and onto Him. They thought they were shutting John up. God
used this opportunity to bring us the last book of the Bible “Revelation.”
4. BY His PRESENCE
We only seek God’s presence when we find ourselves in tight spots, or
when we are in troubles. Why do we act this way? We act this way because we
haven’t become completely convinced that God’s presence is the only thing that can
strengthen, and help us overcome the obstacles that arise. Now the question we
must ask is: How should we seek God’s presence in our life? Let’s now turn to
the Word of God to explore this topic. Moses said to the LORD, "If your
Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. Exodus 33:15. Why is
it so important to constantly seek God’s presence in our life? We must
constantly seek God’s presence in our life because God’s presence in our life
will help us in our walk, which will result in a dramatic change in our life,
ministry and testimony. In other words, God’s presence in our life is the only
thing that will produce a total change in us; a change that the world will not
be able to ignore. Why won’t the world be able to ignore this change? Because
God’s presence will provide us with rest and will strengthen us to overcome all
problems or adversities. We must seek God's presence in our life at all
times. We need to stop setting our sights on the earthly, and seek the
spiritual. We
have to stop being believers with a mediocre relationship with God, and become
faithful believers who rely on God’s presence at all times.
Final words
Someone rightly said God permits problems to CORRECT YOU, DIRECT YOU,
INSPECT YOU, PROTECT YOU and PERFECT YOU. In other words an affliction
will remove everything in our life that is not founded by God; it does not come
to destroy but to correct, cleanse and carry to climax. Every great man and
woman of God began with an affliction. It pulls the creativity out of your
life. You cannot stop it, just like you cannot stop a cyclone but you
can control your perception of it. Embrace it! The only proof that you are a
man of God is your rewarding response towards an affliction. In our encounter
with an affliction, God is there to bless us with His presence. If there was
ever a man who learned how to overcome obstacles by faith... it was Joshua. In
fact... his faith was so great that it landed him into God's great foyer of
Faith. Though he is not named.. his faith was inducted into God's Hall of
faith. And that Hall of Faith is found in Hebrews 11.30, "By faith the
walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven
days." When Joshua begins his journey of faith, God spoke to him: Joshua
1:5. “I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon
you”. God will not force Himself upon us, but He is there, if we will but
reach out to Him. He is always as close as your breath. He is never more than a
whisper away. Ask Him for grace and strength; submit our life to Him.
Troubles will be no troubles, distresses will be no distresses, and
dangers will be no dangers--if God's presence is with us. God’s special
presence will turn. . Storms into calms, winter nights into summer days,
prisons into palaces, weakness into strength, poverty into plenty, death into
life. God's presence makes-heavy afflictions--light, and long
afflictions--short, and bitter afflictions--sweet. A man in misery, without
this gracious presence of God, is in a very hell on this side hell. God's
gracious presence makes every condition--to be a little heaven to the believing
soul.
“Honor and majesty are
[found] in His presence; strength and joy are [found] in His sanctuary.” (1
Chronicles 16:27)