"My grace is sufficient for you" (2 Corinthians 12:7)  

If the saints were never tired, hungry or depressed, they’d never know the comfort and consolations of sustaining grace. The traveling saint who has nowhere to stay for the night, can still say, “I trust in the Lord”. The saint in prison living on bread and water can still glorify Christ. The widowed saint grieving for her husband, can still look to Christ for love. 

This, more than words, speaks of the power of regeneration and the indwelling Holy Spirit. Most people who make a “decision for Christ”, have no fruit that lasts, demonstrating that they were never supernaturally changed by God. “I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain” (John 15:16). If you don’t have Christ in you, you can’t bear lasting fruit (John 15:5). Sustaining grace, more than any other evidence, recommends the Gospel. 

"Calm mid the bewildering cry, Confident of victory." 

 Saints bear up under every discouragement, believing that all things work together for their good, and “Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing” (James 1:2-4). The master-works of God are manifested in men who have patience. The Greek word translated patience, in context, means, “staying under the Lordship of Christ”. Anyone who glorifies God can expect to weather many trials under the Lordship of Christ. If you’re on that well-worn path, rejoice in it, because your patience is the best evidence of the power of the Gospel.