Even if we know that men of God, servants, prophets, kings, apostles, and the Lord Jesus Christ most of all, bore troubles so severe as to cry out “Abba, Father, why have you forsaken me? ” we too, when thrown into moments of helplessness even to a much lesser degree but no less wrenching it seems, can feel “na parang nag-iisa lang...,” as Raul de-Asis Hipe shared during a Sabbath message on June 26, 2010.

Being stoned, starved, shipwrecked, exiled, imprisoned, thrown into a pit, torn apart, would make one think, here I am doing the mission of the LORD God, not any crime but I am met with all this... 
Yet also it is when we really listen to what these men and women of God spoke and wrote, those who went through severe troubles, that the most reassuring words come. They soar as magnificent praise to the Almighty... recognizing beyond words the work He is making of us, “more precious than gold that perishes...”

“I will bless the LORD at all times;
His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul shall make its boast in the LORD;
The humble shall hear of it and be glad.
Oh, magnify the LORD with me,
And let us exalt His name together...

“Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good;
Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!...

“Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
But the LORD delivers him out of them all.
He guards all his bones;
Not one of them is broken.”
 
-David, after fleeing from Abimelech, Psalms 34:1-3, 8, 19-20 NKJV ©1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc.

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. –letter of apostle Paul to the Romans, ch. 8:35-39

CLICK ON THE LINKS below to LISTEN TO THE PODCAST or DOWNLOAD THE MP3 FILE to understand the glorious intricate work the Almighty is making of our inward heart, allowing trials which alone can test the level of our trust, faith, maturity and how committed are we to that pearl of great price, the Kingdom of GOD...

WHAT TO BE IN TIMES OF TROUBLE... (mp3 :: 8.23MB)