The Bottom Line, Ministries Christian News, Articles, & Poetry 
Many of you are experiencing very difficult times. Some are going through extreme financial hardship. Others have fatal illnesses. Emotional struggles have gone off the chart. Suicide and depression are at a historic high. There is a spiritual battle happening all around the world. World events are chaotic with wars, demonstrations, and governmental corruption making headlines. With all of these things, we all could use a big dose of encouragement.
The Bible offers many words of encouragement in this life, and the spiritual life to come. If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your one and only Savior you have much to look forward to. John 6:33 Jesus says, “In the world you will have tribulation, but I have overcome the world.” “Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord, your labor is not in vain”(1 Cor 15:58). In 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 we further read, “So we do not lose heart…For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
Word of encouragement and hope extend beyond this earthly life. “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens”(2 Cor. 5:1). The apostle Paul who wrote these words was a tentmaker by profession, and many of the people of his time lived in tents. This is a comparison between living in a tent on earth and dwelling with God in heaven. Jesus has gone to prepare a place for you. He says in John 14:1-3, “Let not your heart be troubled…In my Father’s house are many rooms…I go to prepare a place for you. I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am there you may be also.”
When that time comes and your physical, or emotional state may be too much to bear, the words of 1 John 3:2 promise relief: “…we know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” and he “will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body…”(Philippians 3:21).
In heaven God “will wipe away every tear from your eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things will have passed away”(Revelation 21:4).
Will you be one who experiences no more physical pain or emotional distress? You can be by calling upon Jesus for your deliverance and salvation.
God’s words says it all. The promises are sure. We need to take our eyes off the gains of the temporary goods this life offers as it’s values deplete quickly. We put our energy into a ‘carrot on a stick’ mentality striving for those things that cannot satisfy.
Putting our trust in the eternal things that God offers us because of the Savior, frees us from the earthly appetites as our minds are redirected to the things that will not pass away in the heavenly realm.
This world brings all those struggles and sufferings that we encounter, but praise the Lord it is a temporary existence.
I know people may question how turning to Jesus can change their circumstances but it really does. Only He has the answers because He is the answer, not only for life here but everlasting life with no more pain, and shame.
Thank you for sharing His word that is Bread for our mind and heart.
Well said, thank you John.
Blessings~