How many of us Christians are excited about fasting? “Oh, yea Lord! I’m so happy about going on a forty-day fast. No Big Macs. No pie. Just water and nothing for the next one hundred and twenty meals!”
Give me a break, will you?
Or how many of us Christians are enthusiastic about being thrown into prison for our faith? “Hooray! I’m looking forward to Bubba and the boys showing me a good time behind bars. Maybe, I can write an inspirational book!”
Yeah, right!
Or what about being tortured? “O Lord, along with flogging, could you let me have lots of waterboarding? Please!”
I don’t think so, do you?
So, how do we handle these unpleasant possibilities? By His abundant grace. Period.
The Lord will never ask us to undergo any hardship without His first supplying us with enough grace to endure whatever we are going through…all the way to the end.
Now, don’t go expecting the grace to drop on you ahead of time. It won’t. Sufficient grace is waiting for you in the hardship. There it will cloak you and comfort you. This awesome grace is what Paul referred to as “the fellowship of His sufferings” in Philippians 3:9.
How do we prepare ourselves?
This is the perfect time to memorize, meditate on and believe the following scriptures to the nth of our abilities:
And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weakness so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)
Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)
This post was inspired by ransom33’s honest comment on That’s Not The Jesus I Know.
Larry Who 
Thank you Larry.
It is so true that Jesus provides us with the grace that we need to face turbulent times and tests in our lives. The Apostle Paul experienced this to a huge degree. No man could have ever gone through what he did, were it not for that supernatural strength, for the grace granted to Him to get through it all.
The reason I am scared to ask Jesus to take me to a deeper level is because I have literally just experienced his refining fire through a very painful experience, and although one always comes out better for it, I won’t lie to you, I am exhausted.
The day when I am going through unbearable pain and hurt again and right in the middle of it I ask Jesus to take me even deeper, further in the journey towards Him, will be the day when I will tell myself and the world that I can finally call myself a true Christian.
ransom33
ransom 33,
You are a true Christian.
Acknowledging that there is pain and suffering in walking with the Lord is just being real, instead of acting like a fluffy believer with his eyes closed.