"Expect Trial and Triumph in 2003"

Have you been asking, "Just how bad will it be in the New Year---Terrorist attacks---a serious economic challenge---what next? Immediately I turned my attention to II Cor 1:8 and read –

"We were burdened beyond measure, above strength then,
so that we despaired even of life"

You want to know how bad?" asked Paul. Let me tell you--- "The pressures were life threatening"

That is really bad but here’s the issue---what enabled the Apostle Paul to handle their tensions? II Cor. 1:7 states it clearly---The consolation!

"And our hope of you is steadfast, knowing that as ye are partakers
of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation."

The Greek word here is Paraclete so to catch the impact of that study John 14:16-18:

"And I will pray the Father, and "he shall give you another comforter,
that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the
world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but
ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, "and shall be in you. I will not
leave you comfortless: I will come to you."

"In times like these" we can call for the personal intervention of God the Holy Spirit to bring stability plus the ability to live above our circumstances and not under them.

If you need help on this one, discover the principle of the extreme. You will find it in Matthew 10:18-19. Now if God promised that, then the promise of II Cor. 1-7 is very believable! That leads to two conclusions:

1. I must look for evidence of the Graces of the Holy Spirit in my life (Galatians 5:22-23) and then I will know I have more than the Holy Spirit – the Holy Spirit has me and only then II Cor. 1:7 is possible.

2. Revelation 3:17 is a reminder that prosperity can put us in jeopardy Let us learn from that famous fable of the sun and the wind debating as to witch one would get the traveler to lose his coat. The wind hit 50 miles an hour in gusts. The traveler merely clutched his coat all the more. However, the sun turned on the heat and off came the coat!

What about 2003? I don’t know but I do like the line from Stuart Hamblin’s song – "I know not what the future holds but I know who holds the future." If the Holy Spirit has all of you that song will be an expression of your life. As we begin 2003 send for the cassette "When Your World Falls Apart". It is designed to reach unbelievers. For example, you’ll hear the testimony of Cheryl McGuinness whose husband was co-pilot on the first American Airlines flight to crash into the towers! As you allow the Holy Spirit to have all of you the unbelievers will see your changed life. That is what II Cor. 3:2 means when the writer says that we are the Epistle of Christ. One day Matthew Barnett, director of the Dream Center in Los Angeles, found a little boy eating out of the garbage can. After taking him back to the center he clothed him and fed him and then II Cor. 3:2 happened: The little boy looked up into Matt’s eyes and asked, "Hey, mister, are you Jesus?"