When facing His coming execution, Jesus could have prayed, “Father, if I die this way, my disciples will be too afraid to get Your message to all the world. Those who believe what I have taught them will think I must have been a false teacher or You would have protected me.”
     Jesus could have listed endless reasons why crucifixion could not be a part of God’s solution to the problems of the world.
B     ut Jesus was Jesus. He believed God and was so willing to trust Him that His prayer was: Not my will, but yours be done (Luke 22:42 NIV).
     You and I may have problems which cause us to think that surely God will change our situation. Why would He leave us like this? That would make our life a failure and surely He wouldn’t want that.
     God responded to Jesus’ faith. His disciples became mighty leaders in His plan to give the Good News to the entire world. The number of believers quickly became an ever-increasing multitude. Many believers gave their lives rather than renounce their faith in Jesus as The Son of God. They rejoiced and sang of victory in Jesus regardless of what others thought of them or did to them.

 by Merlin Carothers

     Yes, Jesus seemed to be defeated, but He had been faithful to God and God was faithful to Him. His disciples also seemed to be defeated when they were beaten, stoned or cast into prison. Sometimes God quickly took them out of prison, but at other times He left them there. But while there they did work that has changed people’s hearts for 2,000 years!
     You and I have our opportunities to say, “Not my will but Yours be done.” We too may have reasons to doubt and fear, but we can choose to give our lives to serving God. We can witness to one person, ten, one hundred or more, and they may then witness to one, ten or one hundred thousand more. God has promised to multiply the seeds we sow. There are many ways to plant those seeds! For example, Mary always answers our phone with, “Jesus loves you.”  I answer with, “Praise the Lord.” These are tiny seeds we sow, but if you and I do what we can, God will reap the harvest! When we give a Bible, a tract or book to someone, we are fulfilling part of the same mission that Jesus gave His disciples. God can multiply everything we do!
     Remember, your potential for tomorrow is limited only by the decisions you make today.

by Mary Carothers

     Paul wrote in Romans 8 that the sufferings of the present time couldn’t begin to compare with the joy ahead of us. He even said in chapter 5 that we should rejoice in our sufferings – because of the spiritual growth they – hopefully – will produce in us. The disciple Peter also urges us to rejoice when we participate in the sufferings of Christ (see I Peter 4:13). Then he reminds us in 5:9 that we are not the only ones going through rough times. Our brothers and sisters all over the world are also experiencing the same kinds of problems. So it must be possible to rejoice always! Otherwise, why would God urge us over and over again to do so? In the short, four chapter book of Philippians, Paul, under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, uses joy or rejoice sixteen times!
     What if God takes all our problems and works on them something like a candy factory does when it makes chocolate candy? Chocolate, by itself is bitter, but mix it with sugar and the result is something very good. Not to make light of our sufferings, but God does take sufferings of all kinds and desires to use them to make us beautiful in His eyes. We may not realize the glory He is developing in us until we enter His presence when we’re done with this world. Then we will understand. No matter how long we live, eternity with our Lord is infinitely longer. Jesus assured us in John 16:33 that in this world we would surely have problems. But He also said to cheer up, because He had overcome the world.  Christ in us is our guarantee of victory!
     God is working for our eternal good! Someday we will understand the beauty of what He is doing for us and in us. Until then, we walk by faith in Him Who loved us and gave Himself for us (see Galatians 2:20 and Ephesians 5:2).