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.
