UNSHAKABLE FAITH

UNSHAKABLE FAITH
Matthew 7:24-29
RISING ABOVE THE TOUGH TIMES
In Jesus Christ, our lives are established on a foundation that can not be shaken by anything, whether in heaven or here on earth, and even in Hell.
Jesus Christ is the firm foundation, the rock, refuge, and strength of those whose lives are established in him. No matter how violent the storms we face in life, we should stand firm knowing that Jesus will not permit for us to be over come. We will not be blown by the wind neither tossed from side to side by the raging storms in our lives. For we not only have the mind of Jesus, but have also obtained His power. Just as He calmed the stormy seas, so too can we. We can face the tough situations the world throws at us without fear, knowing that the battle is not ours, but the Lord’s. 1 samuel.17:45-50

When your life is in Christ Jesus, your life cannot and should not be dictated or determined by the environment around you or any situation your facing no matter how hard it may appear.
May be you are reading this and wondering whether I know what I am talking about, may be your saying to you’re your self, this writer has no idea what I am going through. Now let us make this clear, indeed I don’t know exactly what you are going through, and even if I knew, apart from giving you advice and praying for and with you, what else can I do? Not much really! The reason this article is about Jesus Christ and not me. However, this one fact I know, that Jesus Christ knows all that you are going through right now, all you have been through and that which you are yet to face. Strange! Yes, but it is true.
This is why He went to Cross.
We need to recognize that Jesus envisaged the entire tough times that His children would encounter and decided that the best way to deal with them was to carry them upon Him and take them all to the Cross. What does this mean, you may ask? Good question.
What it means is simply this. That Jesus took all your worries, troubles, and cares upon himself. Does this mean God’s children will not face tough times? Definitely not. In fact this is not any where closer to the truth. Jesus promised us in His word, that we will encounter tough times. He Him self faced tough times and so did His disciples.
So challenges are part of Christian life and in times such as these, it is important for believers to stand strong, just as Jesus (Gethsemane) and the 11 Disciples (persecution) did. Why 11 disciples? Well, where as all the 12 disciples faced huge challenges, how they responded to these challenges is an issue that we cannot ignore. For instance, though Simon Peter denied Jesus, he repented and went ahead to witness for Jesus even to the point of death, John too witnessed for Jesus amidst heavy persecution, as did the others. Now compare this to Judas Iscariot who after betraying Jesus, instead of running to God for forgiveness, chose to commit suicide. Simon Peter on the other hand sought out God for a solution. He trusted Jesus to restore him. He never allowed the shame, guilt and anything else he felt after denying Jesus, to drive him away from God, unlike Judas Iscariot who allowed himself to be weighed down by the guilt and shame and the end result was that he drifted further away from God, which culminated in him taking his own life. Sounds familiar? Think of the millionaires, who have committed suicide as a result of the current global economic crisis.
What has this got to do with what I am going through right now, you may ask? Well, it does have everything to do with it.
The point I am trying to make is this. Your response to your challenges greatly determines whether or not you will rise up above them.

Jesus Christ is the perfect role model for all God’s children, and Simon Peter recognized this simple truth. He witnessed Jesus rising up above the challenges He faced like; being mocked by some in the crowds as He preached (magician, Beelzebub), being tested by the Pharisees, His arrest among others. And having had Him predict His death and resurrection, I believe Simon Peter envisaged Jesus already overcoming the shame and pain that was to come with the crucifixion. There fore equipped with this truth, he was able to stand just as Jesus did.

The truth is, like Judas Iscariot, Simon Peter would have given up on life, which would have meant missing the privilege of being one of the authors of the bible. Jesus too would have given up on His world saving mission, which would probably have meant giving Satan a stronger grip and possibly greater evil influence on the world. Joseph would have chosen not to believe the words of the angel Gabriel, therefore possibly giving up his dream of marrying Mary after her super natural conception of Jesus and thus, would have missed out on being the earthly father of the Messiah. Probably, Mary would have missed out on being the mother of the Jesus had she not believed the message from God, Noah would have given up building the Arc, not with all the mockery he got, yet he remained faithful and in the end, God repopulated the world through Him.
What about David? As opposed to facing Goliath, may be he would have listened to his elder brothers and chosen to leave the battle field, and return to his sheep. But no, he did not. He chose to take on the goliath. Why? Well! David knew exactly where his strength was. He knew his strength lay in God, he trusted that the same God, who gave him victories over lions and bears, would give him victory over Goliath.

Note: Goliath despised David because of his (David) small size, yet David was not fazed. The point here is, in order to defeat Goliath, David didn’t consider his own size, but the size of God in Him. He recognized the Lord in him (David) was much greater that the gigantic Goliath.(1 John 4:4:Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.)

Joseph would have settled for just being a slave as well as prisoner and would also have given up on his family, after all it were his brothers who not only sold him to slavery, but also tried to kill him. But he didn’t. Instead he trusted God for his freedom and ended up not only being free, but also became Governor of Egypt and saved Israel from Famine. Daniel would have given up his life while in the den of lions, but he trusted God to protect him and in the end, God sent an angel to keep the lions from eating Him. Infact his adversaries were eaten instead, meaning that God will avenge your troubles, if only you will trust Him.
Moses would have given up leading to Israelites out of Egypt and into the Promised Land, not with all the troubles. A stubborn Pharaoh, Egyptian Chariots, the Red Sea, the vast desert, the annoyingly long route that God chose to take them through, insubordination from the same people he was leading from slavery, enemies along the way, sinfulness among the children of Israel(Golden calf),etc. Moses overcame all these and tough he never got to the Promised Land, at least he beheld it. He probably would never have authored the first five books of the bible. He chose God’s way, unlike Judas. What about Paul the Apostle? He too would have given up the gospel. He too faced persecution for the sake of the gospel (2 Timothy.10:-17), the churches he established often had wrangles (Corinth), but he chose to trust God, and true to his word, God saw him through to the end. The end result being, though he is long gone, we still study and marvel at his writings (Romans-Philemon). He authored more than half the New Testament.
John would have given up on Jesus and the Gospel as a whole, not after being boiled in oil. But he didn’t, and the end result was, God used him to write the book predicting not only future events, but most importantly, the Second Coming of Our Lord and savior Jesus Christ and total destruction as well as final defeat of Satan-The end of Sin.

Now hold on a second, doesn’t it strike you that the only times the apostles were willing to give up anything, was only if it were bringing glory to the name of Jesus. For instance, serving jail time and laying down their lives. They were willing to give up their freedom and go to jail and indeed time and again they were arrested, whipped and thrown in jail, all because of the gospel. They were willing to pay any price, as long as in the end their sufferings brought glory to Jesus’ name.
Ultimately, they found it profitable to die for the sake of the name of Jesus, they refused to denounce the gospel, and instead chose to maintain their trust, faith and hope in Jesus.

So my question to you is. Are you willing to believe every word written in the bible? Are you willing to put your whole trust in Jesus? Are you willing to test Jesus, to hold Him to His word? To believe and not doubt every word He says? Whose report will you believe?
Are you going to let the pressures of this world drag you down? Are you going to be the kind of child whom Jesus always rebukes for having little faith? Or are you going to be like the Centurion of whom Jesus lamented “Assuredly I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel.” (Matthew 8:10).

Oh! How I wish Jesus would say the same about this youth generation. How I wish that we would at least develop the same resolve as our fore fathers. Talk of Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Ezra, Daniel, Ezekiel, Elijah, Elisha, Joseph the Governor of Egypt, King David, Joseph the father of Jesus ,Mary, Esther, the Apostles, among many others, even those of the yester years such as; William Booth, Martin Luther the Reformer, John Wycliffe, Leonard Ravenhill, Billy Graham etc. These among many other people understood what it meant to trust God, to persevere, and ultimately to overcome.

Fast forward to the 21st Century. The United States of America would probably not have had the first African American President in Barrack H. Obama, had Martin Luther King Jr and other Civil Rights activists given up on the Civil Rights Movement. Their resilience amidst all the tribulations they faced, paved the way for constitutional amendments which made it possible for blacks to not only vote, but also to stand for public office. This however came at a great cost. Many Civil Rights campaigners were jailed, tortured, and killed, most prominent of them being Martin Luther King Jr. These men and woman of valor stood strong and never gave up amidst all the evils that were done to them. Today the United States of America boasts of African Americans occupying public offices at all levels across the political divide, and voted by the free will of the American people including Mayors, Governors, Senators, and now the Presidency. This is what rising above your challenges produces. Results that can only be seen to reflect on the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus stands for truth and equality and we are seeing a reflection of that in American society today. Be it in politics, business, arts and culture, Sports, the military among other areas.

May be Uganda would not be enjoying the relative political, social and economic stability being witnessed today, had President Yoweri K. Museveni given up the Liberation War before capturing power in 1986. So many lives were lost during the liberation struggle, lots of properties destroyed, people displaced from their homes, many jailed and tortured, and others forced into exile among other things, as a result of the war. Yet the National Resistance Army still pressed on until they captured power.

May be one of Africa’s finest Statesmen by far, in Nelson Mandela would not have had such profound influence as he has today world over, had he given up his leading role in the anti-Apartheid campaign in South Africa. It is no secret that many South Africans among so many other things lost their lives, as they fought the apartheid regime which prided itself in among many other evils, its racial discrimination policy. Nelson Mandela was so impassioned for South African freedom that not even 27 years in prison would faze his resolve to see his country become an independent nation. Indeed he achieved his dream, and not only did he witness South Africa gain her independence, but also became the country’s first black President.

The truth is, many believers today are trying to live an easy form of Christianity, some kind of easy-go life where we some how expect neither real challenges nor tough times at all. A type of Christianity where we choose to believe only those scriptures which appeal to our desires. But, what about those things which we do not desire, yet are bound to happen by virtue of our faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus teaches in His word that His way is not easy. (John. 15:18-26, Luke.17:1).Paul teaches us to fight and endure tough times. (2 Timothy 2:1-4, 6:11-14)
We talk of having victory in Jesus, but how can we speak of victory where there is no battle? We are warriors and all believers need to get used to this fact, if we are going to live the victorious life that God desires for us.

God having given us dominion over the earth and all there in expects us to endure hardships, to persevere till our faith bears fruit. (2Timothy. 4:17-18)
I therefore dare you this day to take a step of faith, to stand strong even when the environment around you speaks nothing but defeat. I dare you to believe God’s word in its entirety, for Jesus is not in the business of letting those He so very much loves down.He has given us the spirit of Power, of Love and of Sound mind, as opposed to that of Fear.

Jesus tells us that as believers, we will face challenges, meaning we will not always be protected from the storms of life. How ever He does promise that those who stand on His word, those who faithfully persevere, will withstand the force of the storm. They will not be shaken. they will enjoy the fullness of the Joy of the Lord.

DARE TO BELIEVE DARE TO PERSEVERE VICTORY IS YOURS FOR THE TAKING...........