JOY OF A CHRISTIAN MANIFOLD

MEMORY VERSE :My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into diverse temptations.James 1:2

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR : Lev 17, Ps  20-21,Pr 31, 1 Tim 2.

Challenges are part and parcel el of life, be it a believer or an unbeliever . The Lord said in Isaiah 43 : 2, when you pass through waters I will be with you not if you pass through waters. Isaiah 54:17 says no weapon fashioned against you shall prosper not if a weapon is fashioned or in case a weapon is fashioned. Weapons will be fashioned but the good news is it shall not prosper. Most people dread challenges. Many pray not to even have them at all but challenges are not such a bad thing. If they are bad the bible would not say count is all joy when you face challenges , James 1:2

Why do we face challenges? One of the root causes of challenges is sin. Jeremiah 5:25 says sin withholds good things from us. According to 2 Chronicles 6: 21-36, sin causes unanswered  prayers, famine, problems e.t.c. Another reason why we face challenges is because Jesus said so. John 16:33 says but in the world you will have tribulations,but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world for you. Matthew 11:12 says from the day of John the Baptist the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and the violence take it by force. Another reason for challenges is that it helps us to grow in the Lord. It is fire that purifies. James 1:3 says it is the trying of our faith that produces patience. It is this patience that makes is mature in the Lord.

Another reason why we face challenges could be that the Lord wants to glorify Himself in our life publicly.When you study Daniel 3:1-30, you will see that the Lord permitted the three Hebrew boys to be cast into fire because He wanted to glorify Himself in their lives publicly. At the end, the emperor left his thrown and prostrated before these boys praising the Most High God.

 Another reason why we face challenges could be because we are a threat to the Kingdom of darkness. Many people have asked me, why is it that believers face more challenges than others. I always ask them, if you have ten chickens in your cage and one of them escapes what do you do? Their replies has always been 'I will go after it'. The same thing applies to believers, we used to be in the cage of the enemy. >From the moment we give our lives to Christ, we escape death. The enemy would not bother about his own, he knows they are his already but he will go after those that have escaped.The good news is that he can do his worse but over us he will fail. Do you know even before you face challenges, the Lord has provided a way out? Romans 8:37 says we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. This verse was written over a thousand years ago which mean that long before the challenge came, you had already been declared a victor.

PRAYER POINT : Father thank you for making me a victor, please help me never to loose my advantage in You.