An introduction to the book of Lamentations, focusing on grim hardships (similar to Paul's perils) Christians may face in the future.

Ecclesiastes teaches us to rejoice when times are good and to reflect soberly when times are bad. Adversity is a tool God uses to create something beautiful.

The apostle Paul endured tremendous hardship, and his example teaches that we have the ability and responsibility to choose how we let circumstances affect us.

The sufferings we go through are minuscule compared to the glory which we will receive, completely eclipsing the glory of Adam and Eve before their fall.

Affliction is a necessary aspect of life, yielding strength of character, while ease and comfort weaken us. Christ was perfected as High Priest through suffering.

In God's hands, trials and afflictions are tools to produce refined character and joy, and to move us away from worldly choices and back to His purpose.

Paul enjoins God's people to enlist as soldiers of Christ, enduring hardship, keeping themselves from the world, and putting on armor for spiritual battle.

The Bible certainly applies to true Christians, but sometimes individual verses do not apply to us at all (i.e. instructions for ministers when we are not one).

The martyrdom of Stephen had the paradoxical effect of spreading the Gospel into Gentile venues, enabling individuals like Cornelius to be added to Christ.

Paradoxically, when God seems to be silent, He is feverishly at work micro-managing what otherwise appears as insignificant details.

Some people cannot seem to realize a blessing if it slaps them across the face! Ingratitude can hold a person back in his or her relationship with God.

God uses trials to test our hearts, but He never places a trial before us to tempt us. God uses trials we bring on ourselves to draw us closer to Him.

Solomon exercised a lifetime of hard work trying to find answers, but fell short because some things are discoverable only through God's revelation.

Hard trials are not punishments from God for unrighteousness but tests of faith in which He is intimately involved to prepare us for the world to come.

Christian's lives are constantly under construction. It is this point of view that makes it easier for us to deal with both setbacks and progress.

A disciple cannot escape the kind of persecution directed against his teacher. In the wake of this kind of abuse, people can succumb to depression.

Paul's believed that there is only one gospel and used the terms 'gospel of God' and 'gospel of Jesus Christ,' teaching the same things as Jesus Christ.

Technology makes us susceptible to the 'quick fix' mentality, expecting miraculous solutions to all problems, making us susceptible to false miracles.