People everywhere are going through something. With you it is one thing, with me it may be something else. But you can be sure of one thing; we all have our struggles. If you are not having any struggles, you're probably not breathing.

With some people life is too much for them to deal with. The weight of the struggles are simply too intense, and they find it impossible to maintain a consistent pace. So they give up and conclude that there is no hope. Life becomes a pale colorless existence filled with expected frustration and disappointment. They feel like no one can possibly understand them or love them. If you or someone you know feels this way, I have good news for you; "Jesus Knows What You Are Going Through."

Suffering is a universal language. Since the fall of man in the garden, all humanity has come to understand the needs that suffering brings. Like it or not, it's here. Wars, famines and natural disasters have ravaged many nations of our day. They are sent food, medicine and other relief in an effort to help them in their most acute period of need. We understand that it is humane to do everything possible to help another person in need.

But on a long-term basis, it will take a more personal ministry of comfort in the process of recovery from a misery so intense, that words fail to express it.

Jesus understands the pain and despair of a suffering soul. When we are going through a particular crisis, the best person to help us is someone who has been through the same thing. I recently attended a Breakthrough meeting with Pastor Rod Parsley. There were thousands of people pressing their way to the altar hoping for a touch from the anointed Man of God. People today are hungrier for truth and power than at any other time in history.

Then someone brought down an elderly man in a wheelchair. He was dying of terminal cancer. I can still see the pain, fear and dread on his pale sunken face as the cameras zoomed in to capture every grimace and tear that feel off his cheeks. To my surprise (and everyone else's) Pastor Parsley stopped everything and told someone to go and get his mother. You see, Ellen Parsley (his mother) was a cancer victim before she was the fiery anointed warrior that she is now. She had an enormous cancerous tumor growing in her side. It became so large that it protruded seemingly out of her skin. She was given a zero chance of survival, but she believed God, and through His miraculous power she got healed of that dreadful disease. Therefore, she was able to bring comfort and assurance to this man because she had been through the same thing herself.

This is what Jesus did in his letter to the church St. Smyrna. These believers lived in a culture where idol worship prevailed and Christianity was persecuted. Jesus sent them a message saying, "I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but a of the synagogue of Satan." (Revelation 2:9)

Jesus had not left them alone in their struggles. He had not turned a deaf ear to their cry of desperation. No! He knew the tribulation and deep poverty that they were enduring for His Name's sake. He even knew the people who were causing them trouble, and he called them exactly what they were (church full of devils). It was a great relief to find out in a personal way that Jesus knew in vivid details everything that they were suffering. Even if things did not changed, they were no longer chained to hurt and hopelessness.

The word "tribulation" literally means, "crushing beneath the weight." Jesus saw that the church of Smyrna was crushing beneath the weight of the circumstances they were going through. That's what Satan does. He brings things our way to isolate us from the hope in Christ Jesus. He wants the pressure to crush our confession of faith. But Jesus sees, He knows, He understands, and He reminds us that three trying of faith is more precious than gold.

Jesus told those believers not to fear what was about to happen to them. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:17-18.

What are you facing today? Has your clear future been clouded by some unexpected calamity? Are you crushing beneath the weight of marital disharmony, a disheartening doctor's report, ongoing financial distress, rebellious teenagers or shattered dreams? Listen friend, Jesus knows what you are going through. For we have not a High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin Hebrews 4:15.

By: Edmund Brown