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Destined For Difficulty

Say it ain't so! Life is supposed to be a breeze and when you become a Christian things are easy and sweet!

I cry foul! If you've ever been told that, you need to find the person who said it and give them a firm kick in the pants! I'm serious, life alone without Jesus is hard enough, but add our belief system into it and it makes brings more opposition. After all, Jesus himself said that we would be persecuted becasue... wait for it! "The Word's Sake!" And if we're reading the same bible, He was the Word made flesh, so it stands to reason that we will encounter extra difficulty because we are His covenant Friends.

"Difficulty and challenge" have been reduced to terrible words to run away from much like the word "Love" gets thrown around as a statement of our affection for our spouse and in the same sentence sometimes for our like of tacos! How can that be? I love my wife and I love these tacos! The truth is, we should reserve the word "Love" for it's highest and best use, which is towards those living things we interact with. Anyway, that's not the subject today!

So, why are there so few people who lift weights? I'll tell you why, because it's hard work and if it was easy to get a body like a weight lifter, everyone would do it. In fact there is a billion+ dollar industry that takes our money every day to the bank, because we believe that if we take those pills it will melt the fat away! Seriously, has that ever worked without some very taxing side affects? So few train in the gym because it's difficult, but if you want those rockin' biceps you have to bring them into the difficulty of resistance so they can be challenged and grow!

I'll be the first to admit that up until recently, I have tried to avoid difficulty by and large. I told someone about 6 months ago though, that I realized there will be challenges until the day that I convert my residence to Heaven. So, if that's the truth then I need to buck up and deal with it! However, I don't have to deal with it alone! Paul the Apostle said in Philippians 4:12 AMP 12 "I know how to be abased and live humbly in straitened circumstances, and I know also how to enjoy plenty and live in abundance. I have learned in any and all circumstances the secret of facing every situation, whether well fed or going hungry, having a sufficiency and enough to spare or going without and being in want. 13 I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ's sufficiency].

So then, what's the deal? Why would Paul say he's learned to be content in ANY situation, good or bad? Because he had help and an infusing of God-Energy in his life that sustained him through the hardest times. When he was writing this book, he was the 2nd worst prison in Rome, standing waist deep in human waste, sewage and every once and a while a dead human body! It was the Mamertine prison that was converted from an old cistern at the bottom of the royal palace. I've actually been there in the very spot above where Paul spoke the book of Philippians to someone as they wrote it for him. This was over about a 30 day period and he was in this prison twice while most people who experienced this, died during their time there as you can imagine. The rampant disease and decay would take it's toll quickly on the human body and destroy it. This particular dungeon was reserved for the worst of the worst criminal, where they would wait before they were to be executed.

So my question to myself and you is "What's the problem?" "What's the difficulty that's so great in your life right now?" Be clear, I'm not trying to guilt trip you into casting off your issues or challenges as nothing because compared to Paul it's light stuff. I am trying to train myself and give insight into a strength that I don't think alot of us have tapped into yet, regarding the circumstances of life and how we can overcome them! After all, we are more than conquerors in Christ, We are the Righteousness of God in Christ and well suited to beat into submission anything that steps in the ring with us! Grace is that strength and it's renewable every day.

Did you know in a recent study, psychologists were trying to discover the key to insanity and they found that the root of many cases of people going insane springs from their running away from pain at any cost. Now, I know pain stinks, whether it's internal or external, but it's what we do with the pain that determines the victor or the victim! Paul was faced with many things along his Christian walk that were, well lets say... traumatic! He was stoned, beaten, shipwrecked, bit by a big snake and chased halfway around the globe by religious zealots who's only aim was to dispatch him (that means kill him). And in all this, he called these things "light afflictions"! So how could he do that? I firmly believe it was because of the empowering grace on his life. Now there were a few times when he asked God to remove his "thorn in the flesh" which were demon inspired idiots who tried to make his ministry less effective. However, in every case, the Lord answered "my grace is sufficient!"

So while I'm trying to get out of every situation or circumstance that bothers me am I in essence fleeing the very thing that can make me stronger? If trials and tribulations, for which James said "I count them all for joy", are my weights then why am I trying to take the easy road? Shouldn't I, in fact, embrace the difficulty as a journey enhancing, strength building and overcoming activity that I was meant to prosper in? I think I should! I believe I must, if I want to have an overcoming lifestyle that breaks open the gates of adversity and helps multitudes more come through. Just remember someone else's breakthrough is on the other side of your difficulty!

Let me end with a short story about Max, a security attendant at Bethel Church in Redding, CA. I have met max a few times and we have spoken about his call in life. He believes and is convinced that he and his family, including children, are called to evangelize in none other than Afghanistan! Whoa Nelly! In case you've been in a cave for the last few years, that's not the most popular destination spot for Christians. But dear Max and his family believe that is the smack dab center of God's will for their lives! And you know what, that is exactly where their greatest grace and protection is. For the sake of this article, I'm sure you understand why I brought he and his family up!

Max, like many other radical Christians, is running headlong into difficulty for the simple reason that Holy Spirit's grace is sufficient! And they believe that because of their willingness to embrace it, they will see lives brought into the Kingdom.

Let's stop looking at challenges and difficulty like we always have! Let's turn them on their ear and pave the way for many more who will come behind us, because the more ground we gain, the further into the darkness we pierce and see the kingdom of darkness fall hard. Let's show a lost and dying world how to embrace hard times with grace and love and win them to a Great Father.

Hoping this helps!

Barry


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​© 2017 by Barry Tubbs Ministries

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