Are we rejoicing or are we moaning?  Oh, we know that the spirit is willing and the flesh is weak.  We know that it’s grievous for the moment, this chastening that we’re going through, but it works in us what?  The peaceable fruit of righteousness; amen?  That pain right now will turn into fruit to the glory of God.  It will honor God.  The pain that you’re suffering right now will honor God in the end of this process of the preparation of His precious bride.  That’s why we can rejoice.  The pain is pain.  The anxiety is real.  The loss is real.  The fear is real.  The depression is real, but you will not be tested past that you are able to stand.

So, if you find yourself under that kind of pressure this evening, let me encourage you with something.  Don’t look for a way out.  Look for Jesus within; amen?  Don’t look for a way out.  Look for the grace of God that allows the process in us to finish that we might then be perfect, mature, wanting nothing.  Hallelujah.  Jesus set the example for us and showed us the process to work our way through it.  We don’t just grit and hold on.  We pray; amen?  We pray.  We dialogue with Father.  We seek and get into His presence and rest.  In the midst of the trials tonight, cease from your own labors and enter into the rest of God; amen?  Stop trying to change these things.  Let God change you.  Let Him finish that fullness in you so that we can look more like Him.  What does Jesus look like?  Jesus is at perfect rest, and He’s causing us to learn how to come into that particular fellowship with Father.

Mark, Chapter 1.  We’ve heard the admonitions given to us, such as, “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit,” “Men ought always to pray, and not to faint.” “When I come, will I find faith on the earth?”  “Will I find a people who have arrived at the fact that I am a loving heavenly Father?  I am just.  I am not like the unjust judge?  I’m looking to speedily get you the kingdom and its benefits working in your life.”  Amen?  So, pray.

Pray.  Pray and stand.  Put on the whole armor of God.  Quench the fiery darts with the Word of God, the shield of faith.  Quench all the fiery lies coming to you that say God isn’t going to deliver you this time, that you’re not worthy to be delivered, that this is greater than any other trial you’ve been through, and that He’s just not going to be there for us this time.  That shield of faith quenches all of those lies.  We pull down every evil imagination as we declare with our mouths, speaking the promises of God; amen?  Can I remind us tonight that we’re fighting a good fight?  It didn’t say we’re enjoying a picnic.  It says we’re fighting a good fight; amen?  There’s nothing in this that tells us we’re in a hammock.  We’re fighting a good fight, so lay hold of eternal life.  Don’t let any man steal your crown; amen?

So, we see Jesus in His earthly ministry.  The battle that Jesus won in this life was won as a Spirit-filled man.  None of His divine attributes were used to defeat the devil.  He fought him with the same weapons we fight him with.  In the temptation that came on the Lord, what was it that He used?  “It is written,” praise God.  If we’re going to be successful in our prayer lives, then we need to be filled with the knowledge of God’s Word, the goodness of God.  That knowledge and fellowship with Him because He is that loving heavenly Father.  He is that One that will see to it that justice manifests on behalf of His children who are partakers of these kingdom privileges.  He will watch over His Word and do it, praise God.  This Word is sure to a thousand generations.