You speak of ungodly powers and continuous hurdles, and you ask the Lord to step in. This is good, for you recognize the warfare. But do not imagine that in this combat you can live at ease. No one who strips for the contest and anoints himself thinks of resting while the battle rages. The season for rest is not now; this is the time for toil and labor. You have strong arms if you will use them: a contrite heart, sobriety, vigilance. These are God’s gifts, and they are better than a swift removal of trials.
I say to you, ask not chiefly for the lifting of the affliction, but for the fortitude to endure it nobly. The Commander stands ready to help, and He has given you armor. But you must handle it well. Do not be like those who receive the word carnally, looking only at what is before their eyes and desiring immediate comfort. That is understanding carnally. Look instead with the eyes within, into the spiritual meaning: that this very tribulation is allowed to train you, to make you sober and awakened, that you may sustain the savage phalanx of the unseen ones.
Recall the example of our Lord’s own mother, who for no crime was exiled into a barbarian land, enduring a long journey of affliction right from that holy birth. Thus you see that temptations and plots accompany all spiritual things. So when you suffer these incurable ills and countless fears, do not be greatly troubled, nor say, “What can this be? I ought to be crowned, not crushed.” Bear it all, knowing that this is the order of the heavenly warfare.
Let your household therefore be a training-ground. Surround yourself with godly companions who will admonish you, and put away softness and remissness. If any man hath thorns, let him cast the fire of the Spirit among them. If the soil of your heart is hardened by long pain, let that same fire soften it. Attend to the word with careful hearing and continual recollection; do not lie exposed as a wayside for every plundering thought. Then, even if not at once, by degrees you shall see a harvest.
The battle is grievous, yes, against principalities, against powers. But the warfare is good, and you are enlisted under a King who cannot be conquered. Stand firm, then, and do not seek to lay down your arms while the enemy is still in the field. For if you endure, the time of rest will come, and no one will snatch the crown from you.