He Has Overcome the World

"None of these things move me" (Acts 20:24).

We read in the book of Samuel that the moment that David was crowned at Hebron, "All the Philistines came up to seek David." And the moment we get anything from the Lord worth contending for, then the devil comes to seek us.

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When the enemy meets us at the threshold of any great work for God, let us accept it as "a token of salvation," and claim double blessing, victory, and power. Power is developed by resistance. The cannon carries twice as far because the exploding power has to find its way through resistance. The way electricity is produced in the powerhouse yonder is by the sharp friction of the revolving wheels. And so we shall find some day that even Satan has been one of God's agencies of blessing.  --Days of Heaven upon Earth

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A hero is not fed on sweets,

Daily his own heart he eats;

Chambers of the great are jails,

And head winds right for royal sails.

--Emerson

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Tribulation is the way to triumph. The valley-way opens into the highway. Tribulation's imprint is on all great things. Crowns are cast in crucibles. Chains of character that wind about the feet of God are forged in earthly flames. No man is greatest victor till he has trodden the winepress of woe. With seams of anguish deep in His brow, the "Man of Sorrows" said, "In the world ye shall have tribulation"--but after this sob comes the psalm of promise, "Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." The footprints are traceable everywhere. Bloodmarks stain the steps that lead to thrones. Sears are the price of scepters. Our crowns will be wrested from the giants we conquer. Grief has always been the lot of greatness. It is an open secret.

"The mark of rank in nature.

Is capacity for pain;

And the anguish of the singer

Makes the sweetest of the strain."

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Tribulation has always marked the trail of the true reformer. It is the story of Paul, Luther, Savonarola, Knox, Wesley, and all the rest of the mighty army. They came through great tribulation to their place of power.

Every great book has been written with the author's blood. "These are they that have come out of great tribulation." Who was the peerless poet of the Greeks? Homer. But that illustrious singer was blind. Who wrote the fadeless dream of "Pilgrim's Progress"? A prince in royal purple upon a couch of ease? Nay! The trailing splendor of that vision gilded the dingy walls of old Bedford jail while John Bunyan, a princely prisoner, a glorious genius, made a faithful transcript of the scene.

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Great is the facile conqueror;

Yet haply, he, who, wounded sore,

Breathless, all covered o'er with blood and sweat,

Sinks fainting, but fighting evermore

Is greater yet.

--Selected

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Christ did not promise that there would be no trails; in fact, he said, "In this world you will have tribulation..." Contrary to popular belief, this ethereal journey of Christianity is not one of ease, but one of challenge and difficulty. Fortunately, Christ did not end with His proclamation of tribulation. He finished by saying, "...but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world." No, the life of a believer is not one of ease, but it is one of reward. 

I have often said that there can be no attainment of the promise without there first being an endurance of the process. The human body grows stronger and larger in correspondence to the resistance it meets. The human soul and spirit is no different. As the vicissitudes of life pour into your existence, as the enemy attacks from every side, as the waves of discomfort and disquietude smash against the walls of your sanity, know that God is using your pain to develop you. He is the potter and you are the clay. Though painful, your trials are working for you a far more exceeding weight in glory (2 Cor. 4:17). ~ Dr. Rick Wallace