Yes! A whole hearted yes! However, if you think you can do
it alone without the help from above, without the power I will write about
today, your life is going to be hard! Life without Jesus is for sure hard. But
being a true Christ follower, and be a conqueror, a victor, a survivor, a
champion in what you say you have faith in and which you confess, you need
more. You need the best! How to be someone who can overcome adversity and
challenges you are going to face in a world where difficulties seem to be
surmounting? One is solved and the next one pops up, whether personal or one we
all have to face as a society or like-minded company of people.What if soon, you will be faced with people,
creatures, circumstances that will shake your faith to the core of your being?
Things happening around you that are hard to explain and try to steal your
faith in the One that created you?
How can we cope?
First of all, accept we are spiritual beings living in a
“house” called a body which one day we will leave for the Upper (Heaven) or
Under (Hell) spirit world out there.
What if only a small group of people in this world were and are
inventing things that are a real benefit to them and are so amazing it would
boggle your mind if you would know. However, they use it for their own selfish
purposes, duping the rest of mankind in child stuff compared to what would be
really useful and instead of helping us live successfully and in good health,
they dumb people down, see how they can keep them in poor health and try to
divide everyone instead of uniting them. Is there something better than that?
Yes!
Add in things like sickness, the loss of a job, or marriage
problems, and you can see where, over time, the pressures of the world, if
allowed, can steal the love and joy from your life.
In the Bible in Matthew 24:12, Jesus said this: “And because
iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” He said this would be
a characteristic of times we seem to be living in right now. AKA “the last days
or End times”. The end of what? The end of the earth, as we know it. A better
one seems to be coming. That is only helpful information if we know how to
survive and even thrive right now! Jesus was saying that the negative things
going on around us—not necessarily in us—would cause the love of many to grow
cold.
The word “waxed” used in that scripture is really
significant. It goes back to the way candles are made. A wick is dipped into
hot wax and then taken out and allowed to cool for a few seconds, leaving a
thin layer of wax. The process is repeated hundreds of times until the wick is
buried deep within the wax.
The same is true with the heart. If we take our eyes off
Jesus and not use the power that is available but focus on the evil of this
world and our circumstances, then, little by little, the layers of negativity
harden around our hearts, and the love for God and others grows (waxes) cold.
So, how do we stay positive and power houses in a negative
world? Start with these five simple steps!
1) Be strong, be of good courage, do not be afraid! Have not
I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be
you discouraged: for the Lord your God is with you wherever you will go.
(Joshua 1:8)
Here, the Lord was speaking to Joshua, who was taking over
for Moses—a hard act to follow. He told Joshua to be strong and of good courage
and not to be afraid or dismayed. These are opposing forces. If you are afraid
and dismayed (disheartened), then you are not strong and of good courage. They
counteract each other. So, you’ve got to do two things and resist two things.
The word dismay means “to fill with dread or apprehension;
daunt” [American Heritage Dictionary (AHD)]. Can you say you have fought
apprehension [“to anticipate with anxiety,” (AHD)] about the future? Have the
problems facing you or the nation seemed daunting [intimidating or discouraging
(AHD)]? If so, you have been dismayed.
What can you do? The Lord doesn’t automatically stop these
things for you—He flows through you. If you get discouraged or dismayed, you
stop the process. It says in Ephesians 3:20,
Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above
all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.
The phrase “according to” means in proportion to or to the
degree of the power that is working in you. God flows through people. If you
become discouraged, you stop the flow of God’s power. But you can INCREASE it
by letting the Holy Spirit come and work through you.
2) The power you will need is Holy Ghost power. The baptism
of the Holy Spirit. Some people think that just believing in Jesus is enough.
That when we receive Jesus, we have the Holy Spirit. We do. However, the
disciples of Jesus believed and confessed Jesus but only after the Pentecost
event, where the Holy Spirit came UPON them, crashed over them and they were
overwhelmed with the Holy Ghost power; they received the power to overcome
everything they would face after. Before this event they betrayed Jesus when He
needed them most (except John), fled in fear and hid for their lives although
Jesus last words had been, GO into all the world.
When He rose from the dead and appeared to them He told
them, “BEFORE you go out, wait! I will go and will send the power (In the
person of the Holy Spirit) to help you, guide you, strengthen you, work through
you and help you face even death without giving up on Me, your Saviour and
Lord.
Did Jesus do so? Yes! And he is still doing so!
In the book of James, it says even the demons believe in God.
Do demons confess Jesus let alone follow Him or come against their master,
Satan? No! They can’t. We can overcome Satan and His evil forces, IF we are
true believers with Holy Ghost power.
If you can maintain your focus on Jesus and His Word, Holy
Ghost Power, in the midst of a storm, you can walk on the water of
circumstance. When the doctor says you have cancer, your boss tells you you’re
being laid off, or your spouse says they’re leaving, you can still stay
positive. It will take a deliberate effort, but it is absolutely crucial to
have all the help you can get.
You need to recognise that Satan is using the evil and
increasing negative things of this world to discourage you, even if they are
not your personal problems. You can get discouraged watching politics, reading
the newspaper, and listening to the news. If you don’t resist this, it will
cause you to be discouraged and dismayed, and worst of all, your love for God
to grow cold (Matt. 24:12).
The Bible says in Isaiah 26:3 that the Lord will “keep him
in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed” upon Him because he trusts in Him. Our
peace is linked directly to what we think. We are plugged into this world like
no group of Christians has ever been—reading, listening, and watching the same
ungodliness as the world and then wondering why we get the same results. It’s
simple—garbage in, garbage out. It is doable .
3) If you need encouragement, read His Words, His love
letter and instructions to you to survive in a negative world.
4) Surround yourself with people that will encourage you in
your faith.
5) Testify and help others find that same power you benefit
from.
So is it possible to be positive in a negative world? Now
you know! Follow those 5 simple steps. And ask Him right now: “God, if you are
real, help me find people that can help me in all this!”
Be blessed -- even in a negative world -- you are and can
be!
