Prophetic Words On The Cusp of COVID: Embrace Hardship

This is how we grow

On January 29th, COVID-19 became headline news in America for the first time.

On that same day, God led me to preach a message entitled “Embrace Hardship.”

I had no knowledge of COVID at the time. But God did. The words He gave me apply directly to experience we’ve all endured.

I don’t take any credit for these words. I had no knowledge of why we’d need them. But God did, so I give all credit to Him.

This is the message God gave me to deliver.

[If you would like to listen instead of read, you can download the mp3 here: EmbraceHardship.mp3]

How do you grow stronger in your faith?

I don’t mean smarter in your faith. The Pharisees were smart. They had much of the Old Testament memorized. Yet I would not call them strong when they encountered Jesus.

I don’t mean more familiar with your faith. If you want that, you can hang around Christians all the time, find plenty of familiarity in the things they say. But that doesn’t mean you’re strong.

How do you grow stronger in your faith?

I have two words for you:

Embrace hardship.

They seem like tough words, but they’re beautiful.

When I say embrace hardship, I mean any type of hardship. It could be something as small as somebody attacking you on Facebook all the way to your marriage being in trouble or the struggle you face launching a new ministry. It could be the hard work of paying your bills or watching a dear friend suffering a huge loss, where it’s hard for them, and it’s hard for you because you love them.

Embrace hardship — every kind of of hardship.

That’s how you’re going to grow in your faith.

Those who embrace are those who grow

In my high school days, I ran on the Fairmont High School Track and Field Team. I bragged about this to my wife on our first few dates. For one of our next dates, we decided to run a few miles together. I got about 400 yards before I had to stop and take a breath. I was far weaker than my high school days. I hadn’t embraced the hardship of training in a long time.

My high school has a proud tradition of winning state with our Track and Field teams, stretching back decades. There’s one reason for that. Our coach was brutal. Bob Bonk was his name.

If you wanted to grow as an athlete, you have Bob Bonk as your coach.

He was brutal with us. One of the most intense exercises went by the name of the 48 Minute Drill. In this particular challenge, we would divide those 48 minutes 8 groups of 6 minutes each. Every six minutes, we would launch around the track, running as fast as we could go. Sometimes we would run one lap, sometimes one and a half, sometimes two.

The goal was to run at your top speed consistently, every lap. Basically, we ran full-tilt, as fast as we could go, every six minutes. This pushed our bodies to their limits. If you go through this, you feel like you’re going to die. It is the most brutal workout I have ever done in my life.

It was excruciating. Coach Bonk would have us do this every week, sometimes twice a week. Absolutely brutal. Absolutely hard.

But that’s why our athletes kept winning state.

All joy

Sometimes when I read the Scriptures, I have to stop and really ask myself if I’m understanding what these words mean.

Consider James. Remember that he’s the half-brother of Jesus. He did not believe in Jesus while Jesus was alive. James only came to believe his brother was God after he saw his brother return from the dead.

James became the pastor of the church in Jerusalem. He was persecuted constantly. At one point, they seized him and took him to the top of the Temple. They commanded James to deny that his brother Jesus was God, or they would drop him off the Temple to kill him.

But James looked down and saw an audience gathering, so James began preaching the good news of Jesus. When they heard this, they threw him off the Temple. He fell and broke both legs but he did not stop preaching. He kept proclaiming salvation in Jesus’ Name alone as he lay in front of the Temple with two broken legs.

That’s who we’re going to read from. James is writing this letter to the Christians scattered about in the Roman Empire. They’ve already experienced persecution, such that they’ve been scattered throughout the land. James is a guy in a hard time writing about the Christians going through hard times, and he writes this:

“Count it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you meet trials of various kinds.” (James 1:2, ESV)

I had to look that up the phrase “all joy” in the Greek. Do you know where else that phrase is used?

When the women find the tomb of Jesus empty and they see Him alive they feel immense joy. They thought Jesus was dead. They thought it was over. They thought He was long gone. Then they found that Jesus is alive. They are overwhelmed with joy.

It’s the same phrase. Count it that overwhelming level of joy, my brothers and sisters, when you meet trials of various kinds.

We’re gonna have to stop and go through those words. Count it all joy — not some joy. Not “putting on a fake Christian happy face because I know I have to,” not “pretending that you know these things are OK, but really I’m going to be a lot happier once this trial is over.”

No, while you’re going through the trial, count it the highest level of joy, my brothers and sisters. Whatever the trial is — trials of various kinds, from a tiny Facebook attack all the way to losing a family member to your own life being threatened — could that trial be the highest level of joy.

Why? Why would we do such a thing?

“For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” (James 1:3, ESV)

It’s a really good thing to have your faith tested.

It’s a really, really good thing to have your faith tested.

Some people will do everything possible to avoid being tested. Christian parents are especially prone to sheltering their kids and keeping them from any kind of exposure to hardship. The thought of their kids hanging out with non-Christians sends them into a panic attack. They don’t want their kid’s faith tested.

Consider it all joy when your faith is tested.

That’s how you produce steadfastness.

Look at the definition for steadfastness: “the capacity to continue to bear up under difficult circumstances.” That’s an amazing phrase. The capacity to continue to bear up under difficult circumstances; endurance; being able to endure.

Do you want that ability?

Do you want to be able to bear up under difficult circumstances?

Do you want to be that strong?

Then you have to suffer. You don’t get that kind of strength any other way.

Count it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you meet trials of any kind, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness — the capacity to continually endure no matter what you suffer.

James continues:

“And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:4, ESV)

Look at the word “let.” It means you have a choice.

You’re going to go through these trials one way or the other. We’re all going to suffer hardships every single day of our life. We’re going to suffer hardships if you want your church to be healthy. You’re going to suffer hardships if you want your life to be healthy. You’re going to suffer hardships. If you want to be strong, the only way is through hardship.

You’re going to suffer. Hardships are coming. The only question is: are you going to let them have their full effect?

You can let them have a partial effect. You can let them have no effect. Or you can let them have their full effect.

And if you do let it have its full effect, then you’re perfect and complete lacking in nothing.

Or to say it another way: You already have everything you need to be perfect and complete in your faith, lacking nothing.

God is not stingy. He’s given you everything.

The question is: are you going to let the things He’s given you have their full effect?

Remember when I mentioned all the gold medals my track team won at state? I was not on those podiums. When I was in high school, I did not let those 48 Minute Drills have their full effect on me.

There were guys on the team who did. They embraced the hardship of those workouts. They saw 48 Minute Drills on the schedule and they rejoiced. They embraced that hardship.

And they were the strongest ones on the team. Invariably.

I did not embrace it that much, much to my regret. I look back and I know I could have been so much stronger. I could have been so much faster. I could have been on that podium.

I had everything. I had the opportunity, I had the same coach and the same track. I had everything those guys did. The only difference is that I did not lean into the hardship as much as they did.

I let hardship have a partial effect. I did grow faster and stronger, but not nearly as much as I could have. I did not let it have its full effect and I did not become perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. But the guys standing on the podiums holding gold were perfect and complete, lacking in nothing in that challenge.

They embraced hardship and they grew strong.

Do not neglect your training

Let me give you an example in the scripture of someone who did not embrace his hardship.

It’s not who you expect.

Paul wrote to Timothy, who he considers a son. He says to Timothy:

Do not let anyone despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love and faith and purity.(1 Timothy 4:12, ESV)

If Paul has to tell Timothy not to let anyone despise him, it means there are people in his church who despise him. They are resisting Timothy’s leadership, creating an impossibly hard situation in the church community, and Timothy is letting them.

Paul has to encourage Timothy not to let these people treat him that way.

Then Paul says:

“Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you.” (1 Timothy 4:14, ESV)

That’s such a fascinating phrase.

Timothy possesses a powerful spiritual gift. Paul knows that he has it and that he’s neglecting it. This gift was given to Timothy by prophecy when the Council of elders laid their hands on him. God gave Timothy this gift as a supernatural tool to use in leading his church.

Paul urges Timothy to stop neglecting this gift and start practicing it:

“Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress.” (1 Timothy 4:15, ESV)

In other words: embrace this hardship, Timothy. Lean into it and grow, so that everyone can see your progress.

Timothy led the church in Ephesus. He held the responsibility, but he was letting people in that church despise him because he was young. He was intimidated by them and because of that he was not using his gift.

Timothy did not let the hardship of that situation have its full effect. He was holding back out of fear and intimidation. As a result, Timothy did not grow strong.

Timothy ran from hardship and remained weak.

Paul writes another letter to Timothy a few years later, bringing the same message:

For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying out of my hands. (2 Timothy 1:6, ESV)

Paul is nearly shouting: Timothy, you have an amazing gift but you’re not using it. Start fanning this gift into flame. Don’t let the hardship keep you back. Embrace it, dive into it.

“For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” (2 Timothy 1:7, ESV)

Paul is urgent: Timothy, embrace your hardship! Don’t hold back. Using your gift will be hard. There will be resistance. Press into it, letting that hardship have its full effect on you.

The stakes are too high for you to pass up this chance to grow stronger.

This is your story

If I can summarize everything so far in six words, it would be these:

You determine how strong you grow.

How strong you are in your faith is entirely up to you.

How strong you grow in your ability to endure hardship is entirely up to you.

God is already giving you everything you need to be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. The only question is: will you let the trials you’re going through have their full effect on you?

Why hardship

Why is hardship necessary? Why can’t we have a life of ease and enjoyment? Why do we have to go through hard times? Why is this not optional?

The answer is that God does not want a weak church any more than Coach Bonk wanted a weak track team.

Imagine if we got out to the track and the coach said, “You know guys, I love you all so much. I don’t want to put you through hard times, so today we’re just going to play video games. That’s all we’re going to do. We’re just going to have a fun time. Let’s have fun.” Imagine if we did that day after day after day. Then we try to run our races.

If we do that, our team is not coming in first. We’re not qualifying for state. Nobody is winning any medals.

If we don’t embrace the hardship of the 48 Minute Drills, we’re not standing up on those podiums.

Jesus has the same words for His church. In Revelation 2, Jesus tells His church:

“Do not fear what you are about to suffer.” (Revelation 2:10, ESV)

What’s the opposite of fear?

Joy.

Count it all joy.

“Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison so that you may be tested” (Revelation 2:10, ESV)

Jesus wants His church to know: I haven’t surrendered any control. The devil has not pushed me off to the side. I’m letting him do this. I’m warning you in advance. You are going to be thrown in prison to be tested.

Or to say it another way: I’m putting you on the track. I’m giving you a brutal exercise. Run that exercise. Embrace this hardship.

“Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.” (Revelation 2:10, ESV)

What does this phrase “crown of life” mean? Jesus says it’s a gift, so it must be something good. But what does it mean?

It turns out that Jesus is not the only one who uses this phrase.

A few verses after James’ admonition to welcome our trials with all joy, he continues to say:

“Blessed is the one who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love Him.” (James 1:12, ESV)

A Crown always signifies something. Its purpose is to be symbolic. It demonstrates power. It demonstrates authority. It demonstrates wealth.

The Queen of England wears the Crown Jewels of England. When she puts that Crown on, it demonstrates to the world that she has the power and the authority to rule England in her office. If a billionaire wears a crown of gold, it demonstrates to the world that they have the wealth to do whatever they want.

If you have the crown of life, it demonstrates your power in life, your authority in life, your wealth in life.

Or if I can say it this way:

“For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Christ Jesus.” (Romans 5:17, ESV)

God does not mean for us to be brutalized by life. He does not mean for us to be conquered by life. He does not mean for us to be sitting at home, struggling, wondering, thinking that I just can’t do this.

God means for us to reign in life. Other translations say rule in life. Wear the crown of life, demonstrating that you as a believer have leaned into your hardship, you’ve grown deep in your faith and you’ve gained power in this life. You’ve gained authority in this life. You’ve gained wealth in this life.

When you read the Bible, you cannot help but find people like this. Take a look at the Apostle Paul. Technically, he’s a prisoner for much of his story. Technically, he’s an enemy of the state he is in. Yet he is ruling in life.

Paul does not bow under pressure. He’s not cowering because of the people trying to attack him or slander him. Paul stands up before governors, before kings, and he gets all the way up to the Emperor himself. Paul seizes every opportunity to boldly testify to Christ, even if he’s being accused and maligned. Paul is ruling in life, commanding every situation he’s in. Whether he is a prisoner or free, it doesn’t matter.

Paul ruled in life because he embraced his hardship. He grew strong through hardship. He demonstrated the capacity to continue to bear up under every circumstance.

Paul declares it openly:

“We rejoice in our sufferings” (Romans 5:2, ESV)

There’s that word again: joy. We count it all joy.

“We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:2–5, ESV)

This hope is not like the world’s hope. The world’s hope is guesswork. The world might hope that they get that job. The world might hope that this girl will go out with me. The world might hope that I have enough money. It might happen; it might not.

That’s not like our hope.

Our hope does not have the risk of putting us to shame. It can’t. We already have what we hope for. God’s love has already been poured into us through the Holy Spirit who has already been given to us. Our hope cannot put us to shame because God has already given us the down payment.

We rejoice in our sufferings. We embrace our hardship because this is how we grow. This is how we build endurance. This is how we build character. This is how we build confident hope.

Which means if you do not lean into your hardship, you can feel absolutely hopeless in your Christian life. You can look at your circumstances, you can look at everything coming up against you and feel absolutely hopeless.

Not because God is faithless.

But because God gave you the chance to build all the hope you would ever need and you let it go.

Building character

Embracing endurance produces character.

I’ve seen so many people in ministry whose character is terrible. When they’re up in front of people, they can seem holy and wonderful. Then you get them behind the curtains and they’re telling the most lewd, disgusting jokes. They’re embezzling money, they’re sleeping around. You know the stories. The news loves to talk about clergy people who fall.

It’s not that God failed to give them the resources to build their character and become people of integrity. God gave them everything they needed to be perfect and complete.

But if they did not embrace their hardship, they never let it produce character, and they never became people of integrity.

We run a hard race. The Christian life is not easy. What we’ve set out to do is not easy.

But we can do it. We can have the full endurance. We can have the full capability to bear up no matter what the challenge is. If we lean into our hardship, if we embrace it, if we let God work His will in us.

God’s will

Look at the life of Peter and the hardship that he faced.

Did you know he was crucified upside down? Peter did not consider himself worthy to be crucified in the same way Jesus was.

Peter wrote these words:

“Therefore, let those who suffer according to God’s will — ” (1 Peter 4:19, ESV)

How do you like that phrase? Tweet that part of the verse and see what kind of response you get. Let those who suffer according to God’s will.

“Therefore, let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.” (1 Peter 4:19, ESV)

Does God ever will for us to suffer? Again, it makes me think of Coach Bonk on the track field. We suffered according to his will. We suffered through that 48 Minute Drill according to his will because he was a good coach.

He knew what we could take. We didn’t.

He knew we had strength in us that we would never have imagined we could reach. He was a good coach, so he put us through incredible hardship. Those who embraced it became strong.

If you suffer according to God’s good will — God’s will for your good. To become strong, which is God’s good will for you, there must be suffering.

Entrust your souls to Him.

I entrusted my body to the Coach. I trusted that if I went through these hardships I would come out the other side stronger. Your entrust your soul to God, believing that if you go through this hardship you will come out the other side stronger.

God is a faithful creator. God is not faith-less. He is not off his throne. You’re not suffering because God failed. You’re going through hard times because God knows you can take it.

And if you embrace this hard time you will come out the other side stronger.

God is a faithful creator. He made you. He knows what you’re capable of, far more than you do.

And then those three keywords at the end: “while doing good.”

I said at the start you can let steadfastness have its full effect, a partial effect, or no effect. Here’s how you do that.

You get the full effect if you continue doing good in the midst of your hardship. You continue obeying God. You continue doing everything God has called you to do. You do not hold back from doing everything God calls you to do.

Do you want the partial reward instead of the full reward? That’s easy. Don't worry about doing good. Instead of trusting God, maybe you gossip. Instead of trusting God, maybe you try to solve the problem yourself. Abraham and Sarah have something to say about that. Instead of continuing to do good, maybe you don’t do anything at all. You hold back and say “I can’t do anything. It’s too difficult. I’m just going to wait until the storm is over.”

The less good you do, the less strong you will become.

If I ran around the track half-heartedly, halfway obeying the coach, but also halfway slacking off, I might grow a bit stronger. I might grow a little faster. But I won’t be anywhere near as strong or as fast as the ones who embraced hardship fully and obeyed the Coach completely.

You can let endurance have its full reward, a partial reward, or no reward.

Do you want to receive no reward? Then do evil. What did Job’s wife say? Just curse God and die. She did not grow stronger in her hardship. Job trusted God, and Job indeed grew stronger.

If you want to let steadfastness have its full effect, you continue to do good through the midst of your hardship.

The making of the beautiful

Let me share one story with you that illustrates this brilliantly.

Annie Johnson Flint is one of the most skilled and most successful hymn writers the church of God has ever known.

Her biography is called The Making of the Beautiful by a man named Roland Bingham.

Annie suffered incredible hardship in her life.

She was born as Annie Johnston, but she was orphaned when her parents died very young, so she was adopted and raised by the Flint family. They took great care of her. She had rheumatoid arthritis until she was just twisted up in bed for decades. Not merely for years, but decades.

As she was incontinent, she needed to wear diapers constantly. She suffered cancer throughout her body. She started to go blind and lose her vision toward the end of her life. She had so many boils and sores all over her body that she needed to be braced with eight pillows in bed just to give her enough comfort to get to sleep.

In that condition she wrote this:

He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater, He sendeth more strength when the labors increase; To added afflictions He addeth His mercy, To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.

When we have exhausted our store of endurance, When our strength has failed ere the day is half done, When we reach the end of our hoarded resources Our Father’s full giving is only begun.

Fear not that thy need shall exceed His provision, Our God ever yearns His resources to share; Lean hard on the arm everlasting, availing; The Father both thee and thy load will upbear.

His love has no limits, His grace has no measure, His power no boundary known unto men; For out of His infinite riches in Jesus He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again.

It would have been so easy for her to grow angry at God.

She could have done what Job’s wife said — curse God and die because of the hardship she was suffering.

Instead, the harder her life became the more she pressed into Christ, the deeper she grew in her faith, and the more beautiful she became.

Her faith grew strong.

She let endurance have its full effect.

How we grow

Remember the question I opened with: How do you grow stronger in your faith? Not more knowledgeable, not more familiar? How do you grow stronger in your faith?

You embrace hardship.

That’s what Annie Johnston Flint did.

The harder her life became, the stronger, stronger, stronger her faith became.

Let’s pray.

Father in Heaven,

Thank you for the riches of your word. Thank you for the overwhelming and unavoidable presence of your Spirit. Thank You that You are constantly working in our lives. Thank You that You’ve given us every single thing we need to grow strong, and that You have given us everything we need to let steadfastness have its full effect.

Thank You for giving us everything that we need to grow in our endurance, to grow in our character, to be consumed with confident hope that carries us through every difficulty.

Thank You for lavishing these riches on us.

And we ask you God for the grace to take them to receive them, to run. We ask for the grace that we will not avoid our hardship, that we will not sit on the sidelines of the track and let everybody else run while we complain about it. No, I pray that we will dive into this, that we will charge forward, that we will embrace this hardship, that we will grow stronger and stronger and stronger through everything we face.

For then we will be a strong, strong church.

Not for our sakes, but for Yours. Not for our names, but for the glory of Your Name.

And so we ask this all in Jesus name.

Amen.