Equipment included

People look at Grace Believers and say, “Aghh, that’s just escapism!” The response is, “No, man, it’s equipping! It’s something that can be used for God’s glory!”

Jordan says, “Troubles come and when they come, they check you out, as it were. We can rejoice in problems. Now, I told you before, no sane person just rejoices in trouble for trouble’s sake. That would be kind of sadistic.

“Paul says, ‘We glory in tribulation also KNOWING THIS.’ That word ‘also’ there strikes me. Can you get as excited about problems and difficulties now as you do about getting out of them out yonder?! That’s kind of hard, isn’t it? But he says we know something that lets us do it.

“Experience is that PROOF that you have that the Word of God works in your life. It’s the maturity of character and that greatness of soul that comes from having truth that you know to be true transferred into the details of your life.

“Hope is that confidence expectancy of better things yet to come. In other words, when you get some skill at handling problems, you gain confidence in God’s sustaining power. You gain confidence in the grace of God to deliver you and sustain you in trouble. You find out God isn’t really going to let you down.

“The end result is we have an increased confidence in God to sustain and deliver us. We’re not ashamed but we’re bold in the situations. We can look at it and say, ‘God’s working!’

“When you get all that stuff and it looks like a wreck, just hang a sign out that says, ‘GOD AT WORK!’ Not in a negative but a positive manner. But you’ve got to have the divine viewpoint of tribulations to be bold in tribulations.

“Listen, people, there’s never any growth without pressure. There’s never any growth without obstacles. There’s never any growth without problems.”