Friend, are you going through a hard time? Are you walking through something that is a nightmare to you? Or, have you done so in the past–dealing with a situation in which you had to fight for your life, maybe even literally? No matter what your experience has been, I want to encourage you today … because God is going to use it.

God is going to use your trial for good, friend.

I’m not only talking about using it for His glory, either. He will do that, but I felt like somebody needs to hear today that God is going to use your nightmare to benefit YOU.

This doesn’t mean that He originally wanted, or that He caused, your nightmare. Especially if the situation happened as a result of someone’s sin, God did NOT cause that because God never tempts anyone to sin.

But, whether your situation happened as a result of sin (like a spouse’s adultery) or something that has nothing to do with anyone’s sin (like a bad diagnosis), friend, God is still going to use it.

And He’s going to use it to benefit YOU.

Romans 8:28 tells us this:

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28 NKJV).

I know it seems dark sometimes. You may be in the darkest place you’ve ever been in, right this very moment. And you may not see how hope is going to come; how light is going to come; how on earth life is going to be shed into your heart.

But still, my friend, the Lord promises–and He is not a man, that He should lie–He promises you that He will work it out for your good.

That means that the place you’re in right now is only a stepping stone to your promotion.

It also means that, for some reason, He needed you to have an enemy, so that you could defeat that enemy, so He can catapult you forward into the next and greater and higher thing He has for you.

And if you’re facing a big battle, that means there’s a big promotion coming.

Friend, God never sends you into a battle for you to lose.

No, in Him you are more than a conqueror:

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35-39 NKJV).

And as a CONQUEROR, just like Jesus, you are going forth conquering and to conquer.

You, my friend, are a powerful force on the earth.

The same Spirit Who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you. He is alive forevermore, and He’s alive in you. And if God is for you, who or what can be against you?

Answer: nothing and no one can be against you. Even if they look like they’re against you, in reality God is just using them to propel you forward.

Think about it:

On the earth, Jesus looked like He had a betrayer. He did, in fact, have someone who betrayed Him: Judas. However, from the Father’s perspective, the Father saw that a betrayer was a necessary part of getting Jesus to the cross.

And the cross was a necessary part of getting Jesus His inheritance of all the sons and daughters who accept Him becoming His brothers and sisters, the adopted children of the Father.

Therefore, Judas turned out, without meaning to–and without having any holiness or Lordship in his own heart–Judas turned out to be one of the best assets Jesus had, if you look at Jesus’ assets from a purely forensic, detached point of view. Jesus simply could not have fulfilled His destiny without someone to betray Him and turn Him over to the Romans, so He could redeem the world.

Friend, I don’t know what you’re going through, but Jesus does. And He says you are MORE than a conqueror.

He also says He’s working it all out for your good.

That means:

• If it isn’t good yet, God isn’t done yet.
• If you haven’t conquered yet, you’re not finished.
• If you weren’t sure if you could conquer, rest assured that you can … because Jesus lives within you, and He is doing the conquering for you and through you.

Jesus is in you, and you are in Him. And in Him, you are more than a conqueror.

So it doesn’t matter if your difficult season is big or small right now. All the challenges are going to work out well. God is using everything you are going through right now to advance you in your destiny in Him–in the good plans that He has for your life.

I know it might not look good yet, but appearances are deceiving.

The Word of God, however, is not deceiving:

“The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever” (Isaiah 40:8 NKJV).

And friend, you are going through this valley, even if it’s the valley of the shadow of death. You aren’t stopping; you aren’t living there; you aren’t even being attacked by real death. It’s only the shadow of death; the enemy is trying to scare you using shadows.

Don’t let him.

Know that, in Christ, you’re going over, not under. You’re going higher, not crashing down. And He and He alone, will sustain you.

As it says in Philippians 1:6:

“Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6 NKJV).

So be encouraged today, friend! He Who lives inside you–that same Jesus Who ever lives to make intercession for you–is working all things out for your good. Keep your eyes on Him. Thank Him and praise Him even in the storm, and He will see you through to the other shore–and that other shore will be a shore of blessing.

Did you need to hear this word today? Leave a comment below if so!