Your Need for Struggle

2 Chronicles 14:7

Therefore he said unto Judah, Let us build these cities, and make about them walls, and towers, gates, and bars, while the land is yet before us; because we have sought the LORD our God, we have sought him, and he hath given us rest on every side. So they built and prospered.

A revealing statement about King Asa’s character is said when he had rest on every side. As a could have easily rested on his laurels and enjoyed the tranquility and ease of peace, but his character was to use the time of ease to build something. Instead of sitting and doing nothing, he chose to build. The prosperity he enjoyed was because he produced something to build, and it resulted in his prosperity.

Many look for prosperity and success through ease when prosperity and success come through struggle. Prospering means more than just accumulating wealth, but it is thriving at what you are doing. A thriving work is only accomplished through the character to build. This phrase about Asa’s life reveals several principles for life.

First, there will be times you will not be at rest. Life has a way of taking the restful times away. You will find trials and heartaches will come, and financial struggles and battles will be a part of anyone’s life. Before Asa had rest, he had struggles. Don't despise the time of struggle. God is using that time to prepare you for the next stage in life. God uses the time of struggle to build your character and a trait in your life that you need to struggle to succeed. God placing struggles in your life is simply His way to developing your character to continually build.

Second, only God gives rest from the struggles. What do the struggles of life do? They cause you to come to the end of yourself to look to the One Who can help you overcome those struggles, and that One is God. Not only is God developing the character to build, but He is also developing the character to trust Him at all times. If God immediately gave us rest, there would be no need to trust Him. However, God allows us to struggle through our struggles so that we will rely on His strength to overcome the struggles.

Third, develop a cause to give you struggles when you have no struggles. It says about Asa that God gave him rest on every side. So they built. The rest time was a time to develop another struggle. Anyone who has built something knows that building does not come without struggles. Asa was developing a struggle to overcome when he had no struggle to overcome.

The key to one’s Christianity and ministry is what they do when they seem to have rest on every side. A believer’s character is weak if they choose to enjoy the rest without a struggle. However, a believer’s character is strong if they choose to build something when they find rest on every side. Many have chosen complacency in times of rest, and lost the zeal they enjoyed that came from building something for God. However, those who find something to build when they have rest on every side will find a work that thrives. A prospering or thriving work is only developed in the struggle to build. Those who live a life of ease will never know the joys of a thriving ministry because those joys come through the struggle to build. My friend, enjoy the struggles if you want to have a thriving ministry, and when you find rest on every side, produce a new struggle by building again, and it will result in a prospering or thriving work.