Testimony Of Faith In Trials
TRUE VICTORY
It was Sunday, November 12, 2006. That day happened to be an extremely difficult day. I was tired. I was depressed. I was lonely. I was feeling sorry for myself. Oh lord why do I feel the way I do?
It wasn’t just that day that made me feel this way. There had been a lot of circumstances that had caused me to feel this way.
My dad had passed away September 4 of that year. He was honest, loving, kind, and hard working. He was the type of person that anyone would love to call dad. He was a righteous man. Oh Lord, how I miss my dad.
I was having health problems because of some chemicals I had worked with for several years. I was tired. I had no self esteem. My body ached. My mind was not working right. I would go home from work, close my blinds, and lay on my couch all evening. Oh Lord, please take this sickness from my body. Please make me feel good again.
I was having problems at work. Some co-workers were causing problems for me. They tried to make me look bad. They tried to make me look as though, I was a thief. My boss and I were not getting along. He did not trust me. Oh Lord, please show me favor at work.
My son had become a severe alcoholic by the age of 24 years old. Alcoholic had him caught up in the world. Satan was destroying him with his lies. I had many nights of lost sleep and worry. Praying I would not get a phone call from a jail, a hospital, or even a morgue. Oh Lord, deliver my son from the bondage he is in.
That night as I lay asleep, I had a dream. It was a very simple dream. In my dream, my brother asked me if I had read Our Daily Bread. I had not been reading faithfully. I was to busy feeling sorry for myself. The next day Monday, November 13, I woke and went about my normal routine. I struggled that day, like I had many other days in the past. That evening as I lay in my room, I remembered my dream. Did you read Our Daily Bread? So I decided to read Our Daily Bread. The message for that day was called True Victory. The scripture was 2 Corinthians 4:7-18. So this is what the Lord had to say to me.
7-But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8-We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9-persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down but not destroyed. 10-We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11-For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. 12-So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.
13-It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak; 14-because we know the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. 15-All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.
16-Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17-For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far out-weighs them all. 18-So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary; but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:7-18) ~Steve E. Lovato Sr.~