Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. (James 1:2–4 NLT)

On your list of things to be thankful for this season, trials may not be in your top ten. Or top one hundred. But God’s Word makes it clear that suffering and adversity are essential for our spiritual growth. And they are evidence of God’s work in our lives.

Adversity keeps us humble. Prosperity and success tend to make people proud and self-sufficient. They don’t pray with the same intensity when their needs are met.

Adversity teaches us eternal truths we would otherwise not learn. For example, it’s human nature to try to avoid pain at all costs. But pain reminds us of a deeper need. Just as hunger pangs remind us that it’s time to eat, adversity can remind us that it’s time to make an important change in our lives.

Adversity gives us a deeper compassion for others in pain. It’s been said, “If you preach to people who are hurting, you will never lack for an audience.” It’s also been said, “Success builds walls; failure builds bridges.” If you say, “Look at how great my life is! I don’t have any problems! Follow me on Instagram! Everything’s perfect!” who can connect with that? But if you talk about your failures, difficulties, and challenges, now you’re speaking the language of real people who live in the real world.

Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 1:4–5, “He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ” (NLT). If I could change history, I would choose not to endure the loss of my son. I would bring him back in a heartbeat. But I can say this: God has given me, my wife, and our son a ministry we did not ask for, but a ministry we embrace. It’s a ministry of helping others who’ve lost loved ones.

I don’t want to waste my pain. If I can offer a word of encouragement or hope to someone who’s gone through the worst tragedy imaginable, I’ll seize the opportunity. I’ll tell them that God will be with them through the pain and grief. And I’ll thank God for the ministry opportunity.

It’s easy to give thanks when your health is good, the lights are green, the sky is blue, and the bills are paid. It’s not as easy to give thanks when problems mount. But we must. Psalm 106:1 says, “Praise the Lord! Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever!” (NLT). If God ceases to be good, we no longer need to give thanks. But God will always be good, so we must always give thanks.

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We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light. For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins. (Colossians 1:11–14 NLT)

In this week of Thanksgiving, let’s take time to give thanks for God’s specific blessings in our lives. We’ll start with the greatest gift ever given, the most amazing blessing ever bestowed, and the costliest sacrifice ever offered: salvation. Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord” (NLT).

The gift begins with justification. Romans 5:1–2 says, “Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God” (NIV).

Being justified is a two-part process. The first part involves removing our sin and the punishment for that sin. Think about the things you’ve done and said that you regret or are ashamed of. If you have placed your faith in Jesus, your sins are all forgiven—and forgotten—because of Jesus’ death on the cross. In Hebrews 8:12, God promises His people, “I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins” (nlt). If you’ve asked Christ to forgive you, God will never hold your sins against you again. So there’s no need for us to bring them up again or to beat ourselves up over them. Psalm 103:12 tells us that when God forgives us, He removes “our sins as far from us as the east is from the west” (NLT).

The second part of justification involves God putting His righteousness into our account. Acts 13:38–39 says, “Brothers, listen! We are here to proclaim that through this man Jesus there is forgiveness for your sins. Everyone who believes in him is made right in God’s sight” (NLT). So, you stand before God today as a righteous person. Because of Christ alone.

God has dropped one lifeline from Heaven for us to come into a relationship with Him. Only Jesus, the Son of God, was uniquely qualified to bridge the gap between a holy God that we’ve all offended and sinful humanity. Jesus died on the cross, in our place. And it was Jesus who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me” (John 14:6 NLT). Peter put it this way: “There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12 NLT).

Jesus finished the work of salvation. Once you believe in Him, you can rest from the weight of sin, and from your fears, forever.

Salvation is a gift so precious that even the angels in Heaven celebrate it. Jesus said, “In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away” (Luke 15:7 NLT).

Let’s celebrate it too. Today, we give thanks to God for His amazing gift of salvation.

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This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armor of right living. (Romans 13:11–12 NLT)

The setting of Acts 12 is pretty bleak. Peter was in prison, chained to two Roman soldiers. King Herod had already executed James, Peter’s fellow apostle, for his Christian ministry. It was the night before Peter’s trial, where, in all likelihood, he, too, would be found “guilty” and executed. And what was Peter doing in what may have been the last few hours of his life? He was sleeping.

He was probably the only Christian in Jerusalem asleep that night. Everyone else was praying fervently for his release. So why was Peter asleep? Because he trusted in the Lord.

This isn’t the only instance of Peter sleeping in the Bible. In the Garden of Gethsemane, on the night of Jesus’ arrest, Jesus said to Peter, James, and John, “Stay here and keep watch with me” (Matthew 26:38 NLT). Jesus went off to pray, came back, and found them sleeping. “For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!” Jesus said (verse 41 NLT).

Jesus went off again, came back, and found them sleeping again. And then it happened a third time.

In Luke 9, Jesus took the same three men to a mountain to pray. While they were there, Jesus was transfigured. Moses appeared on one side of Him; Elijah appeared on the other. And Peter? “Peter and the others had fallen asleep” (verse 32 NLT).

Peter woke up and “blurted out, ‘Master, it’s wonderful for us to be here! Let’s make three shelters as memorials—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah’” (verse 33 NLT). Makes you wonder whether Elijah turned to Jesus and asked, “Who is that? Is he with You?” Or whether Jesus rolled His eyes and said, “Yes, he’s with Me.”

But in Acts 12, Peter slept a good sleep. He was at rest with the peace of God in his heart. And nothing, not even the threat of death, could rob him of that peace. But the time for rest was over. The time for action had come. With the help of an angel, Peter walked out of prison and resumed his ministry.

Paul touched on this theme of a time for rest and a time for action in Romans 13 when he said, “This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed” (verse 11 NLT).

His warning is addressed to all Christians. We need to be wide awake because time is short. We’ve never been closer to the return of Jesus than we are right now.

In our society that’s dependent on sleeping pills and tranquilizers, we can take a lesson from Peter on how to trust God. There’s a time to rest and be at peace with Him. But there’s also a time to wake up, to be bold in our faith. To allow our faith to lead us out of our comfort zone—our sleeping zone.

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