What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? –Romans 8:31.

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?–Psalm 27:1.

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” –John 16:33

You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.-Matthew 10:22

 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.-2 Corinthians 4:8-9

Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.-Ephesians 6:14-17

 

Not Forsaken

God sent His son to save the world
When He longed for reconciliation
Giving us His true and perfect love
When what we deserved was condemnation.
Jesus came to save lives openly,
Satan to destroy them in stealth;
Satan conjures death in the dark
But in the light, God restores our health.
When the enemy begins to pressure us
With a world unmanageable and rushed,
We might be hard-pressed on every side
But God will not allow us to be crushed.
And even though we may be perplexed,
We are never driven to despair.
For, we live by faith not by sight.
Fully believing the power of our prayers.
At times we might be struck down
By Satan’s evil, we can’t avoid.
And God may allow us to be bruised
But never will He let us be destroyed.
He is our rock and our redeemer
Our faith in Him will not be shaken.
Though by man we may be persecuted,
By God, we will not be forsaken
©Linda Troxell 03/06/2018

 

Do you ever give in to “why me”? Do you ever, when things just aren’t going your way get frustrated with God and ask God why He is doing this to you?” I know I do. I am happy to say it’s much less often than it used to be. But it still happens. However, now I’m able, when I am not wallowing in self-pity, to see just how pathetic it is for me, or you, or any of us in this over-privileged country called America to ever whine about anything, much less what God is doing to us. That, simply because we are the most privileged generation in the most privileged country on earth. I’m not suggesting that we don’t have things going on in our lives that cause pain. Even big pain. But that’s a feature of life on this planet. Everyone has those things going on at one time or another. But many of those who do not have the good fortune to live in America have to go through that pain while they starve or freeze or dodge bullets and bombs or do all of those things. While even the poorest of us in this country have a degree of wealth and safety unknown in other parts of the world.

According to Forbes Magazine the typical person in the bottom 5 percent of the American wealth distribution is richer than 68 percent of the world’s inhabitants. And as a group, America’s poorest are equal in wealth to India’s richest. We, in the United States, own over 41 percent of the world’s personal wealth. I realize that not all of us have a large share of that wealth, but still, compared to someplace like India where there is a rigid caste system that does not allow for upward mobility and there is no practical way of escaping the caste into which you were born, we have very little to complain about.

And that is just a snapshot of the worldly wealth we enjoy in America. Those of us that profess to be Christians, have even less to complain about. First, because we know that our wellbeing does not depend on income or socioeconomic standing, or social equality. Our wellbeing is taken care of by the creator of the universe, the King of Kings, the one who controls the entire world, including the distribution of wealth. But also because we have the freedom to worship our God without fear or interference. Yes, we may be criticized and we may be ostracized by some, but we are not beaten or thrown in prison or killed for our belief in God.

We are legally protected to enjoy the power of the one true God working in and for us. What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?–Romans 8:31.  The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?–Psalm 27:1. But somehow we still fear the world. Somehow, when things don’t go the way we planned or the way we think they should we still fear that we will not survive. Or at least that we won’t survive comfortably. And really that is the key. Even though we love the Lord, even though we trust the Lord, even though we pledge our lives to serve God, we all want to do it without discomfort.

Well, we know better, Jesus told us that in the world there would be trouble. I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” –John 16:33. And he told us that in the world we would be hated for following him: You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.-Matthew 10:22. But He promised us that He had overcome the world and that if we stand with Him until the end we will have a beautiful eternity in paradise once we leave this world.

As part of His plan, which we do not have the minds to understand, God has allowed Satan to be the ruler of this world. He has given him the power to tempt us, to distract us and to trip us up. He has given him the power to press us hard, to perplex us; but he cannot crush us or drive us to despair. Because God has given us all of the tools we need to resist the devil and avoid his traps. Tools with which we can stand firm against the schemes of the devil.

Paul lays out the details of the armor we need in order to fight this spiritual warfare against Satan in Ephesians chapter 6. The weapons we need are the same as the tools that we use every day to be good Christians; The truth, righteousness, the gospel, faith, salvation, the word of God and prayers. These are the weapons we use to fight and to ultimately defeat the enemy. Yes, God will allow the devil to bruise us but He has given us the tools and weapons we need to prevent him from destroying us. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God-Ephesians 6:14-17.  But God will not do it for us while we sit by and whine about why things don’t go our way, while we whine about why we have difficulty in our lives or about the tribulation we knew was coming when we signed on.

God will support us in our efforts to fight and resist the enemy. He will support our prayers, He will support our understanding of His word and how to use it; He will enlighten us and open our eyes to the mysteries of His plan and He will strengthen our faith. However, we must use our minds, our thoughts, and our beliefs to build our faith and our strength not to whine and feel sorry for ourselves when we encounter some tough times. God loved us first in that He sent His son to die for our sins while we were still sinners. He asks only that we believe, repent and live in faith. If we can do that, He promises that even though men may persecute us He will not forsake us. And that we will not die but have everlasting life in paradise free of sin and pain and tears. As I see it, that is more wealth than we can ever deserve.

So, as Christians, let’s forge ahead in our spiritual war against the enemy. Let’s use our thoughts to strengthen our resolve rather than to ruminate about how difficult it is. Let’s stand firm using all of the armor Paul laid out for us to prevent the enemy from discouraging us in our pursuit of the Lord. Let’s join together and remember to be thankful and grateful to our God. And let us not overlook the most important tool God gave us in our pursuit of victory over Satan; He gave us the privilege of being joint heirs with Christ Jesus, of being saints in the body of Christ. He gave us the advantage of being an army that is naturally cohesive because we are all loyal to the same leader, we all have the same book of instruction and we are all after the same goal. That goal is to stand firm until the second coming of our Lord and Savior who will take us all to live in His Father’s mansion.

 

Points for Prayer and Pondering

1. What is the most likely to bring you to the point of the Why Me? What is most likely to discourage and frustrate you?

2. Do you have a strategy to get out of that state of mind? If yes, what is it? If no do you think it might be a good idea?

3. Do you feel that you are a joint heir with Jesus and a saint in the body of Christ? Or do you feel like you are in this largely alone? If you feel alone, is there something you might do to change that?