To be great at anything, one must go through trials and tribulations. A good example is Michael Jordan. For him to go down one of the greatest basketball players of all time, he had to go through hard tests. He had to go through very tough and dirty Detroit Pistons team to win his first championship. Detroit Pistons made him reach deep within and ask himself how bad I want to win this championship. That is what we all must do for our successes.

            In this fallen world, sin has created a lot of obstacles. Some of the obstacles are from our fallen nature and some are from the devil and his desire to see us fail. For us to be successful, we must go through these obstacles.

1 John 5:4-5, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”

            We can only overcome these obstacles through our faith in Jesus. Remember what Jesus said in John 16:33, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” For us to be success, we must be grounded in Jesus and His word. From that grounding we get the faith necessary to overcome our obstacles.