Stacked Against: Wk 1
James 1.2-8
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.
How do we live life to overcome any obstacle?
We need to recognize that God is with us
When my kids were a little, they used to come into our bed at night because they were frightened of the dark. But when they are cuddled up next to us, they could sleep perfectly well. So it wasn’t the dark they were afraid of instead, they were actually afraid of being alone.
And that is so true of us too, often it is not the problems in life we face that scare us so much as the idea of facing them alone.
But the wonderful truth we cling to as Christians is that, even in the darkest night, when we go through our most difficult times, we are never alone. God is always with us. Jesus’ last words before he ascended to heaven were: “I am with you always, even to the end of the age”.
Joshua 3.1-5
1 Early in the morning Joshua and all the Israelites set out from Shittim and went to the Jordan, where they camped before crossing over. 2 After three days the officers went throughout the camp, 3 giving orders to the people: “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the Levitical priests carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. 4 Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about two thousand cubits between you and the ark; do not go near it.”
5 Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.”
And if we want to overcome the insurmountable obstacles that hold us captive in life, the first step is for us to follow God, to remain in his presence: wherever God goes, we must follow.
We will never overcome difficulties in our own strength, but by remaining in the presence of God we will be given strength to overcome.
We can never do it in our own strength.
Isaiah 11.2
2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of might,
the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—
The same Spirit that rest on Jesus now lives in us!
We need to expect God to work miracles in us
God longs for us to know his forgiveness. He longs for us to know peace and joy in our hearts. He longs for the sick to be healed and for past hurts to be forgiven. God wants nothing more than to mend our broken relationships. Everything you and I most hope for in life, God is itching to give us, as Jesus reminds us in John 10:10: “I have come so that you may have life in all its fullness”.
But many times, we don’t allow God the space to work in our lives because we don’t really believe that he will.
But what does Joshua say in verse 5? “Purify yourselves, because tomorrow the Lord will perform miracles among you.”
That is the promise to each one of us today, the same word to us as to the Israelites all those years ago. “Purify yourselves, because tomorrow the Lord will perform miracles among you.”
When our hearts are right with God, it allows him to move in and thru us.
Be quick to forgive.
Matthew 6.14
14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.15But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Fear has to be overcome by love
1 John 4.17
17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
2 Timothy 1.6-7
6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, 7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
Fear is a tool the devil uses against us to make us miserable and destroy our lives. It begins as a thought and then creates emotions that can rule us. It often becomes a strong, intense feeling that tries to move us to make a foolish action or tries to prevent us from doing something that would be good for us. Because it’s such a common way that Satan attacks people’s lives, I think of it as the master spirit he uses to manipulate people and keep them out of God’s will.
Roman 12.2
2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
For us to overcome the impossible, we have to surrender our mind and will to the God of the impossible.
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