“…Now He has promised, ‘Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.’ The words ‘once more’ indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain.” -Hebrews 12:26-27

Have you ever felt like literally everything in your life is in turmoil? I have days where I think that “excruciatingly stressful and painful” is just my life now because so much is whirling around my head when it comes to business, family, relationships, finances, or you name it. But in Hebrews 12, God is telling us WHY there are times like these.

Have you ever heard of a Navy SEAL who didn’t have to go through BUD/S training? I’ll answer that for you. No. You don’t hear about pro athletes who do not endure entire lives of discipline and training.

A life of faith is the same as we grow toward God. He has to strengthen us and build us. He shakes our worlds to remove the things that can be shaken away — the people who are not committed, the extraneous life clutter, the things that distract us from his mission.

“Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all.” – Hebrews 12:7-8

What if it was that easy? What if, in that faith we talked about in Hebrews 11, we could just find it in ourselves to say, “Okay God. Keep training me for this race.”?

The more challenging it gets, the more holding on to your faith and trudging through it will bring a reward. That’s God’s promise, and He will keep it.

“God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?” – Numbers 23:19