Faith, Endurance and Life.

The scriptures teach that every Christian will face many trials and disappointments in this life and He promises to deliver us from them all. "Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivers him out of them all" (Psalms 34:19). However, we must understand, our deliverance and victory may not always mean the immediate alteration of our circumstances. God may not always choose, or be at liberty, to change some external circumstances immediately. Instead, He will change YOU internally so that you can "endure" the circumstances. This is what Paul meant when he said he could be "content" regardless of what state he found himself (Phil. 4:11). Despite our circumstances, we can have victory and peace in our heart, with the patience to endure until He alters our situation.

One Christian wife cried continually to the Lord about her alcoholic husband. She could not bear the continual heartache, the strife and embarrassment. She urgently prayed that God would transform the man and heal her marriage. God also wanted to change that man, but He will not force anyone to serve him. So since the wife had no biblical grounds for divorce, she had to learn to endure and be patient for God to deal with the husband's heart. In this situation, her deliverance came internally as the Lord relieved her burden. He protected her from physical abuse and gave her peace and joy in her heart. Today her husband has still not turned to the Lord, but her peace and joy is no longer postponed to a future time when he might change. She lives each day in victory -- with God's peace and joy rooted firmly in her heart.