Stand Strong in the Lord

Enjoy!

“Be still, and know that I am God.” – Psalms 46:10

Standing still while the wind of tribulation is blowing in your life sounds like an impossible task to the natural mind. However, when your trust and faith is in the Lord, He will quiet the tempestuous places in your mind and spirit as you wait for your deliverance. In 2nd Chronicles chapter 20, when Jehosophat was grossly outnumbered by his enemies, and about to go into battle, God said, “Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord who is with you.” Jehosophat was a man of faith, and that is what it takes to wait upon the Lord. 

It takes faith to watch your child self destruct at the same time as standing on Isaiah 54:13, “All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children.” It takes faith to believe that you are going to be successful but the only job that you can find barely pays minimum wage, and at the same time believe Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

Your faith is not activated in comfortable surroundings. Click To Tweet

Your faith is not activated in comfortable surroundings. It is when there appears to be no hope, that you are going to drown amidst the waves that will not cease from their tossing to and fro that faith wins its crown. Every man and women used by God throughout the bible experienced hardships that most of us today would not be able to endure. Joseph was sold into slavery by his envious brothers, accused of attempted rape and thrown into prison. Abraham had to wait 25 years for the deliverance of Issac, and then he was asked to kill him. Moses spent 40 years in the wilderness herding sheep after being raised in the kings palace. Paul was stoned, whipped, shipwrecked, imprisoned and persecuted on every side. Each one of them remained faithful during their trials, and in the end they were elevated, re-positioned and catapulted into their destiny. Joseph became the King of Egypt’s right hand man, Abraham became the father of many nations, Moses led the children of Israel out of captivity, and Paul wrote the majority of the New Testament. 

Ephesians 2:20 says, “Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets.” A foundation is a solid ground or base upon which a building rests. Before the building is built, the foundation must go through a series of tests to ensure that it is strong enough to withstand the weight of the building. God had preordained that He was going to build his church upon the foundation of the first prophets and apostles; therefore, He had to put them through a rigorous testing process to ensure that their faith was strong enough to do so. When they were going through what they were going through, they had no idea how God intended to use their lives. Gods perspective is eternal, He is strategic, He moves by methodology, and there is a purpose behind everything that He does. I am sure the saints of old are rejoicing in heaven having full knowledge of how imperative their roles were in Gods glorious plan. 

We can learn valuable lessons from what the former prophets did and did not do during their hardships. We will never understand why the Lord allows misfortune into our lives, but one thing we do know is that once we have overcome, we can use our testimony to assist someone else enduring the same or a similar trial. Second Corinthians 1:3-4 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves received.”  Gods methodology has not changed, He is doing the same in His children now, as He did in the Old and New Testament. 

As we overcome each hardship in life, and experience the delivering power of the Almighty, not only will our faith increase, but we will be able to understand the purpose behind the adversity we endured. 

May God bless the hearers and the doers of His word.