Thriving in Troubled Times
Thriving in Troubled Times
How to Stand Strong Under Pressure!
“We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed…” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9)
Pandemic, political upheaval, civil unrest, economic uncertainty and a plethora of other recent challenges have been stark reminders “… that in the last days perilous times will come:” (1 Timothy 3:1).
In addition to the common storms that are being weathered by believers and non-believers alike, Christians are also facing the mounting pressures and prejudices of a society whose cultural norms and moral values are being swept further and further away from the truth by the rising currents of ungodliness!
But there’s good news! Jesus said, “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” Inevitable trials and tribulations always come with the promise that “… in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” (Romans 8:37)
Throughout history, every time the enemy tries to crush the Body of Christ, the Church ends up stronger and more influential than ever.
BATTLE HARDENED BUT VICTORIOUS
The picture God’s Word gives us in 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 is the image of a battle hardened but victorious Church. No matter what the enemy throws at us…
We are not crushed
We are not in despair
We are not forsaken
We are not destroyed
PROPELLED NOT PULVERIZED
There was a time when things looked pretty bleak for the early church in Jerusalem! “As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison.” (Acts 8:3).
But, instead of pulverizing the church, these attacks propelled it towards victory! Acts 8:4 tells us that, “..those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word.”
To top things off, the guy leading the terroristic, anti-christian purge ends up meeting the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus and starts preaching the faith he once tried to destroy!
Most of us in the western world have never faced this degree of persecution and I pray we never do. What’s important to remember is that, no matter how bad things appear or how bad they might get, we are never victims but always victors in Christ!
FOILED AND SPOILED
God always spoils the plans of the enemy, turns them around for His glory and uses them for our good! This, in fact, is a central theme of the Bible with more stories of redemption than we could ever enumerate here.
Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers, falsely accused of attempting to rape his masters’ wife and left to rot in prison. But God turns things around, promotes Joseph to second in command of the most powerful nation on earth and supernaturally uses him to save multitudes from famine. Years later, when facing the very brothers who betrayed him, he was able to say, “Don’t you see, you planned evil against me but God used those same plans for my good…” (Genesis 50:20)
In the book of Esther, the adversary attempts to crush Christ’s bloodline and prevent the promised Messiah from being born! Again, God turned things around! Instead of a Jewish genocide, the man who devised the sinister plot ends up hanging from the very “gallows” he had built for his targeted foe. It was another epic victory! “On the day that the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, the opposite occurred, in that the Jews themselves overpowered those who hated them.” (Esther 9:1).
The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus is the greatest example of God turning the enemy’s “arrows into boomerangs”! I can imagine Satan gleefully watching as the blood of Christ soaks into the ground at the foot of Calvary’s cross! Jesus breathed his last, and I’m sure the Devil thought he had won! It must have been a horrid shock and the ultimate humiliation when the Savior turned up alive and, “Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.” (Colossians 2:15) So completely did the enemy’s plan backfire that Scripture tells us, “… had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” (1 Corinthians 2:6-8)
And it doesn't end there! Jesus’ triumph is now our victory because He has “…raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,” (Ephesians 2:6)
FIVE PRACTICAL STEPS TOWARDS VICTORY UNDER PRESSURE
So, how can we apply this to our daily lives? Here are five practical steps that are revealed to us by the Spirit in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians:
1. Wake Up!
“Therefore He says: “Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light.” (Ephesians 4:9-14)
The context of this verse is an exhortation to walk as children of light, finding out what is acceptable to the Lord, not fellowshipping with the works of darkness but rather exposing them. Much of the Church has been lulled into a stupefied state of slumber in the midst of this ” perverse generation” and the enemy would love nothing more than to crush us in our sleep! It’s time to arise and resist the enemy’s onslaught!
One of the most famous lines in the 1970 movie Tora, Tora, Tora (depicting the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor), is the Japanese Admiral Yamamoto saying, “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.”
Indeed, when America was attacked in 1941, the nation didn’t cower in defeat. It arose to crush the enemy! As President Roosevelt put it, “With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph—so help us God.” As believers, we must respond with no less resolve in the face of the devil’s attacks.
2. Wise up!
“See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” (Ephesians 5:15)
The heart of walking in wisdom is understanding the will of God for your life and committing to His plans and purposes for you. It also involves living soberly and being continuously filled with the Holy Spirit. This is the kind of wisdom that is required to remain strong under the pressure of these evil days.
According to James 1:5, “…if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God-who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly-and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith without doubting…” It’s also why Paul says, “… since the day we heard this, we haven’t stopped praying for you. We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, so that you may have great endurance and patience, joyfully giving thanks to the Father…” (Colossians 1:9-12)
3. Suit up!
“Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day,.
If you’ve ever watched a professional hockey game, you understand why no sane player would ever hit the ice without first suiting up with pads, helmet, skates and stick. The most talented team in the league could never hope to win without its equipment. In the same way, Christians should never dream of facing the enemy without the weapons and armor that have been made available to them! “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God!” (2 Corinthians 10:3-4)
Paul details each piece of the “whole armor of God” in his epistle. We don’t have time to do an in-depth study, but I encourage you to meditate upon and familiarize yourself with every part of this divine arsenal:
The Belt of Truth
The Breastplate of righteousness
The Shoes of the Gospel of peace
The Shield of faith
The Helmet of salvation
The Sword of the Spirit
4. Stand up!
“…and having done all to stand, stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;”
The Church needs to be on the offensive and not sit back passively, waiting for the enemy to attack. We have a mission to accomplish. The Gospel of the Kingdom must be preached to every nation! James 4:7 in says, “So submit to [the authority of] God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him] and he will flee from you.” We need to move forward and keep the enemy on the run as we boldly advance in the same spirit of faith that David had as he took off running towards Goliath!
One of my favorite songs of the 80’s starts out by saying, “ Some people want to live within the sound of chapel bells. But I want to run a mission a yard from the gates of hell. And with everyone you meet, take them the gospel and share it well. Look around you as you hesitate, another soul just fell. Let’s run to the battle!” The next stanza continues: “Do you have your armor on? We're in the middle of a raging war. We’ve been training for so long, have we learned to use His sword? We may not be many, but we serve a mighty Lord. And He's made us more than conquerors. So what are you waiting for? Let's run to the battle!”
5. Never Give up!
“praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—“ (Ephesians 6:18)
In 1941, Winston Churchill was addressing a group of young Englishmen when he said, “This is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.” Churchill's contagious, unbending commitment to victory played a significant role in leading his nation and and influencing the Allies to defeat the Axis forces of World War II. If natural men can be so resolved, how much more should we, as believers in Christ be committed to a life in which we will “never surrender”! If we don’t quit, we win! It’s through faith and patience that we inherit the promises!
A CRUSHING VICTORY IS OURS!
These are the principles that will allow the Church to thrive in times of trouble and stand victorious when under attack. Christ has already won the battle and we are more than conquerors in Him! We’ve had the promise of the devil’s ultimate defeat since Genesis 3:15 the God told the Serpent, “..I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head And you shall bruise His heel.”
We've read the back of the Book and we win!!! So, let’s decide to wake up, wise up, suit up, stand up and never give up! And the next time the devil threatens to “step” on you, boldly remind him that he's the one that’s going to be crushed…not you! “And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.” (Romans 16:20)