Adversity Moves Us Forward

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You know, the Bible is filled with many challenges. One such challenge is found in Hebrews 12:12-13. The Word says: “Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.” Adversity prods us to grow and prepares us to minister to others. Oftentimes, adversity is simply God trying to get our attention. It is God attempting to reveal to us His Will, pushing us to take a step of faith and moving us forward in our Christian life. You know, when a mother eagle builds her nest, she begins with unlikely materials such as rocks, thorns, bits of broken branches. Before she lays her eggs, she blankets her nest with feathers and fur from animals that she has killed. The soft, downy nest makes a perfect home for her eggs. Her growing young are so comfortable, when they are old enough to fly, they are reluctant to leave the nest. That’s when the mother eagle begins to stir up the nest. She uses her iron talons to rip up the inner lining of feathers and fur, revealing the broken branches and the sharp rocks underneath. The nest becomes uncomfortable for her young, prompting them to fly away and pursue the life of a mature eagle. But you know in the same way, God often stirs up our nest through adversity and difficulty, encouraging us to step out of our comfort zones and to move forward in our Christian life. Sometimes we are so hard-headed and often hard-hearted that God uses adversity, telling us to move on or to move out or to move forward in our Christian life. Remember in Matthew 10:23, Jesus was instructing His disciples and he said to them: “If they persecute you in this city, flee to another.” In other words, adversity was their indicator that it was time to leave. It was time to move forward. It was time for them to move on. Maybe you are encountering difficulty and adversity in your life and in your workplace. Could God be telling you that it is time to move on or maybe it is time for you to take a step of faith? Or maybe your life is just a mess and for you, it is simply time to come back to God and to start living for God. You see my friends, God is and He always is working. But the question is, are you listening? Maybe God is stirring your nest today and God is asking you to come back to Him. Or maybe God is asking you to take a step of faith. My prayer is that the Spirit of God will take the Word of God and change you with it today.

Blessings When We Obey

I want to share with you a very simple phrase in Deuteronomy 6 and verse 3. It says, “Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee”. It teaches me that the word of God is given for my good. And when I obey it, there are blessings. Of course, I believe the chief blessing is that we would encounter Jesus. That we would see Christ, behold Him in His glory and... Read More!

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Adversity Helps Us Understand Others

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You know, there are many reasons the Lord allows us to go through times of difficulty. One of the primary reasons is that it gives us an understanding of the needs of others. Referring to Jesus Christ, the Scriptures says in Hebrews 4 and verse 15: “For we have not an 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.” You see, experiencing adversity allows us to understand and to empathise with those who are hurting. In fact, your greatest ministry will come out of your greatest hurt. Who could better minister to a couple that lost a child than another couple who went through that same experience? Who could better comfort a wife whose husband left her for an affair than a woman who went through that same agony herself? Who can better help a recovering alcoholic than someone who fought that same demon and won?

Adversity Refines Character

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You know, nobody likes trouble or times of difficulty. But do you know God often uses the difficult things of life to shape us and to conform us to be the people that He wants us to be? In fact, in Psalm 119 in verse 71, we are told that adversity refines our character. The Psalmist said, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes.” In other words, God allows the trials and the tribulations of life to build our character. Have you ever heard the ABCs of spiritual growth? They go like this: Adversity Builds Character. The Bible compares God’s work of maturing us to the process of refining precious metal. In order to refine precious metal, the ore must be subjected to tremendous heat and liquefied. It is only when the rock is liquefied can the impurities then be removed. In a similar way, God uses the heat of adversity to soften us so He can do His refining work in our character. You see, adversity reveals our strengths and weaknesses. It shows us what we need to add or maybe what we need to subtract from our lives. It reveals what we need to work on or maybe what we need to get rid of. If you have been out of fellowship with God, He may use the hard times to restore you. If we are weak, He may use the difficulties to strengthen us. You see, God uses the adversities of life to make us what He wants us to be. He uses our difficulties to prepare us for future useability. When he was 7 years of age, his family was forced out of their home due to a legal technicality. At the age of 9, his mother died. At 22, he lost his job as a store clerk. He wanted to go to law school but his education was not good enough. At the age of 23, he went into debt to become a partner in a small store. At the age of 26, his business partner died, leaving him with a huge debt that took years to repay. At the age of 28, after courting a girl for years, he asked her to marry him and she said no. At the age of 37, on his third try, he was elected to the United States Congress but 2 years later, he failed to be re-elected. At the age of 41, his 4-year-old son died. At the age of 45, he ran for the United States Senate and he lost. At the age of 47, he failed as the Vice Presidential candidate and at 49 years of age, he ran for the United States Senate again and he lost. So who was this man? Well, he was the person whom many people hailed as the greatest leader in American history. His name was Abraham Lincoln, who at 51 years of age became the President of the United States. You know, these difficulties are not mere footnotes on his way to the White House. No, they are what build his character and allowed him to successfully lead America during a time of great national adversity. You see, God uses our adversity to make us what He wants us to be so He might use us in a great and mighty way. And you know maybe that is what God is doing in your life right now. Maybe He is refining your character through some trial or tribulation. Maybe He is shaping you or preparing you for future useability. My advice: let God have His way. Ask Him: “Lord, what are you showing me? Lord, what do I need to change? Lord, what do I need to add? Lord, what do I need to take out of my life? But Lord, prepare me and use me for Your glory.” And my prayer for you is this: may the Spirit of God take the Word of God and may God richly and wonderfully bless you with it today.

The Training Of Adversity

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All of us have heard the name Joni Eareckson Tada. She, without a doubt, knows adversity. Many years ago, she dove into a lake and she broke her neck. When she resurfaced, she had to be pulled from the water and since then, she has had no feeling or movement in her arms and or in her legs. Not long after the accident, she asked a question that all of us have pondered when going through great difficulty or some tragedy. She asked, “What possible good can come out of what I am now going through?” She also asked, “Lord, why me?” Now eventually God gave her the answer to her difficulty and her adversity and she wrote these words: ‘The suffering and pain have helped me mature emotionally, mentally and spiritually. Pain and suffering have purpose. I believe God was working in my life to create grace and wisdom out of the chaos of pain and depression. You know, one of the primary reasons God allows us to go through difficulty is to train us in obedience. It is true of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says in Hebrews 5 in verse 8, it says: “Though he were a Son, yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered.” In fact, there are many things that we would never learn about God or ourselves apart from affliction. It is through times of affliction and adversity that people learn the truthfulness of God’s Word, the value of prayer and the comfort of praise. It is often due to the sudden death of an unsaved loved one or some near-death experience that we understand the brevity of life and the value of a soul. At that time, we often become a witness for Jesus Christ. It is often during a time of financial difficulty or some physical illness that we learn that God can be trusted and that God can be known. It is when we find ourselves reaping what we have sown and paying for our rebellious and fleshly living that we understand God is serious and disobedience does not pay. You see, adversity trains us in obedience. It teaches us things that we need to know about ourselves and things that we need to know about God. Towards the end of his life, the British broadcaster and Christian apologist, Malcolm Muggeridge, wrote in his book, ‘A Twentieth Century Testimony’, these words. He said: “I can say with complete truthfulness that everything I have learned in my 75 years in this world, everything that has truly enhanced and enlightened my experience, has been through affliction and not through happiness.” You see, adversity brings us to the end of ourselves. It drives us to God and allows God to train us and to teach us things that we would otherwise never learn. It was the old puritan, Thomas Watson, who said: ‘A sick bed often teaches more than a sermon.’ Because you see, adversity produces training in obedience. And maybe that is what God is teaching you. And my prayer for you is this: may the Spirit of God take the Word of God and may God richly and wonderfully bless you today.

Blessing Out Of Adversity

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Once upon a time, a farmer’s mule fell into a dry well. When the farmer heard the mule braying and realised what had happened, he determined that neither the mule nor the well was worth the trouble of saving. Instead, he called his neighbours together and enlisted their help in burying the old mule in the well and putting him out of his misery. Initially, the old mule was very upset. You would be too if you were deep in a hole and people started throwing dirt on top of you! But as the dirt rained down on his back, the old mule had a thought. He decided that every time a shovel of dirt landed on his back that he would shake it off and step up and that was what he did. As the dirt cascaded down the well, the old mule kept shaking it off and stepping up. Hours later, the exhausted mule finally stepped over the wall and out of the well. And what was meant to bury him actually became a blessing to him. You know, in the same way, one of the most encouraging and uplifting truths of Scripture is that out of our adversity come God’s blessing. Now Paul agreed with this when he said in Romans 8:28: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.” I am told in the town of Enterprise, Alabama, stands a monument to the Mexican Boll Weevil. The story behind the monument is that in 1895, the Mexican Boll Weevil, which is an insect, completely destroyed the town’s major crop, cotton. After the disaster, the farmers began to diversify, eventually planting peanuts. The peanuts thrived and the farmers reaped profits far exceeding anything cotton had ever produced. So with their newfound wealth, they erected in the town square a monument to the Boll Weevil which says: ‘In profound appreciation to the Boll Weevil and what it has done as the herald of prosperity, out of a time of struggle and crisis has come new growth and success. Out of our adversity has come blessing.’ You know, one thing is absolutely certain in life. No one is free of trouble. In fact, the oldest book of the Bible, Job says this in chapter 5 and verse 7: “Man is born unto trouble.” In fact, one day everyone of us will be confronted with adversity without warning. Something may happen that will change your life forever. You know, in the midst of the trials and tribulations of life, we can be triumphant. Paul reminds us of this in Romans 8 when he said: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Nay, but in all things, we are more than conquerors through Him that love us.” You see, God does not promise that only good things will happen to us people but He does promise that whatever happens, He will use it for His and our eternal benefit. Friends, my prayer for us today is this: may the Spirit of God take the Word of God and bless you abundantly with it today.

What Christmas Is For

What Christmas is for from GLCC on Vimeo.