Job 23: 10
‘But He knoweth the way that I take: when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.’

DAILY READING – 1 John 1; 2 Chronicles 34; Psalm 89:19-37

In the 1960s, the atheist government of the Soviet Union worked hard to destroy Christianity in their nation. One of the methods they applied was to plant their agents in the leadership of the Churches. Pastors were required to cooperate with the agents of the Soviet secret police called the KGB, and submit to their regulations. The Pastors who refused to submit to these government agents were sentenced to prison.

Pastor Joseph Bondarenko was one of the courageous Church leaders who refused to compromise. As a result, he was listed among the KGB’s most wanted criminals. He was arrested three times and served a total of nine years in prison.

However, being put into prison only gave him the opportunity to preach to as many prisoners as he could, leading many of them to Christ. The government officials were infuriated to realize that in trying to punish Joseph Bondarenko, they had only made his ministry work easier by putting him right in the midst of spiritually hungry men. Therefore, for every new prisoner that turned to Christ, they punished him. He was beaten, spent long periods of time in dark dungeons of solitary confinement and was transferred from prison to prison. The KGB colonel promised Pastor Joseph that he would rot to death in prison and repeated attempts were made to kill him. Yet, God’s grace prevailed over Pastor Joseph and he was able to miraculously escape the plots to assassinate him.

As Christians continued to pray, in the late 1980s, the collapse of the Soviet Union began. The full collapse of the Atheist system came in 1991, bringing to an end the 70-year period of severe persecution. Many of the imprisoned Christians gained their long-awaited freedom, including Pastor Joseph. The period he served in jail rather than diminish him had served to expand the scope of his ministry. His time in prison had brought joy and spiritual freedom to many of the prisoners.

Indeed, when we sincerely serve God, our tribulations will often end in jubilation. The fire that was meant to destroy you, God will use it to increase you. When the three Hebrew boys, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, refused to bow and compromise their faith in God, they were bound and thrown into a fiery furnace. Interestingly, the only thing the fire burned off were the cords that were holding them bound. The fire that was meant to kill them only ended up destroying their bondages and limitations, and they eventually came out of their fiery trial, as better and greater men who were elevated to higher positions in the society.

The same God that delivered the three Hebrew boys from the fiery furnace indeed knows how to deliver us from the fiery trials of life. By His grace, the things that were meant for your destruction will be turned around for your construction. While the enemy thought he was persecuting you, you were only being purified by the fire to come out better and stronger.

Though it had looked like tribulation, it will only eventually work out for your good, and the Lord shall be glorified through your testimony. Indeed, the greater the test, the sweeter your testimony will be.

Genesis 50:20 shows what God can do with something meant to harm you. He can not only protect you in it, but He can also promote you through it. The exact thing Joseph’s brothers had meant to cause him harm was the thing God used to promote him to his destiny.
When you are a covenant child of God, where you were meant to perish, you will only end up flourishing. Where you were meant to stumble, you will end up soaring.

God is indeed faithful to those who refuse to compromise their faith and choose to serve Him even in the face of difficulties. When you refuse to bow to the pressures of the enemy and continue to honor God in your life, you can be sure that He will in turn honor you. You cannot walk in His grace and end up in disgrace.

No matter how difficult or tight any situation you may face, God has the capacity to turn it around for you. Indeed, God knows how to make a way of escape for us out of every fire of trial and temptation.

1 Corinthians 10:13 says, ‘God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape’.

Indeed, there is no closed case with God. He is the way-maker and miracle-worker. There is no situation God cannot turn around for you when you stay in faith and praise. In this season, as we continually fill our hearts with the Word of God and stay strong in praise, we will surely soar above all trials and rise to greater heights of destiny.

PRAYER
Lord, I thank You for Your continual faithfulness in my life. I truly want to bless You for Your marvelous helps in all my endeavors. Even right now, I know that Your amazing grace is working in my life to turn every test into a testimony for me in Jesus’ name.

QUOTE
The test you are going through in life today is not for your destruction, it is for your testimony. – WORDBITE 222