The way you handle adversities will break you or make you. We need to know that God is in complete control of our lives. Problems can either defeat us or make us stronger. It's up to you!

When the troubles of life attack you remember that you are not the victim, you are the Victor!

26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our distress. For we don't even know what we should pray for, nor how we should pray. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.
27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God's own will.
28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

1. First you need to seek the Lord
2. You need a Vision of His Rewards
3. There are practical things to do in order to keep on track to your Rewards
4. You to know where you will receive the Rewards

Illustration
We need to have the right perspective of life. Life is too short to be wasted in things that don't matter.

Some people when they go on vacation, they get to the hotel room and they unpack everything. They take it all out of the suitcase and put it into those bureaus. I think I did that once when I was staying in the same place for three weeks. But if I'm only going to be around for a week or a few days, I don't even bother to unpack. I just leave everything in the suitcase and when I need it, I just take it out.

A. THE ORIGINS OF A DEFICIENT CHARACTER

1. We have 3 Sons of Zeruiah. It's not common to have the name of the mother instead of the name of the father.
2. Zeruiah means cracked or licked, or wounded, her three sons are representations of people who have been wounded or cracked.
3. The key of the problems in these people is upon the name of the mother. We have people under our leadership that look good but they have problems in their foundation. Those cracks will become brakes.
1- JOAB - JEHOVA IS MY FATHER
The first son is Joab = Jehova as father. Joab he had all the conditions to succeed. He should have ben a man who valued his relationship with the father.

1. Deception is something that exposes a character flaw. Joab was willing to enter into deception in order to do things in his own way. A white lie is still a lie. (2 Samuel 14:1-3)
2. (V.22) Joab had a lack of affirmation in his life. Probably the father left the mother and that's why she named him like that. You need to identify the people that are always trying to get affirmation. When we do what we should do we receive the affirmatin of the father
3. Joab had no sense of loyalty. Everybody knew about his lack of loyalty. Somebody that has more loyalty to himself than to the members of the team there is a lack of loyalty and a serious crack in his character. (2 Samuel 18:11-13)
4. (v.14) Now he gets into disobedience. David told him not to kill him.
5. (2 Samuel 20:9,10) Now they where doing anything. He started with deception and end up with murder. He died holding on to the horns of the altar. Some people when it's already to late is when they try to get to God.

2- ABISAI - FATHER OF THE GIFT

1. Abisai means Father of the gift. Some people posess grea gifts but because of lack of submission they never walk in the anointing. David had to rebuke Abisai constantly because he was always walking in the flesh.
2. Abisai had gifts but he didn't walked in the Spirit.

3 - HASAEL - GOD AS FASHIONED
1. Hasael means God has made or fashioned. Hasael was to confident is his capacities and tried to defeat an enemy to big for him.
2. A lot of people that work in intercession they challenge principalities and powers and suddenly all hell gets loose on them. You need to face the principalities of the neighborhood before you defeat the principality of the city.
3. The devil knows where your soft spot is. He died with a sword on his stomach wish was his soft spot. Hasael was too young and too inexperient to go after a general.

So we have these three brothers and none of them succedded. When we look at them they all where killed and never had success. The end result was always bad.

B. HOW CAN WE DEVELOP OUR CHARACTER?

Let's know speak about some different issues in our character and development.
John 12:20
20 Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. "Sir," they said, "we would like to see Jesus." 22 Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.
23 Jesus replied, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

1. Jesus was in a different conversation then these individuals. The seed must be planted in the soil. This means that you have to die for your desires. As long as our flesh is alive you will never experience multiplication.
2. The seed doesn't die but only the outter shell dies. If the seed was completely dead you'll had to resurect them.
3. We need to developour character by denying our nature and changing into a new nature.

Inspired in message by Joel Stockstill

1 Samuel 15:17
17 Samuel said, "Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel.
A. Saul and the spirit of intimidation
1. Saul, the first king of Israel, struggled with a spirit that plagues even men who have accomplished great things: the spirit of intimidation. This spirit of timidity, fear, and inferiority leads to all types of destructive behavior.

1. Here began a feud that was to cost countless lives throughout succeeding centuries. Esau's descendants, the Amalekites, were the first enemies to obstruct the flight of Jacob's descendants from Egypt (Exod. 17:8). Bloody battles were fought between the two nations in the centuries that followed. It was Herod, of Esau's race (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 14:1, Section 3), who had the male infants of Bethlehem slain in an effort to destroy the Christ Child (Matt. 2:16).