WHEN LIFE GETS HARD
I had a very interesting experience when I was growing up. The experience taught me that anyone who wants to become a champion must fight. If you look for someone to rescue you each time you are given a blow, you will never become a fighter. I used to be the most quiet boy when I was in the school. I was so quiet that each year I won the prize given to the most quiet boy in the school. Things continued that way until I had an experience that I am going to narrate now.
There was a bully in my class whose preoccupation was to harass me every day. The boy fumed me into a punching bag. He would beat me up until there was no breath in me. Whenever I bought food like groundnut, roasted plantain and biscuit, the boy would take them from me. I was totally helpless. I could not even register any protest.
Things continued in that manner until something told me, “If you allow things to go on this way, you will continue to go hungry”. Then one day, I bought my local snacks and the boy, in his manner, came to bully me. He roared “Can I have your roasted plantain?” I would have handed it over to him as usual with fear and trembling. But I mustered courage and looked at him straight in his eye ball and said, “No, you can’t have it”. Before he could say any word, I landed a very heavy blow on him. He slumped on the ground.
Before he could get up, I climbed on him and gave him the greatest beating of his life. That was how I rescued myself from the bully of a boy. I never knew that I could fight. The boy also thought that I was so weak and lily-levered that I could not hurt a fly. For the first time in my life, I flexed my muscles, stood up like a boy and proved to him that I was no a weakling.
Do you know that if the boy had not attacked me several times I would have continued to cringe under him. From that particular day, the boy began to avoid me. If I am coming in one way, he would go the other way. In the same vein, we need experience that will jolt us out of complacency and out of the mentality of a weakling. You will never grow until you learn to face challenges. If God continues to shield and protect you against every contrary wind, you will never grow up and become a mature believer.
GOD’S VIEW TO HARD LIFE
In His divine wisdom, God often allows us to go through some problems that could make us begin to feel that God has hidden his face from us. Such experiences are necessary for our growth, development and ultimate victory. Bible characters that attempted great things and did great exploits for the Lord went through problems.
THE ROAD IS NOT EASY
Those who became heroes of the faith, went through winds of trial and affliction.
The fact that a contrary wind is blowing against your life does not mean that God has forsaken you. The problem you are going through is part of His grand plan to lead you to your throne.
The Bible says,
Job 23:8-16: Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him: On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him: But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. “My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined. “Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. “But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth. ‘For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him. “Therefore am I troubled at his presence: when I consider, I am afraid of him. .`For God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me:
Everything was going on smoothly in Job’s life until the storms of trial blew upon him. God wanted to promote him and lead him into a new realm of blessings and physical breakthroughs. He therefore, had to go through an examination which came to him in the form of a storm. When he was passing through the trial, it was as if God had abandoned him. He looked forward and backward and God was not there. He turned towards the left hand and the right hand but God was nowhere in sight. The presence of God appeared withdrawn from him.
He needed to go through crisis. However, the story changed towards the end. We are told that the Lord turned his captivity.
Let us examine what happened to Job when his trials were over.
Job 42:12-17: So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses. “He had also seven sons and three daughters. “And he called the name of the first, Jemima; and the name of the second, Kezia; and the name of the third, Keren-happuch. “And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren. “After this lived Job an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, even four generations. “So Job died, being old and full of days.
Job would have remained on the same spot if he had not gone through trial. What happened to him has remained a classical example of what it means to experience triumph in trials. He got whatever he lost and more.
Do not allow what you are passing through get you discouraged. One thing keeps on ringing in my heart when I recall Jobs experiences. He said, He knoweth the way that I take for when I am tried I shall come forth as gold”.
Fire does not destroy gold. Run genuine gold through fire and it would come out brighter. What you are going through right now does not really matter. What matters is what happens at the end of the day.
An African proverb says, The pot that wants to taste pepper must allow itself to be placed in the fire place. If you want to achieve great things in life, you must be prepared to go through the furnace of affliction.
What are you going through right now? Have you looked towards every direction and it appears as if God was nowhere in sight? Are you going through a period of spiritual violence? Have you surveyed your life and concluded that God has gone on holidays? Are people z laughing at you as crisis continues to mount up in your life? Have you prayed until you no longer know what to ask God again?
Does heaven above looks like brass and the earth beneath looks like metal? Are you surrounded by hostile circumstances? Is a cloud of problems hanging above your head? Have you concluded that you’ve got more than your own share of life’s problem? Have you ever accused God of abandoning you at the middle of life’s journey?
Take heart!
What you have gone through are common life experiences. Your trials may appear strange in your estimation but as far as God is concerned what you are going through is part of His glorious programme for your life. This may sound strange. But crisis or storms of life are part of your divine
destiny. God uses them as a messenger to convey you to , the throne.
– Joseph became the Prime Minister of Egypt, and great honour
and dignity were accorded him. But how did he get there?
1. One, he was cast into a pit (Gen. 37:24).:
2. Two, he was sold into slavery (Gen. 37:27-28).
3. Three, he was thrown into a prison.
He would have wondered where God was when he was going through crises. Thank God, he persisted. Little did he know that the only room that would lead him to the palace was paved with crises.
Beloved, to get to the throne, you must pass through the pathway of crisis. Do not expect that God will lead you to the throne via a path that is strewn with roses and exotic flowers.
In the divine plan God wants you to get into your glorious destiny by passing through situations that are hard. When you are going through such situations, you might conclude that you have actually got to the end of the road.
Unfortunately, many people give up when they are very close to their breakthroughs.
IT IS NOT OVER UNTIL IT IS OVER
Have you got to a point where you have allowed unbelievers to take the position of faith in your heart? Have
you allowed anxiety to replace godly hope, sadness to take the place of joy and despair to take the place of total reliance on God?
You must go to God and repent as you pray this prayer point: Father Lord, forgive me for every act of faithlessness and unbelief in my life.
A lady attended our ‘Seven Hours With God programme’. Tired and discouraged, she told herself, “This is going to be the last programme I am going to attend. After this nobody is going to see me in any of the meetings again. I am tired of attending church services without any miracle to showfor it”. She concluded that nothing was working without any miracle to show for it. Then during the programme God brought a prophetic word of hope to her. The Lord gave me a word of knowledge and I spoke it out: “There is a woman in this congregation who has decided that after today she would no longer attend any of our programmes”.
She managed to muster some faith to believe that the word of knowledge was for her. I was somewhat surprised when I visited the branch which the lady was attending a month Inter. The lady came to give a testimony: “I attended a programme tagged ‘Seven hours with God’ and the Lord singled me out and assured me that He heard my prayers. Today. I am here to testify that God met me at the point of my need. He gave me the type of miracle which I never thought I could ever experience. Praise God”.
I am aware that many believers are very close to their breakthroughs. My prayer for such believers is that God will help them to persevere instead of giving up at the edge of their miracles.
The Bible says in Proverbs 24:10 that If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.
You must take cognizance of the fact that you are on the battle field. The end of one battle signals the beginning of another one. When you attack the devil and it appears that you have gained victory over him in a particular battle, he might withdraw temporarily as if he wont ever come back to you. You might take it for granted and conclude that he may never come back. While you are celebrating your victory, the devil is busy gathering momentum and mustering reinforcement.
When he gathers enough forces against you, he will stage a come back and launch a fresh attack. If you happen to be weak at a time like that, you have chosen to faint in the day of adversity. And you can be very sure that the devil will have a field day attacking, destroying and plundering your life and property. Any moment of weakness in your life will put a license in the hand of your strongman to perpetrate any form of destruction in your life.
I want you to close your eyes and take this prayer point:
withdraw the liberty of the strong man, in the name of Jesus.
DO NOT QUIT!
When your eyes are turning red and life is becoming disjointed and you are feeling that you cannot go a step further and it appears as if trials and tribulations had converted your life into a trash bin, don’t quit.
When you notice that behind the facade of the plastic smile that you are putting up is a heart that is completely overwhelmed by sorrow, you must not give up.
Just one more session of prayer may be what you need to experience the greatest breakthrough of your life.
– Never quit when things appear to be going from bad to worse.
Why does God allow His children to go through the fire of affliction?
It is simply because, many of us have a lot of chaff in our lives which must be burnt off. God must run us through the
furnace of a divine test if we must attain positions of prominence in his kingdom.
THE HOUR OF DARKNESS
Do you know that there is an hour referred to as the hour of darkness?Jesus experienced that hour when He was in the garden of Gethsemane. The Bible says,
Luke 22:53: When I was daily with you in the temple, ye
stretched forth no hands against me: but this is your Hour, and the power of darkness.
It is very risky to give up in the midst by the hour of the power of darkness.
To give up when the devil is busy unleashing terror and
destruction on you is to make him to celebrate victory overyou.
Never give up during the devil’s hour.
Close your eyes and take this important prayer point:
Let the celebration and rejoicing of the enemy over my lifeifbo turned to sorrow, in the name of Jesus.
BEFORE A POSITIVE PICTURE….
We all experience negative situations at one time or the other. Before a positive picture is developed, the negative has to be taken to the dark room. In the same vein, you often have to go through the dark room of life if you have not
developed a positive picture.
DEATH DOES NOT END LIFE’S PROBLEM
Some people often believe that suicide is the best option when life appears hard. Such people do not know that death does not end life’s problems.
A sister had some hard experiences when she wanted to get married. The first man came and disappeared. The second man did the same. The third man appeared very caring, kind and loving but one day, he fell out with the sister, banged the door and said, If you ever see me in your house again, count me as an illegitimate child. Today marks the
end of our relationship”.
The sister became fed up with life and concluded that dying was the best option. Of course, the devil was very handy. He told her, “Why must you continue to go through hard experiences? It is better to die than to become a laughing stock in the neighbourhood. After all, you have a bottle of
Valium Ten in the house. Swallow as many tablets as possible and you will never wake up the next day”.
Unfortunately, the sister was hooked on the devil’s idea. Before she grabbed the bottle of Valium Ten, the devil went into another round of lectures: “Madam, if you kill yourself now what happens to your only son? Nobody is going to take care of him. You know that you are a single
mother. Why don’t you kill the boy before going ahead to kill yourself?”
The devil told her that she could easily do that by suffocating the boy to death. However, she found it difficult to kill her only son. Then, something whispered to her: “Don’t kill the innocent child. Don’t kill yourself too. There is a church close by. It is called Mountain of Fire and Miracles
Ministries. When you wake up tomorrow morning, attend their service”.
She listened carefully and concluded that there was no need to take her life and that of her son prematurely.
She came to the church the next day and God met her at the point of her need.
Don’t ever contemplate suicide. You must allow these three points to loom large in your mind:
1. You must be conscious of the fact that you are not alone.
2. God has the ability to put your problem and pressure under divine control.
The Bible says. “Thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee”. Isaiah 26:3
Don’t ever allow anything to move you from a position of absolute rest and confidence in God. Remember, God has a way of leading you out of any trial or predicament. God can convert your adversity into success.
Remember, the Lord of hosts is with us and the Lord of Jacob is our refuge.
PRAYER POINTS
Every stubborn evil tree, be uprooted, in the name of Jesus.
2. I command every household wickedness, that has turned to stubborn pursuer, to receive the thunder of God and the lightning of God, in the name of Jesus.
3. I command every spiritual Pharaoh, to receive the fire of God, the thunder of God and the lightning of God, in the name of Jesus.
4. I command, every strongman operating in my family, to receive the fire of God, the thunder of God and the lightning of God, in the name of Jesus.
5. I refuse, to become a meat in the mouth of my enemy, in the name of Jesus.
Related Sermons:
