Today’s New Covenant nugget is from 2 Corinthians 1:8 (TPT)
Brothers and sisters, you need to know about the severe trials we experienced while we were in western Turkey. All of the hardships we passed through crushed us beyond our ability to endure, and we were so completely overwhelmed that we were about to give up entirely.
There are circumstances that can crush and overwhelm a believer beyond their ability to endure…
This is not a negative confession, or saying something that goes against scripture… Paul, the great apostle himself said, “All of the hardships we passed through crushed us beyond our ability to endure, and we were so completely overwhelmed that we were about to give up entirely.”
Paul and his team were up against so many continual unrelenting hardships, that they actually began to think that they would never live through it!
Now Paul was not depressed, he was not defeated, he was not in fear and he did not lose faith in the Lord… also, Paul did not stay in a place of being overwhelmed and crushed, what Paul said in this passage was a snapshot in time and a moment of weakness. Paul and his team sought the Lord, received a great revelation, and then went forward stronger than before!
I love to preach positive messages about blessings, miracles, joy and hope… and this is actually one of those… just stick with me! The reality is that every believer goes through tests, trials and every believer has to endure suffering. The devil will use whatever he can to defeat and to discourage you, and to get you to the point where you lose all hope.
Preaching a theology that does not prepare people to walk through extreme hardship discounts the sufferings of Paul, all of the apostles, the entire early church as well as Jesus Who suffered anxiety to the point of sweating blood.
Challenging circumstances, suffering and hardship are not indicators that you are missing God, they are indicators that you are living by faith and that you are walking on water. People who never step out in faith and never leave their comfort zone don’t have to ever endure much.
Paul goes on to say… “It felt like we had a death sentence written upon our hearts, and we still feel it to this day. It has taught us to lose all faith in ourselves and to place all of our trust in the God who raises the dead. He has rescued us from terrifying encounters with death. And now we fasten our hopes on Him to continue to deliver us from death yet again” - 2 Corinthians 1:9-10 (TPT)
Hardship such as Paul and his team faced only teaches us to lose ALL faith in our own ability and to place ALL faith in the Lord!
He will provide, He will make a way where there is no way, He will rescue you from mortal danger, He will protect you and He will turn your greatest test into your greatest testimony, your greatest battle into your greatest victory and your greatest trial into your greatest triumph!
Today, cast your care onto the Lord and He will take care for you!
Blessings on you, Nick
