Iam Ready

God has planned and provided for us to have complete and lasting victory during our trials, even in the face of death. He hasn’t promised that we would never know pain and sickness, never face persecution or suffer hardships. On the contrary, we know that “…all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12). Jesus said, “In the world, ye shall have tribulation…” (John 16:33). We know that our faith is going to be tested and tried, but He has promised us victory in every circumstance we face.

Paul told the Corinthians: “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9, NAS).

The Apostle Paul faced circumstances that were beyond his strength to endure, even to the point of despairing for his own life. He told the believers in Corinth:

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us. (2 Corinthians 1:8-10, NIV)

Paul did not moan, groan, and complain about the hardships he suffered. He did not question why God allowed these things to happen to him. He knew God was in control of his circumstances.

Paul was not shaken by the hardships and sufferings he endured. He was not trembling and afraid of what Satan might use to try to defeat him. He didn’t say, “Satan just about got me that time. I just barely made it. I’m so weak and tired. I just don’t know how I’m going to make it.”

No, he didn’t say that. Something had been forged deep within his spirit. He knew that God had provided victory for him in the present. He said, “He will deliver us.” He knew that regardless of what he might face, God had provided victory for him in the future. He said, “On Him we have set our hope that He will continue to deliver us.”

It was knowing that God had provided victory for him in the past, present, and future, that enabled Paul to face death without fear in complete victory. As he was preparing to die, he said, “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand” (2 Timothy 4:6).

He wasn’t afraid of any of the circumstances he would face. He said, “Iam ready.”