Can we really grow stronger when life is impossible? In this world we will have trouble. But we can take heart because Christ has overcome the world. How can we do that? How can we thrive and not merely survive?
I’m not going to tell you it’s easy or “just follow these 5 steps”.
I’m going to let you know how I’ve learned to do it. This has been learned and earned. This is not theory.
I’m Trevor Lund, content creator for RevTrev.com and the founder of Live LIGHT Academy on LiveLIGHT.ca This is the Live LIGHT LIVECast.
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All of us have our own story and all of us are on our own journey. It’s great when we don’t have to walk it alone.
Maybe something in my story will connect in something in yours.
I was a young pastor at an amazing church and I felt God asked me to leave my family and friends and future on the altar and move to New Zealand without any reason beyond obedience. The heaven’s didn’t open when I stepped onto the soil. My dad was diagnosed with Bulbar ALS and was given a short time to live. And it wasn’t long until we felt we should return home and be with family. It took me some time before I realized I was living offended at God. He set me up and I didn’t have a language to explain how I felt. He was the potter, I was the clay, I was the work of his hands…and I didn’t like being thrown and re-thrown and re-thrown and re-thrown onto the wheel to be reformed again and again and again.
When I realized I could be offended at God, I realized I could repent of that and he healed me.
I was back to being a pastor and there’s a whole lot of story to that, but remember that in this world you will have trouble. I remember speaking a message and sitting down and then sensing a menacing voice say “that’s the last sermon you’re ever going to give.” I brushed it off, but a few days later, had a heart attack.
And since then, it’s been doctor’s appointments and medication to get on and off, and tests showed nothing and solutions that didn’t work and not just MD’s Cardiologist, but Dermatologist and Neurologists and Gastroenterologist and I started wearing reading glasses and using hearing aids.
And so it’s had to become intentional for me. I needed to know how not just survive, but somehow to thrive.
What do you do when you’re faced with the realities of life - however brutal or enigmatic.
You and I need to know how to take up our positions, stand firm and see the deliverance of the Lord.
These are decisions I need to make daily because I’ve not just learned them, I’ve earned them.
Take up your position and STAND Tool
S - Stop giving God credit for the works of the one who comes to steal, kill and destroy. - John 10:10
T- Treat all hardship as discipline knowing He is a good Father and will work all things together for good. - Hebrews 12:7-11
A - Agree to cast all your cares upon him, because he cares for you. - 1 Peter 5:7
N- Never forget that the God of all hope fills you with all peace and joy as you trust in him, so that you can overflow with hope by the power of Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13
D - Don’t worry about anything, but pray about everything and thank him in all things, knowing that’s his will for you. - Philippians 4:6-7
Challenge
This is not Christian stoicism. It’s not about having a stiff-upper lip and ignoring your emotions. Your emotions show you what you actually believe.
Pay attention to what your emotions show you about what you really believe. For example, if I don’t have peace, I know there’s a good chance I’m not trusting God.
Where has your peace been, where has your hope been, where has your joy been lately?
Let your emotions show you what you are actually believing.
Next Steps
Live LIGHT Above the Negativity Course.
Move from being easily regularly frustrated, usually feeling busy, often afraid or easily angered TO having peace at all times and in every situation. Learn to Live LIGHT Above the Negativity with your whole heart
The best price on that course is at: http://revtrev.link/bless
Carpe Vitae
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