Greetings in the Name of Jesus and welcome to the PLN Sunday Night Bible Fellowship!
We started this series on July 20 because there's so much to worry about these days that could rob us of our PEACE if we don't take steps to deal with the related anxiety. Christians are NOT supposed to worry. In fact, we're NOT supposed to be anxious for anything (Philippians 4:6). If worry comes along, we're supposed to RESIST and overcome it. Most of the stuff we worry about anyway is beyond our ability to deal with. Or it involves things in life that probably won't ever happen. Since we started this series, two new things in our environment have presented themselves to try to attract our anxiety: the ISIL terrorists and the Ebola virus. What can you or I do about either one of those things today? And if we can't do anything about them, who can?
If your answer is that God can do something then you answer wisely. That's why your Bible says VERY clearly to CAST ALL YOUR ANXIETY ON HIM (1 Peter 5:7). And it also says that if you refuse to give God your anxiety then you're guilty of being prideful because you don't trust Him to take care of your concerns. God gives GRACE to the humble but He RESISTS the proud. Who are the proud? They're the ones who don't humble themselves under the hand of God by casting their anxieties on Him (1 Peter 5:5-7). We need GRACE to overcome our real trials and difficulties and what we don't need is for God to be withholding any of His favor and empowerment from us because we're being prideful.
The main point is this: worry is NOT to be just tolerated. We aren't supposed to be passive in the face of anxiety. We're supposed to take action and overcome it through GRACE by FAITH. And so, this series has been about exploring just a few of the things we can do to be overcomers in the face of HARD TIMES instead of worriers and losers who've lost their PEACE and JOY for life. Following then in this last article is a summary of the twelve areas we've looked at in this series that will help us overcome HARD TIMES:
1. We have to RESIST being a part of the World system because that's where the problems are. Stay out of the World as much as possible and you avoid the problems. Stay instead inside the Kingdom of God and pursue life in agreement with the Word of God.
2. Secondly, we have to take ownership of the Word and we do that by studying to the point where we finally understand it, when it becomes a living, breathing part of our lives instead of just words in a book. FAITH comes by hearing the Word with understanding and strong faith is an essential weapon against anxiety.
3. Next, we have to make an effort, a decision to renew our minds to the ways of God and His Word. In other words we have to change the way we THINK about things instead of just reacting and acting like the World does. All of us need mind renewal and we never get so smart that we don't need it anymore and there's only one way to get it: meditating on the Word of God.
4. Fourth, we need to take care to always speak in agreement with the Word because according to Scripture our speaking determines who we are and what we experience in life.
5. Then, we have to also not allow ourselves to become people who're passive about fear, who allow it to dominate and continue in their lives unabated. Fear should be battled and defeated and cast down in the Name of Jesus because it debilitates and then replaces FAITH.
6. Sixth, we have to be constantly working on becoming people who live by FAITH. Scripture tells us that Believers should live by FAITH. Living by FAITH has to be learned because it doesn't come naturally and there will NEVER be a true victory over HARD TIMES without FAITH.
7. We need to also recognize the importance of being cheerful givers because consistent with the Law of Sowing and Reaping, Scripture says that cheerful givers make themselves eligible for ALL sufficiency in ALL things which includes getting the victory over any of those HARD TIMES we're facing. What more do we need than ALL sufficiency in ALL things?
8. Next, we need to learn to develop a lifestyle of THANKSGIVING because God honors those who honor Him with the sacrifice of THANKSGIVING. Instead of being chronic complainers like the Israelites were, like our Flesh wants to be, we need to learn to be GRATEFUL.
9. The ninth REQUIREMENT for overcoming HARD TIMES was to avoid strife in your life at all costs because according to our Bibles, confusion and every evil work including those HARD TIMES we're going through come from STRIFE.
10. In the tenth part of the series we looked at how important it is to RESIST our tendency to DOUBT that God actually wants us to PROSPER in every area of life. Our flesh wants to doubt, the world wants us to doubt, tradition says we should doubt and the enemy wants us to doubt that the salvation of Christ falls short of dealing with our HARD TIMES in the present here and now.
11. Then three weeks ago we looked at the importance of being CONFIDENT in our relationship with God. "Draw near with confidence to the throne of GRACE, so that we may receive mercy and find GRACE to help in time of need." Confidence comes by FAITH and FAITH comes by hearing the WORD. So, HARD TIMES thrive on lack of confidence.
12. And finally we looked at the twelfth requirement for overcoming HARD TIMES by loving our way out of them because often times our failures in life are coming from a defective LOVE walk. Always check out your LOVE walk when you're facing HARD TIMES because it's the strongest presence in the universe.
Now I realize twelve things is a lot to try chew on if you're going through HARD TIMES. But I also know that none of us can be perfect in all these things or in even one of these things. God is not looking for perfection because He already found it two thousand years ago. Jesus could do all these things perfectly which means that we don't have to do them perfectly in order to get the results we need. If you approach these REQUIREMENTS in the FLESH, you will definitely fail because you in your own strength will NEVER be able to do them. But the Holy Spirit in you, the Jesus in you can do ALL things and they will be done perfectly, by FAITH.
And so by FAITH you consider these things, you meditate on them, you study them and try to gradually become increasingly proficient in them and let Jesus do His work through you. Keep your focus on Him and on these twelve REQUIREMENTS and watch what God will do in your life.
We hope you have gotten something out of this series that will help you through HARD TIMES. If you missed any of the previous articles, please go through the ARCHIVES link at the top of this article and you will find all of the previous newsletters listed there for your easy access. Next week we'll start something new.
Thanks for stopping by tonight. We'll be looking for you again NEXT Sunday night on November 2. In the meantime may the Lord bless you with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3), compelling you to PROSPER in every area of life!
Sinners' Prayer
If you've never invited Jesus to be the Lord of your life, you need to and you can do it today just by saying out loud the following simple prayer:
Jesus I declare today with all my heart that I believe in you and that God raised you from the dead. I acknowledge that my sins have been forgiven and I ask you to come into my life today and be my Lord and Savior. Thank you for salvation and eternal life.
If you were sincere as you prayed this prayer, God has already come into your life and you are a new creation, a totally new species recreated in His image. Now ask the Lord to lead you to a good faith-based, bible-teaching church where you can be equipped to fulfill your potential in the Kingdom of God.
And, when you get a chance have someone help you look up the following scriptures because they confirm what you've done by saying this prayer today and believing what you said:
Romans 10:9
2 Corinthians 5:17
Ephesians 2:8
Prayer Requests
If you have a Prayer Request, please connect to the Link below and follow the promptings. The PLN staff members pray over Prayer Requests every Tuesday morning at 10:00 AM eastern time. Agree with us for God to answer your petition.
http://www.creditcounseling.net/prayer-request.aspx
Donations
If you've been edified by Prosperous Life Newsletter, you may want to consider making a SEED FAITH offering to support the Ministry (Galatians 6:6-7). God has instructed us to simply provide folks with an opportunity to sow seed into good ground so in due season you'll be eligible to reap a harvest and the rest is up to you as the Spirit leads. For your information PLN is a nonprofit gift to the Body of Christ so your financial offerings will usually be tax deductible (consult your tax advisor). Just go to the secure Shopping Cart on the Cornerstone web site by connecting through the following link. We appreciate your support and generosity.
http://www.creditcounseling.net/shop/item.aspx?itemid=1
About Prosperous Life Newsletter
PLN is an outreach ministry of Make A Way Ministries and has been published continuously since January 1998. It's an e-publication about life in the Kingdom of God and is sent ONLY to our email list of MINISTRY MEMBERS. If you're reading this and aren't yet on our growing email list, please let us know and we'll be so very happy to add you to the list.
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