And am PERSUADED that He is able

(new article tomorrow)

"All these experiences that come on you--tribulation, distress, famine, nakedness, economic distress, peril, sword, the government, all the things we fear--the Adversary will use them to separate you, make you ashamed.

"Romans 8: [36] As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

"We understand the world doesn't like us; we got that. [37] Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

"There's an absolute, complete, total victory program over sin that God has provided for us through Jesus Christ and it makes you more than a conqueror," says Richard Jordan.

"Paul starts the next verse, 'For I am persuaded,' and that's what it's got to be. You have to be persuaded that this is true, 'that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

[39] Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

"You and I have been equipped to deal with the vanity and the bondage of corruption through the Word of God to us, through His grace to us, so that we can apply it to the details of our life.

"When you're fully persuaded that what God says is true, then you'll see His Word work effectually in you that believe.

"Paul writes in II Corinthians 4: [15] For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.

[16] For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
[17] For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
[18] While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

"The 'all things' he's talking about in the passage start in verse 8: [8] We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; [9] Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;

"All those things Paul went through, Paul understood that he was an example for us; he understood that when he went through things it was for our consolation. 

"When he says, 'For your sakes, that the abundant grace through thanksgiving . . . ,' that's now, not the ages to come. When people saw Paul go through the persecutions and witnessed God's grace work in him, they would give thanks to God. They would see Paul value and cherish, esteem the Lord Jesus Christ in all those things and it caused the glory of God to be manifest in Paul.

" 'For this cause, we faint not,' means, 'We don't quit.' Right now, you're building things in your inner man that give you an exceeding and eternal weight of glory in the ages to come. His purpose with the Body of Christ is that in the ages to come He's going to manifest His glory through us. 

"Paul says, 'While we look at the things not seen.' You see, it's that faith viewpoint and that gives us the opportunity to manifest the value of His grace and truth, both now (verse 15) and in eternity (verse 17).

"So it's Paul, not Job, who is the illustration that teaches us how to respond to the frustration of the vanity of the curse. You focus on His glory. Grace and truth is an encapsulized description of the glory, the essence, the outshining of who God is.

"When we focus on His grace and His truth, found in the Book rightly divided, what God's doing in our lives as members of the Body of Christ, it's really just boot camp for the future ministry we'll have in the ages to come, as well as boot camp for the ministry now. 

"I Corinthians 15:58: [58] Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

"It's not the vanity of this world; it's real, purposeful, meaningful life. The way you don't waste your life is don't grieve problems like you don't have a hope; you have a hope of glory.

"Focus on that and don't miss the opportunity to be a witness to the value and the treasure that you know is in Christ. 'For me to live is Christ.' I want Him to be magnified in my decisions; His will is more important than anything else. His actions are more important than anything else."