Some people are really going through a difficult time right now. Several have shared recently some of the hardships and trying times they’re experiencing. most of us too face our own trials. Please consider reading further. Hopefully it will be a helpful reminder from God’s word that will prove to be an encouragement.

Reading through the New Testament it is so apparent and God made it abundantly clear in many areas of scripture that this world we now live in is the same world that hated Jesus and it will hate us as Christians today. This world was unfair to Jesus and will be unfair to us. Jesus Christ faced injustice all those years ago and we will be faced with it today. Back in the days of Jesus this world was hateful, rude, insensitive, cruel and inhumane to Jesus. Why would we expect anything different for Christians today?  

Peter said in 1 Peter 4:12-14 CSB “Dear friends, don’t be surprised when the fiery ordeal comes among you to test you, as if something unusual were happening to you, instead, rejoice as you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may also rejoice with great joy when his glory is revealed. If you are ridiculed for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.”

The fact is that those darts of fire, the difficult trials are inevitable. They are to be expected. Yes they hurt and are very painful in many ways. They are real in our lives. You know what is really strange about these painful trials? Paul called them… hold onto your hats,…this may blow your mind. He called them “fellowship” yes can you believe that? We all want fellowship with Jesus Christ. It’s easy to have that when we’re on that mountain top and we are happy in life. However that’s not what Paul said in Philippians 3:10, Paul talks about a beautiful experience, a type of "fellowship" with Christ that we can only experience when we enter into “His sufferings”. 

My dear brother and sister in Christ, the trials you are facing right now will pass, let’s all say Hallelujah, right? However before they do, while in the midst of this difficult period of your life don’t miss the opportunity to spend time in the presence of our Lord. Many of us have faced times of loss, pain, hopelessness and sickness that we thought we couldn’t live through. We’ve learned that when we go to Jesus, surrender your heart and enter with Him in fellowship it is like no other time we have spent in His presence. The sweetness, the comfort and the love we feel as Jesus wraps His arms around us is when we find some of the greatest blessings we have ever experienced. It truly is a unique fellowship to share in His sufferings. Let’s pray that we all will take our sufferings to Jesus and experience this type of fellowship with Him.