Even though it's obvious that they've been troubled by trouble so long they don't think they'll ever get out of it, they put on an air of false cheerfulness. They exclaim, "Oh, Brother Dollar, since I've been born again, I haven't had any more trouble."
Well, my brother, my sister, what kind of "born again" did you get? It couldn't have been the same one I got, because when I got born again, I was introduced to a smorgasbord of trouble.
When I got born again, trouble jumped on me before I even got out to the parking lot. Until I learned how to overcome it with the Word of God, I stayed in trouble.
We shouldn't be surprised that trouble continues to trouble us even after we're born again. Jesus told us that as long as we're in this world we will have trouble.
"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).
In the world, Jesus said, you will have tribulation, or trouble. But in me you will have peace. Peace is security in the midst of trouble or turmoil. And where does peace come from?
Jesus said peace comes from the words I have spoken unto you. So peace - security in the midst of turmoil - comes from the Word. In the world you will have trouble, but in the Word you will have peace.
Jesus and His Word are one. Therefore, He is saying here that although you live in the world, where trouble is, you can stay secure by staying in the Word.
As a born again child of God, you are still in this world physically, but you are not of the system of this world. That is, you do not operate or live your life according to the system of this world. You operate according to the system of the Word of God.
We are charged by the Scriptures to live in the Word of God. Yes, we are still in the world where trouble is, but we don't have to be troubled by trouble, because Jesus said I have overcome the world system. How did Jesus overcome the world system? With the Word.
Now the good news is this - if Jesus overcame trouble, you can overcome trouble. Although trouble comes, it doesn't have to overcome! As long as you are in this world, trouble will show up, but that doesn't mean you have to let it manifest itself in your life. You can learn to trouble your trouble so it won't be able to trouble you.
Of course, learning how to trouble your trouble is not instantaneous or automatic. But if you are diligent to find out who you are in Christ, to study the Word and to put down deep roots in it, and if you put it into practice in your everyday life, the Word of God will bear fruit in your life. You will get results.
When you learn to apply the Word to your trouble, trouble will have to flee. And then you will no longer be living in the world, where there is tribulation and defeat, but in the Word, where there is peace and victory.
Just because trouble comes, it doesn't have to overcome! You should expect the Word of God to produce supernatural results in every area of your life. When you've truly learned to trouble your trouble, every time trouble shows up you will be able to say with Paul:
"Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (2 Cor. 4:17).
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers