So You Want To Be a Gem for Jesus?

"Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." (2 Timothy 3:12)
"So often, I find myself praying to avoid pressures and problems and persecutions. "Oh, Lord, help me not to go through that." But in reality, it is the tribulations and pressures and problems that Satan hurls at me or the world heaps on me, it is those pressures that produce in me Christ-like qualities. There really is no other way. If you want to be like Jesus, man, you're going to have to go through hard times. "Oh, I want to be a gem for Jesus," you say. "I want to be a diamond in the kingdom." Do you know what a diamond really is essentially? It's a chunk of worthless coal that has undergone tremendous amounts of pressure over numerous years and a whole lot of heat. And the pressure over the years, combined with the heat, converts a lump of coal into a diamond. So if your heart is, "I want to be a gem for Jesus. I want to shine brightly. I want to reflect your light, Lord." Then know this. There just is no other way than to go through pressures, heat, fiery trials over great lengths of time. There is NO OTHER WAY. I wish there was, but there aint. Peter talks about our faith being purified by the fiery trials that we go through. James, therefore, in chapter 1, tells you and me, "Count it all JOY when you go through these trials." But see, I know that in theory, but I find myself still praying, " Lord, I don't want to deal with that. Lord, I don't want to go through that. Then I say, "Lord, get me out of that situation, please. Lord, help me." But in reality, such a prayer is unwise because it really then hinders the work the Lord was doing in me through those difficulties. More and more gang, listen carefully, here. More and more, I'm discovering this. I am praying less and less "Lord, help me YOURSELF." It's no longer, "Help me yourself" but more "Lord, HELP YOURSELF TO ME."
(A segment of Jon Courson's sermon on 2 Thessalonians from www.blueletterbible.org)