THROUGH MANY HARDSHIPS AND TRIBULATIONS

"When they had preached the Gospel to that town and made disciples of many of the people, they went back to Lystra and Iconium and Antioch, establishing and strengthening the souls and the hearts of the disciples, urging and warning and encouraging them to stand firm in the faith, and telling them that it is through many hardships and tribulations we must enter the kingdom o0f God" (Acts 14:21-22 AMP)

Doing the will of God is restrictive to our sinful natures.  It rubs and squeezes out our desire for self-gratification and glory.  It flies in the face of social custom and religious traditions.  It crucifies us to the world, the flesh and the devil.  Though the labor seems hard and the path constricted, though we are afflicted momentarily, the narrow gate of obedience opens upon the glory of eternal life in the kingdom of God.  Our ears will ring with the words of Our Lord, "Well done!  Come and "enter into and share the joy--the delight, the blessedness--which you master [enjoys]" (Matthew 25:21).  Think about it.