Do problems strengthen you?

I personally think that problems don't strengthen you, and in this post I want to explain why.

If problems strengthened people, all of us that go through problems would be strengthened because of them. But, as you already may know, it doesn't happen that all the time. In fact, in most cases it happens exactly the opposite: people end up stressed, worried, depressed, etc.

"But I know this guy that came out strengthened out a big problem", you might think. It is a mistake to make general rules from particular cases, even if there are many cases of the same point. I could also say: "But I know this guy that came out completely devastated out a big problem", and we can fall into an endless argumentation to know who is right, when the error resides in miss-focussing the reasoning.

"The problem by itself does not destroy you nor lift you up, it just reveals what is inside of you" (Dr Edwin Louis Cole). Your decisions are based on what is inside of you.
- If you've been filling yourself up with negativism, laziness, lack of preparation, bad examples, etc., it is almost for sure that when you go through a trial you will get discouraged, frustrated, full of fear, or something similar.
- But if you've been filling yourself up with positivism, discipline, preparation, good examples, etc., it's almost for sure that when you go through a problem you will not quit, you will look for good advices, you will feel challenged, or something similar.

The problem just REVEALED what there was inside of you.

You allow what enter inside of you.

As christian, I am not agree to those that say things like: "God made me go through this problem in order for me to learn this." They think that it was God the one that made them go through a problem so that they may learn something from it or they may be strengthened by it. Biblically speaking, God does not send problems to anybody. They are already there: sometimes other people cause them, sometimes we ourselves cause them and sometimes they are there because we just allowed them to be there. What your heavenly Father does, instead, is to help you to prevent them or to get you out of them.

"Ok., God didn't send me that problem neither made me go through it, but He did use it so that His Word may be applied." Not true either. God doesn't use problems so that you may apply His Word. On the contrary, He has prepared you before hand with His Word and His presence. These two, His Word and His presence, are the only two ways in the Bible that our Father uses to teach us something.

You can be taught by your Heavenly Father directly or indirectly. It is directly when you yourself are studying the Bible, reading books, listening to teachings, and also seeking His Presence, and it's indirectly when you're being influenced by other source: a friend, a relative, a testimony, etc., which it is just the Word of God made flesh in other person, the Word in action, the Word working, but it's still the Word of God.

"He trains my hands for battle" (Psalm 18:34). Your heavenly Father is the one that gets you ready for battle, He is not the one that prepares the battle. Many battles in the Old Testament were already there; fighting them was inevitable to take to promise land. That's to say, if you want to take your promise land, battles will be inevitable, they weren't send by you heavenly Father; they were already there. But your Father will help you to overcome them!

Other people say: "If you ask God for patience, He sends you a problem so that you may obtain patience." Do problems produce patience? No, they don't! Problems do not produce anything at all, neither good things nor bad things. That patience inside of you came by other good things you were filling yourself up with in the past.

It is because of this reasoning that many people thank God for problems, others aren't determined to get out of their problems because they believe they're fulfilling a God's purpose, others are waiting for God's time to get themselves out of them, etc. A wrong believe produces a wrong behavior.

"God didn't send me problems, but He did allowed them for some reason. We must trust Him!" In order for you to trust your heavenly Father, you have to base on what His Word says. Do you find Biblical base that supports that? I'm not talking about two or three verses, but supported teaching from the beginning to the end of the Bible. You know what, you won't find it. Therefore, I recommend you to not believe it. It's not enough that you have heard it from your favorite preachers. You have to see it yourself that is supported by the Bible.

It is different to say that God turns something bad that happen to you into something good from saying that He sent that bad thing and then He turned into something good.

If you decide to believe that your heavenly Father didn't send you the problem you are going through, but He did allow it for some reason which you can't understand now, but you will later, then you will be accepting that problem in your life instead of fighting it. Remember this: God does not give you weapons so that you fight the enemies He sends you nor the ones He allows. Someone may think: Wouldn't be much better that He just doesn't send any problem in the first place!

If you're going to a problem, you have to know that your heavenly Father did not send it; instead, He will strengthen you, help you and guide you to come through victoriously from it. Do not say again: "If it hasn't been for this problem, I wouldn't obtained that blessing." Rather you say: "If it hasn't been that my Heavenly Father helped me in the middle of that problem, I wouldn't obtained that blessing."

I hope it helped you!