The Voice of Jesus

Sickness, accidents, conflict, persecution. Our world is broken, and hardship is inevitable in our lives. But how should we respond to hardship? Paul, the apostle, was familiar with suffering. After experiencing blindness and being shipwrecked, he was put in prison, deserted by friends, and had seen fellow Christians fall away from their faith.
To top it off, he knew he was going to die soon. So, while Paul was under house arrest, he wrote a letter to Timothy, a young man who Paul had mentored and who was now a leader in the church in Ephesus.

Paul was experiencing persecution, but he knew that God was with him and would be his strength (2 Timothy 4:16-18). Paul knew that God had always been faithful and always would be. No matter what happened next, Paul had the hope of eternal life with Jesus (verse 6-8). Even in suffering, Paul was able to encourage Timothy to persevere in the faith, stay strong in Jesus, and continue to lead the church and share the good news of Jesus (verse 5).

When we face struggles, as followers of Jesus we can find comfort in knowing God is with us in our struggles. He grieves our hurts alongside us and gives us strength to keep going. God is so amazingly good that He even uses something as horrible as suffering to help us grow closer to Him and rely on Him. And just like Paul encouraged Timothy through hard times, we can reach out to others and encourage them, even when we ourselves are in the midst of struggles (as Paul pointed out in another letter, see 2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

No matter the challenges we face, we can find strength and hope by resting in Jesus, who endured the cross because of the joy He knew was coming (Hebrews 12:1-3). In a similar way, we can know that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed when Jesus returns (Romans 8:17-18). • Abby Ciona

• What struggles have you been experiencing lately? No matter how big or small your suffering seems to you, God cares about all of it, and He invites you to tell Him about it.

But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that I might fully preach the word and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. 2 Timothy 4:17 (CSB)

Read Verses:

John.10.1-John.10.30|1John.3.19-1John.3.24