9/19 - 2 Thessalonians 1

First off, thanks to all who prayed for me last week. I can remember distinctly on Thursday morning around 10:25am feeling the Spirit of God minister to me, calming my anxieties and encouraging me to press on. That day was a testament of what can happen when you allow the enemy into your life. By not remembering that each day is a battle, I gave him place to inject confusion & deception in me which lead to a defeated pattern of thinking, a remembrance of all my failures and excuses about why I was unable to do what God has called me to do. Yea, it was bad. But thanks be to God for His Spirit & for your prayers. God even sent someone to speak some words of encouragement to me. Words I didn't want to hear at the time, but words I needed.

Paul's message to the Thessalonians is also a good one for me and any Christians going through something.

"Therefore, among God's churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring. All this is evidence that God's judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering" (v. 4-5)

It is in the enduring of trials that we are found worthy of the kingdom of God. We've already been promised that we would suffer (John 15:20-21) but it is not in the suffering alone that we are honored, but how we endure. The purpose behind suffering is the process of purging, purifying and perfecting us thereby making us worthy for the kingdom. It is in our positive response that this process manifests.