Bible Society of South Africa
Carina Francke

Your 24/7 Companion – Day 12

He in You … You Conquer in Difficulties

(Di)temana ya Bibele

JOHANESE 15

19Ge le ka be le le ba lefase, batho ba lefase ba ka be ba le rata, ba le tšea le le ba gabobona. Eupša ba le hloile ka ge ke le kgetholotše go bona gomme le se sa le ba gabobona. 20Gopolang sela ke le boditšego sona ka re mohlanka ga a fete mong wa gagwe. Ge nna ba be ntlhomere, le lena ba tlilo le hlomara. Ge ba be ba phetha tše ke bego ke ba botša tšona, tše ba di botšwago ke lena le tšona ba tla di phetha. 21Tšohle tše ba ntirilego tšona le lena ba tla le dira tšona ka ge le le ba ka, gobane yo a nthomilego yena ga ba mo tsebe.

JOHANESE 15:19-21NSO00Bula go Mmadi wa Bibele

As believers in a broken world, we too experience disappointments, sorrow and persecution. Yes, some of us even lose our jobs, houses and loved ones. In times like these, we tend to question and wonder why our 24/7 Companion does not hasten to rescue us.

Trials should not be foreign to us because Jesus, our leader, also experienced crises: “If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.” (John 15:20)

Jesus gives a few reasons: He himself was persecuted and because believers belong to the Lord and confess His name, they too will be hated and persecuted. Why? Because the world does not know God or Jesus (John 15:19,21). As seen in the trials mentioned above, life also gives us its (big) share of problems. However it may be though, one of the purposes of trials is to test the genuineness of our faith (1 Peter 1:7). Therefore, the sooner you and I accept the inevitable and learn to handle trials, the sooner we will be able to live victorious lives, despite our struggles.

You see, victory over problems that knock us down is possible. “Yet in all these we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37). The Spirit in you and me guarantees that his power will be available to us 24/7, in every circumstance. He is the Light in us who shines even in our darkest hours, who already won the victory for us and who has compassion for us. Our responsibility? To stay put in our faith in him and radiate the light of his word, thus resisting every attack of the enemy on our spirit and sound mind.

Marcelle Auclair said, “If you have to sit in a dark room you do not blame the darkness of the night. No, you take care to have a lamp available. Light a lamp in every dark corner of your heart.”

Jesus is the Light that shines through us and enables us to put the darkness to flight, so that worries and insecurity about today and tomorrow will not blur our vision of victory in him.

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