November 9, 2017: “Adversities”

Adversities

The world is made out of rocks and water.
We can be sure that any path we take will be strewn with rocks that might trip us and will surely hurt our feet. In spite of the rocks we keep walking. This path will also be interrupted by swollen creeks and rivers, wide and dangerous lakes, and maybe even an ocean or two. These water hazards must not stop us. We cross the creeks and rivers, take the long way around the lakes, and book passage on an ocean going vessel to reach our destination.

Life is made out of adversities.
No worthwhile destination is reached unopposed. Adversity always challenges travelers. Apart from the rigors of walking, riding, driving, flying or any other means of travel, adversity comes through relationships, personal conflicts, failures, disappointments and outright enemies. No one is exempt. Perhaps Adam and Eve walked in an earth without adversity but we do not. It is part of life to be opposed, resisted, ignored, underestimated, overestimated, and even victimized by people. In light of these cheery facts, it is little wonder why True Believers are called Overcomers!

A Generation of Overcomers
As a Baby Boomer, I was raised by what is often called, “The Greatest Generation.” My parents’ and their generation were raised in the Great Depression and grew up just in time to fight and win WWII. When the war was won, they set about repopulating the earth, at least their corner of it, and we Baby Boomers came to be. The people of the Greatest Generation were a collection of overcomers. They cleared the rocky road of economic depression, waded into the river of war, and built a bridge to the future that my generation gladly crossed.

Our Generation, Too.
We should not be surprised that adversities face us every day. It is true that we have a call from God on our lives, but that doesn’t give us a rock-free path to walk. We will come to rivers of resistance to the plan of God that we must conquer to get to the place He is calling us to go. Generational oceans may lie between us and the will of God and we may have to wait them out to at last complete our voyage to the New World on the other side. Just as God did for our forebears, He helps us get where He has called us to go. He is the God who overcomes adversity.

The testimony of the disciples is clear: Everything opposed them but nothing defeated them:

• Cast down but not defeated,
• Perplexed but without despair,
• Persecuted but not alone, and,
• Struck down but not destroyed.

It is as Jesus promised: in this world we will have tribulation but He has overcome the world. Further, our Lord Jesus makes continuing promises to those who live such overcoming lives. Read about them in Scriptures below.

So, watch out for rocks. Pass through, around, or over the waters in your way. None of these adversities can overcome an overcomer like you!

Scriptures:
Psalm 71:17-24
O God, you have taught me since I was young, and to this day I tell of your wonderful works And now that I am old and gray-headed, O God, do not forsake me, till I make known your strength to this generation and your power to all who are to come. Your righteousness, O God, reaches to the heavens; you have done great things; who is like you, O God? You have showed me great troubles and adversities, but you will restore my life and bring me up again from the deep places of the earth. You strengthen me more and more; you enfold and comfort me, Therefore I will praise you upon the lyre for your faithfulness, O my God; I will sing to you with the harp, O Holy One of Israel. My lips will sing with joy when I play to you, and so will my soul, which you have redeemed. My tongue will proclaim your righteousness all day long, for they are ashamed and disgraced who sought to do me harm.
Isaiah 62:10 NKJV
Go through, Go through the gates! Prepare the way for the people; Build up, Build up the highway! Take out the stones, Lift up a banner for the peoples!
Isaiah 43:1-3 NKJV
But now, thus says the Lord , who created you, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you. For I am the Lord your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
John 16:33
These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
2 Corinthians 4:7-11 NKJV
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. 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 —always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
Revelation 2:7; 11; 17;26-28; 3:5; 12; 20-22 NKJV

• “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.”‘
• “He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.”‘
• “To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.”‘
• “And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations — ‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’— as I also have received from My Father; and I will give him the morning star.”
• “He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.”
• “He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.”
• “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, there is no need for me to inform You of the adversities I face; You see every one of them. You also see the solutions, the keys to victory. I know Your wisdom will instruct me what to do about the rocks in the road, the rivers and oceans in my way, and the people who oppose me when they should be helping me. Give me Apostolic resilience! Grant me Holy ghost endurance. Let me share in Your overcoming victory today. In Your Name and for Your glory! Amen.

Song:
Victory Ahead
Words and Music: William Grum

1. When the hosts of Israel, led by God,
Round the walls of Jericho softly trod,
Trusting in the Lord, they felt the conqu’ror’s tread,
By faith they saw the victory ahead.

Refrain:
Victory ahead! Victory ahead!
Through the blood of Jesus, victory ahead;
Trusting in the Lord, I hear the conqu’ror’s tread,
By faith I see the victory ahead!

2. David with a shepherd’s sling and five stones,
Met the giant on the field all alone,
Trusting in the Lord, he knew what God had said,
By faith he saw the victory ahead.

Refrain

3. Daniel prayed unto the Lord thrice each day,
Then unto the lion’s den led the way,
Trusting in the Lord, he did not fear or dread,
By faith he saw the victory ahead.

Refrain

4. Often with the carnal mind I was tried,
Asking for deliverance oft I cried,
Trusting in the Lord, I reckoned I was dead,
By faith I saw the victory ahead.

Refrain

5. When like those who’ve gone before to that land,
By death’s river cold and dark I shall stand;
Trusting in the Lord, I will not fear or dread,
By faith I see the victory ahead.

Refrain
Semper Reformanda!
Stephen Phifer

© 2017 Stephen R. Phifer All Rights Reserved