Here’s how to think until the trouble is over.

We all experience troubles.  Some are worse than others.

Big troubles make us think they will never end.

They will.  

“After the trouble was over” (Acts 20:1) is one of my favorite Bible phrases.  Paul was in a horrific stadium riot with thousands of people ready to kill him.  It seemed impossible to get out of.

And then, it “was over.”

Here are some ways to think “until” the trouble is over:

1.God has a plan.

Trouble, riot, and upheaval all feel crazy and out of control.  It’s not.

Paul was in a two-week storm in the Mediterranean.  It looked hopeless….until it was “over.”  He survived the shipwreck and a snakebite on the shore!

“It’s not over until it is over.”

2.  Your prayer has been answered.

It may not look like it, but your answer is coming.

You get a “confirmation” and arrival date when you order from Amazon. Then, you can relax and tell everybody when you will have it!

God doesn’t give you a date.  He says, “Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”  (Mk. 11: 24)

Go ahead and relax in prayer, at least as much as you do with Amazon!

3. Satan makes more out of it than it is.

Satan is defeated.  Christ spoiled all of the forces of darkness.  

All he can do now is frighten you into believing he has power over you, using fear.

Shrink the size of the crisis in your thinking. God is bigger than any trouble.  Start praising Him!

4. The Lord is with you in trouble.

The Son of God was in the fiery furnace with the three Hebrew men.  After the trouble was over, they didn’t even smell like smoke!

David said that when he walked through the valley of the shadow of death, the Lord was “with Him.”

He never leaves your side.  He will be right there “until the trouble is over.”

5. You will come out of this trouble much stronger.

Christ was crossing the sea of Galilee when a sudden storm threatened to sink His boat.  He rebuked the storm and stopped it.

That storm was not the will of God (many things are not).  Satan sent it for one reason:  to stop Christ from reaching the other side. There, on the other side, was a maniac filled with at least 6000 demons who Christ would set completely free.

After the trouble is over, you will be stronger.  Your faith will have grown stronger. Your sense of victory will be contagious.  Your dull, defeated countenance will become radiant.

Let’s start thinking about the day that the trouble is over.

I know it may be dark and look impossible right now.  But:

God has a plan.  Your prayer has been answered.  Satan has made more out of this than there is.  The Lord is with you, and you will emerge stronger.

You are already on the winning side!