In today’s blog post, I want to look at a few reasons why we might be facing hardship as a Christian. This is a sister post to the blog post I published yesterday called 5 Deadly Sins of the Wilderness – THE WORD.
In this blog post I want to take a step back and look at three places where you’re going to be facing hardship. Unfortunately, all believers are going to face hardship as they go through this life. We have an enemy whose name is the devil, and he isn’t very interested in making your life easy.
He will first attempt to keep you bound in sin, then bound in the memory of sin and finally combated against by the world’s financial system to keep you from being effective for the kingdom of God.
Our Text
14 Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.
2 Corinthians 2:14 KJV
We ARE Overcomers
It’s important to remember that hardship is only temporary. The Bible tells us that we ARE overcomers in every situation. It’s our responsibility to get in the Word of God and find out who we are IN CHRIST.
From this place of knowledge of our rights and privileges, we can overcome and walk in victory over every situation.
Reasons we are facing hardship
This leads us into the three primary reasons that we face hardship in our life. Each one of these reasons has their own set of solutions.
Reason 1: We aren’t a Christian at all…
The first and most glaring reason that we aren’t living a victorious life is because we aren’t a Christian at all. If we aren’t in Christ, then we won’t have very much triumph in life.
3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
John 17:3 KJV
The power in eternal life through Christ Jesus is the knowledge of a God who created us. We are created beings and everyone separated from God because of sin is missing something in their life.
The prescription that the world gives is drugs, alcohol, sex, and other things. These are temporary solutions to an eternal problem.
But long after the high fades and the woman leaves you there will be only one constant – Jesus.
5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
Hebrews 13:5 KJV
The Lord Jesus Christ will never leave us nor forsake us. We can be content in the knowledge of Jesus Christ and having a relationship with Him.
How to Accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord
13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Romans 10:13 KJV
The way that we accept Jesus as our Savior and Lord is really easy.
You don’t have to…
- confess all your sins to Him. (You don’t have a good enough memory for that).
- be perfect (no one is perfect except Jesus).
- quit all your bad habits.
- attend church to be saved.
The only thing you have to do is believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord.
9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Romans 10:9-10 KJV
Prayer of Salvation
Jesus I believe you died on the cross and rose again 3 days later. I accept you as my Lord and Savior right now and ask you to come into my heart. Be the Lord of my life. I will honor and obey you from this day forward. In Jesus Name, Amen
Jesus, I believe you died on the cross and rose again 3 days later. I accept you as my Lord and Savior right now and ask you to come into my heart. Be the Lord of my life. I will honor and obey you from this day forward. In Jesus Name, Amen
Confess this prayer out loud.
Congratulations! If this is the first time you’ve prayed that prayer, then you have just now accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Pay attention now down on the inside of you. What does it feel like? Do you feel that peace and good feeling? That’s the spirit of God on the inside of you.
For more information about what just happened, I want you to reach out to me either via the chat or by email at [email protected]. I have some information I want to send you and talk with you about next steps.
Reason 2: We aren’t doing the will of God
17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
James 4:17 KJV
The next possibility is that you’re facing hardship because you’re out of the will of God. You aren’t doing the things that the Bible is telling you to do – even though you know to do them…
God is our father. Think about your dad or you if you are a parent. You tell your child, “Don’t play out in the street where there are cars.” Well maybe your child decides, “Oh it’s fine. They said don’t but it’ll be so FUN!”
We often do the same thing with God.
Oh God said don’t do that but look it’ll be so FUN. I really WANT to.
God knows what’s best for us even when we don’t know because we haven’t grown up enough yet.
And just like that kid who plays out in the street and could get hurt if a car comes through. So too we could get hurt playing around with things we know we shouldn’t.
Most of the hardship we as baby Christians face comes primarily from our own disobedience to God’s Word.
We blame it on the devil saying, “It’s a spiritual attack!” But the truth is that we do it to ourselves.
God offers Forgiveness when we Repent
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9 KJV
When we confess our sins and decide that we no longer want to keep living in disobedience, that’s the moment when God will cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
God wants to immediately bless us just like the prodigal son who ran from the father. When he did come home, the father killed the BEST and had a party.
He wants to do the same with you.
Prayer of Rededication
Jesus I repent for my sins and I turn from all unrighteous living right now. I vow this day to live a life completely sold out to following after you. My desire is to be useful for your kingdom and to live a life dedicated to following after your will. I thank you according to 1 John 1:9 that as I confess my sins you cleanse me from all unrighteousness. My life is now just as brand new as the day I was born again. Holy Spirit use me. Jesus flow through me. In Jesus name, Amen
Reason 3: We ARE doing the will of God (Testing)
I just recently wrote a blog post on this very topic answering the question, “What is the purpose for testing?”
What is the purpose of Testing in the Wilderness?
The short answer is that testing will humble you, prove whether you will obey God when it gets hard, and grow your patience in the faith.
Contact Me
If this blog post was helpful to you, please do reach out to me either via the comments, email at [email protected], or via the chat on this website. Sharing this blog post on your own social media also really helps to spread the word. If this helped you, chances are it will help someone else you know!
Know that I pray for you and other readers daily, and I am here to pray with you individually should you want it.
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