This is more than victory. This is a triumph so complete that we not only have escaped defeat and destruction but also have destroyed our enemies and won plunder so rich and valuable that we can actually thank God for the battle.

How can we be “more than conquerors”? We can receive from the conflict a spiritual discipline that will greatly strengthen our faith and establish our spiritual character.

Temptation is necessary to establish and ground us in our spiritual life. It is like the fierce winds that cause the mighty cedars on the mountainside to sink their roots more deeply into the soil.

Our spiritual conflicts are among our most wonderful blessings, and the Adversary is used to train us for his own ultimate defeat.

The ancient Phrygians of Asia Minor had a legend that every time they conquered an enemy, they absorbed the physical strength of their victims and added to their own strength and bravery.

And in truth, meeting temptation victoriously doubles our spiritual strength and weaponry.

Therefore it is possible not only to defeat our enemy but also to capture him and make him fight in our ranks.

The prophet Isaiah tells of “fly[ing] upon the shoulders of the Philistines” (Isaiah 11:14 KJV). These Philistines were their deadly foes, but this passage suggests that they would be able not only to conquer the Philistines but also to ride on their backs to further triumphs.

Just as a skilled sailor can use a head wind to carry him forward, by using its impelling power to follow a zigzag course, it is possible for us in our spiritual life, through the victorious grace of God, to turn completely around the things that seem most unfriendly and unfavorable.

Then we will be able to say continually, “What has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel” (Philippians 1:12).

Early sailors believed the coral-building animals instinctively built up the great reefs of the Atoll Islands in order to protect themselves in the inner waterway.

He has shown these organisms can only live and thrive facing the open ocean in the highly oxygenated foam of the combative waves.

It is commonly thought that a protected and easy life is the best way to live.

Yet the lives of all the noblest and strongest people prove exactly the opposite and that the endurance of hardship is the making of the person.

It is the factor that distinguishes between merely existing and living a vigorous life.

Hardship builds character.

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him (2 Corinthians 2:14).

We cannot expect to learn much of the life of trust without passing through hard places. When they come, let us not say as Jacob did: “Everything is against me!” (Genesis 42:36).

Let us rather climb our Hills of Difficulty and say, “These are faith’s opportunities!”

I would not lose the hard things from my life, The rocks o’er which I stumbled long ago, The griefs and fears, the failures and mistakes, That tried and tested faith and patience so.

I need them now: they make the deep-laid wall, The firm foundation-stones on which I raise— To mount therein from stair to higher stair— The lofty towers of my House of Praise.

Soft was the roadside turf to weary feet, And cool the meadows where I fain had trod, And sweet beneath the trees to lie at rest And breathe the incense of the flower-starred sod;

But not on these might I securely build; Nor sand nor sod withstand the earthquake shock; I need the rough hard boulders of the hills, To set my house on everlasting rock.

ANNIE JOHNSON FLINT

Crises reveal character: when we are put to the test we reveal exactly the hidden resources of our character.