Challenges or Opportunities

Many are the afflictions [challenges] of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. Psalm 34:19

          If you are striving to be obedient to God’s Word, you can be sure that you will face challenges.  We must realize that these challenges are an opportunity to further our growth in the Lord.  Genesis 50:20 says, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” (Romans 8:28).    Every situation we face in life can bring about life or death by what we choose to do with that situation (Deuteronomy 30:19).  When a pitcher throws a baseball, he is intending on striking the batter out.  Picture this as a trap the enemy has put before you (Proverbs 3:26). When the pitch is thrown (Trap is put before us), we have a choice.  We can either put our trust in what the Lord can do through us as David did with Goliath (1 Samuel 17:37), or we can grumble and complain that the enemy is coming against us.  Then watch the pitch fly by us and strike us out.  We need to start looking at these challenges as opportunities.

          The pitcher (enemy) is trying to strike us out.  However, by him throwing the pitch, he is giving us an opportunity to hit the ball and bring ourselves, our friends, and loved ones home (to the Promised Land).  Revelations 12:11 says, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”  We will overcome by standing on the Word and doing what the Lord has called us to do.  He has not called us to be passive and watch the enemy shoot fiery darts at us.  We are to take up our shield of faith to quench the fiery darts (Ephesians 6:16).  We do this by obeying, confessing, and standing on His Word.  He has called us to move forward in the kingdom of God.  Start viewing every situation you face as an opportunity to apply God’s Word to your life to bring growth, protection, provision, blessing, etc…  This will create testimonies that will in turn help others to overcome the challenges they are facing.  Just as the stories in the Bible are to encourage us, give us hope, and teach us what to do to overcome situations.  (Romans 15:4)