MEMORY VERSE: In
my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my
voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears. Psalm 18:6
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Hebrew 11-13
Someone
once asked, “why is it that only believers face challenges; unbelievers
don’t.” This is a lie from the pit of hell. Challenges are part and
parcel of life. Everyone (believers and unbelievers) go through
difficult times. The only advantage believers have is they have Jesus in
their boat (life). And, as far as you have Jesus in your boat, storms
may arise but you will never sink. Psalm 34:19 says, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.”
The fact that you are serving the Lord faithfully and living a holy
life does not mean you will not face challenges either. Let’s look at
God’s testimony of the Zechariah’s. Luke 1:6 says, “And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.” Despite the fact that they were both righteous before God, walking in all the ordinances of the Lord blameless, verse 7 says “And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years.”
So your service or labour of love does not exempt you from challenges.
However, those challenges shall turn to you for a testimony (Luke
21:13).
When storms of life arises, how you
respond matters. Many of us respond by blaming God. We accuse him as if
He is responsible for what we are going through. We complain and murmur
and some of us even stop attending church. The truth of the matter is
this, staying away from church will not still the storm in any way.
Also, alcohol is not the solution either. You can drink from today till
tomorrow, that will not solve the problem. Backsliding only compounds
the issue. It is better to remain in the presence of God than to head
back to Egypt (enemy camp). The time to serve God like never before is
when you face challenges. The time to cry to God like never before is
when the storm of life arises. Psalm 18:3 says, “I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.”
The time of challenges is not a time to murmur or cry. When you cry,
your emotions get the better part of you and you are not able to think
clearly. At times, God may even be speaking to you but you will not hear
because you are all over the place.
The Psalmist says: “In
my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my
voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears (Psalm
18:6)”. David cried to God in the temple, during his challenges, and
the Lord heard his voice. This is why you must never stay away from
church for any reason when you are going through challenges. The bible
records that Hannah prayed in the temple and the Lord heard her in the
temple (1 Samuel 1:9-15). In Luke 1:8-11, God visited Zechariah whilst
at his duty post in church and told him that he was going to have a
child. The old man could have stopped serving God but He didn’t. He kept
on serving in the vineyard of God and the Lord met him whilst he was
serving. Friend, have you stopped serving in the vineyard of God because
of a thing or two? Have you stopped serving because of your current
situation? Have you stopped serving because nothing seems to be
happening in your life? For several years nothing seemed to happen in
Zechariah’s life but he remained in church and continued serving. One
day God visited his church, checked at his department and found him. If
you have stopped going to church, you better return so that when God
visits He will find you. If you have left your post to chase money you
better return so that in the day of God’s visitation you will not be
missing.
COUNSEL: Return to your duty post because God may visit at any time.
twitter@BroOluwatoki
Bro Samuel | Reaching the world
