Stand Firm


If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.
(Isaiah 7:9b)

Meditation

There is a false idea being floated around, by well-meaning Christians, that Christ will never give you more than you can handle. That is totally untrue. In fact, we’re promised tribulation, and plenty of it, even to the point of death. God uses those times of great testing to teach us to rely on our faith in him over our own strength and abilities. Will we be able to withstand the tests to our faith that can happen at any time? This world is full of the pitfalls that will test our faith. It could be the sudden death of a loved one, a debilitating injury or illness, the loss of a job or any number of terrible things that happen in a fallen world such as ours. We never know what’s around the next corner. It could even be our imminent death. Are we ready for that?
God does not take the life of a loved one to see how we mourn; he does not injure or make us sick to the point of death to see if we will curse him. He does not take our jobs to watch us squirm while we search for employment. He uses those times and circumstances to refine us and bring us closer to him. It’s when we’re in those times of trial where our faith is either strengthened or dies, but it’s not God who fails us, its we who fail him. We didn’t have a very real faith if we can only trust the Lord in the good times, when everything is going great. If we’re ready to curse God every time something bad happens to us, can we really call ourselves Christians.
It’s more likely than not, we will have to face far more terrible trials than we can imagine before our Lord returns for us. I personally don’t believe Christians will face God’s wrath in the Last Days, but that doesn’t mean we will escape this sinful world unscathed. There could still be natural or man-made disasters that descend upon us. Everyone and everything we know and love could suddenly be taken away from us. How will we stand if those things happen? In order to cope, will we shrink back into the same pit of darkness that Jesus pulled us out of? If we don’t have enough faith to get through, then we will not stand. We must fortify our faith with daily prayers, scripture reading, and fellowship with other believers to keep the blessed hope alive and strong in our hearts. We must hold fast to the promise of what is to come. We must not fear for the final victory belongs to God!





Prayer Time

Father God, you are the provider for all our needs. You knit us together in our mother’s womb. You push the first breath through our lungs at the moment of our birth. You give us an immortal soul that yearns for communion with you. Even though we know you are the supreme being in the universe, when we are in the midst of some kind of tribulation we falter in our faith. Because we are weak, we have to be tested now and then to strengthen our faith. Teach us, in those times of trial, to rest on our faith in what you have promised us for eternity. If we do not learn to have faith in the One who created all things, we will not survive long in the time of testing that’s ahead. It’s your strength that carries us through even the most simple testing we have to endure. We are saved and sustained by faith, and as long as we do what it takes to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, we will stand strong no matter happen. Father remind us that in all we do, you are with us. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen!

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