Pastor Ortiz opens by reminding us that every believer encounters pain and hardship—those trials can shake our faith and make us wonder if God truly cares. Yet just as a seed must be buried, crushed, and weighted down before it can break through the soil and bear fruit, our difficulties serve God’s purpose of deepening our roots in Him.

The Spirit’s Compassionate Intercession (Romans 8:26–27)
Too often we tackle our struggles with purely practical solutions—money for financial woes, counseling for marriage strife, discipline for family breakdowns—while overlooking their deeper spiritual purpose. Paul tells us we don’t even know how to pray as we ought, but the Holy Spirit groans alongside us, interceding with unutterable yearnings. This isn’t because God needs to learn our needs—but so that we might learn His heart. When our prayers align with God’s will, even our unspoken cries are woven into His great design.

Trusting God Beyond Our Effort
Ortiz illustrates this with the disciples’ fruitless fishing after Jesus’ death: experienced fishermen found no catch until they obeyed Jesus’ simple command to cast the net on the other side. Their skill didn’t save the day—listening to the risen Lord did. Likewise, our trials teach us to stop relying on our own strength and start trusting in divine guidance.

All Things Working Together (Romans 8:28)
“Everything works together for good” isn’t a promise that life will always feel good, nor that our comfort won’t be disturbed. It means that every loss—of loved ones, health, jobs, trust—is woven into God’s puzzle, cooperating to shape us more like Christ. Satan himself is only a tool within God’s sovereign plan, limited to what God allows.

Valuing Christ Above All (Philippians 3:8–11)
Paul counts every hardship, every loss, as worthless (“dung”) compared to knowing Christ. The pain we endure draws us nearer, teaches us dependence, and reveals His power to overcome even death itself. Ortiz points to testimonies of cancer remissions as glimpses of resurrection power at work today, deepening our faith for the next trial.

Fellowship of Suffering
Suffering isn’t just an obstacle to God; it’s the very path by which we learn to love Him more deeply. As Christ endured sorrow and grief, we too enter into a fellowship of suffering that forges trust, vulnerability, and intimacy with our Shepherd. Those who have walked valleys alongside us become reminders of God’s presence—and so does our God Himself, interceding for us moment by moment.

Conformed to His Image (Romans 8:29–30)
Predestination isn’t about a predetermined roll call of who’s saved, but about being destined to become like Jesus. Salvation isn’t merely rescue from hell or enrollment in a church; it’s being shaped into the likeness of God’s Son—learning to say “Not my will, but Yours” even in the garden of our despair.

No Condemnation—Only Intercession (Romans 8:33–34)
In courtroom terms, God’s elect are justified—no charge can stand against them. Christ, who died and rose again, now sits at God’s right hand, ever pleading our case. Even as Satan accuses, Jesus prays for us: not to escape every trial, but to share in His sufferings and emerge more like Him.

The Choice of the Will
Ortiz closes by challenging us: Will we fight God’s winds—like Samson’s doomed rebellion—or will we set our sails to His will, trusting that even the fiercest storm is directed by the Captain of our souls? If God is for us, who can be against us? Let us embrace our hardships as divine pruning, drawing nearer to Christ and discovering that, in His hands, every trial becomes a stepping-stone to glory.