{"id":526,"date":"2015-04-25T13:10:59","date_gmt":"2015-04-25T13:10:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=526"},"modified":"2015-04-11T13:29:48","modified_gmt":"2015-04-11T13:29:48","slug":"adversity-provides-opportunities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=526","title":{"rendered":"Adversity Provides Opportunities"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"20\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Prodigal:\u00a0 Help!\u00a0 Help!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Me:\u00a0 I am here to help.\u00a0 What have you got yourself into?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Prodigal:\u00a0 I am trapped and stuck.\u00a0 I have been all day.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Me:\u00a0 That sounds like a long day to be stuck like that.\u00a0 I will help you down now though.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Prodigal:\u00a0 It was a very long day and wasted.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Me:\u00a0 Well not all adversity is wasted.\u00a0 In fact it can provide opportunities.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Prodigal:\u00a0 I want to hear how adversity can provide opportunities!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

David Jeremiah in his book Turning Toward Joy discusses the life of Paul.\u00a0 One paragraph that I felt was encouraging I will share below.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Apart from his imprisonment, there would have been no way Paul could have approached the highest dignitaries in the palace in Rome.\u00a0 We know that some of them became Christians because of the final word of Paul in this letter.\u00a0 He referred to “the saints…who are of Caesar’s household” (Phil 4:22).<\/strong><\/p>\n

For twenty-four hours a day he was chained to a Roman soldier.\u00a0 Every six hours the shift changed, so Paul had four prospects for salvation every day of the week.\u00a0 During his two-year imprisonment, he would have been able to engage in almost three thousand witnessing opportunities with Rome’s top military personnel.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Adversity.\u00a0 How many hours are you feeling it today?\u00a0 Praise God that it probably is not 24 hours like Paul went threw.\u00a0 I know, you are probably thinking it feels like 24 hours.\u00a0 I know the adversity is tough today.\u00a0 I know you are thinking, I am not Paul.\u00a0 I have a hard time speaking and witnessing.\u00a0 You are right.\u00a0 You are not Paul and chances are you are not chained to Roman guards.<\/p>\n

What God wants to show you though, is that someone is watching your adversity.\u00a0 Someone that you would not have been in contact with if it was not for your adversity.\u00a0 They need to see Christ through you.\u00a0 They need to see how God upholds you through the adversity.\u00a0 So don’t be weary and give your burden to Christ.\u00a0 Don’t forget God can use this adversity in ways that you cannot imagine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Philippians 1:13\u00a0 So that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jennifer Van Allen<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

www.faithincounseling.org<\/p>\n

www.theprodigalpig.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Prodigal:\u00a0 Help!\u00a0 Help!   Me:\u00a0 I am here to help.\u00a0 What have you got yourself into?   Prodigal:\u00a0 I am trapped and stuck.\u00a0 I have been all day.   Me:\u00a0 That sounds like a long day to be stuck like that.\u00a0 I will help you down now though.   Prodigal:\u00a0 It was a very … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nAdversity Provides Opportunities - The Prodigal Pig<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=526\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Adversity Provides Opportunities - 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