In 1909 the Olympic runner from Tanzania, John Stephen Akhwari, fell as he was running.  He hurt his head and legs but dragged himself along to finish the marathon. When asked why he forced himself to endure unnecessary agony, he replied “My country did not send me 10,000 miles just to start the race but to finish it.”  Learning how to overcome adversity is important today because, while learning to parachute is optional and learning to macramé is a choice, learning to face adversity isn’t!  “In the world, you will have tribulation” (John 16:33).  

Every believer has troubles, even your neighbour.  They might be different from yours, or they may not even appear to have them, but believe me they do. Troubles are part of life for believers and nonbelievers.  Trouble is normal, but the big advantage is that we have Gods help and presence to empower us through it.  Knowing that troubles are normal, helps us persevere. Even while Elijah was chilling in the desert, he had challenges. First abundance, then famine, then ravens, and then lack and death in the home. It was an intense couple of years.  God was not trying to make great difficulties for him, but he was seeking to make him great.  God was growing Elijah for his tomorrow and us for ours. He was making a man of God who could pray down a revival, confront kings and turn back nations. A man who could pray earnestly and see the heaven opened over his nation.

Friends, our troubles are to make us more dependant and therefore stronger. God is developing conquerors, not survivors.  The hard thing about being a Christian is living on the earth; being a Christian in heaven, will be easy.  Expecting to have heaven now, where there is no sickness, no trouble, no sadness or trials, will only cause the pain of disappointment. There is a sure way to get into the blessing of God and there is a certain way into our destiny but there is no easy way. However Gods training in your life up till now, has made you more than strong enough to finish your race.

The sound of the rooster had hardly faded  from his ears, when Peter was gripped by remorse.  Embarrassed by his past, he wished he could have his time over again. How could he have been so weak and fearful?

Of course, Peter would felt bad after denying Jesus, but Satan seized the opportunity to condemn him terribly.  The devil seeks to sow lies into our hearts after we have failed.  Lies like, “Jesus will not want to meet with you; He’ll never want to work miracles for you; you have annoyed God too much; you have lost your call” and “you don’t really love God at all.”  

But look how Jesus restores him.  First, He comes to him. God always initiates and is never put off by our failures! Then He calls Peter and the other disciples children, affirming their family relationship with God. He then helps them with a miracle showing that God is not offended and still wants to bless him. Next, Jesus arranges for the fire and the coals to bring Peters past memories and shame to mind, only so He could speak over them with truth. He renews Peters call, and finally He gets Peter to affirm three times that he still loves Jesus.  By doing that, Jesus is undoing the lie the devil had been telling Peter. “You don’t love Him so how could be love you?”

Friend, it matters not what we think of ourselves or what the devil wants us to think, but it does matter what Jesus thinks.  Let Jesus have the final word, He loves you, believes in you, His plans for you are still good and is forgiveness of our failures just increases our gratitude and devotion to Him.

The gate clanged shut as he adjusted his eyes to the dark. It wasn't the first time for Paul. Paul spent years in various prisons on the way to his trial in Rome, but he never saw himself as a prisoner of the Romans but a prisoner of the Lord. (Eph 3.1)   In the Bible God’s people were put in prisons, because they served God, not because they committed a crime. People like Jeremiah, John the Baptist, and Daniel. Paul never saw himself in any place apart from in the hand of God.

Perhaps you seem to be in prison yourself at present. Maybe you are emotionally stifled as you face constant put-downs and manipulation. Perhaps you are stuck financially or work for a boss that is unkind or arrogant. Prisoners don’t have any say about who’s in their life. When we are a prisoner of the Lord, we don’t have much say, either. If we did, we would remove all the people from our “prison world” that we didn’t like. We would remove all the difficult parts of our job and lives and change all the challenging circumstances that are helping us to grow up.

Paul knew that the devil was against him, but God was sovereign. Therefore, no circumstance could stop Paul from fulfilling his assignment. They may be uninvited, and some certainly don’t feel good but will be turned for good by God. Joseph's troubles were all necessary steps toward him fulfilling God's purpose and bringing blessing to so many others. In the prison, God was working for his promotion. Paul said, “I know that I shall be delivered eventually through your prayer and the Holy Ghost” and he was.

Friend, through your prayer and the Holy Ghost, your prison will have an ending. If you are in the “prison of the Lord” for a limited time and for a specific purpose, thank God, He’s helping you succeed in your calling and destiny as He did for Paul. Talk to the “Prison Keeper” about the next assignment He has for you while you are in His prison.

Moses was set afloat on the river by his mother, who was hoping that her son would escape the murderous plans of the Pharaoh. His mother believed he was special, and the devil seemed to know it, so he sought to destroy the deliverer before he could grow up. Of course, Moses lived and eventually those seeking to destroy Moses, were destroyed in the red sea. As the new nation of Israel marched out of Egypt, an enraged Pharaoh chased after them. Perhaps the devil was trying to kill Israel while they were young as a nation, before they could become great and strong. Gods’ plans for you are awesome as well. The devil wants to stop what God plans for you, before it unfolds fully. The devil maybe trying to stop you, but what he is seeking to stop even more, is the “future you.” He knows that Gods plan for you is to be better than who you are now. You will be more blessed, more intimate with God and more powerful. Satan will never stop you then so he will try to stop you now. He tried to kill Moses as a child because he knew who he was to become. He tried to kill the Jesus as a child because he knew he would become the Saviour of the world.

Friend If the devils attacking you and seeking to destroy your faith, your hope, your joy, and your strength now, it is because he knows God plans a great future for you. Don’t give up just because your family rubbished you, or because you slipped up into some sin this week. It may even seem that your dream of a happy family or of serving God has died, but we all know what God can do with dead things! Don’t give up but rise up, with gratitude and faith in God who forgives. He will give grace and resurrection power to us for He has already planned you to be a more powerful you, in your future.

The woman was bowed over. She was a faithful woman who walked to the house of God on the sabbath for decades. Perseverance wasn’t her problem. She never stopped going even though she had more challenges in her life than most. She had courage and commitment. Everyone looked at her. Some pitied her and some secretly thought she must be less holy than she looked. The ancient Jews believed the righteous earned good things but the unrighteous deserved only bad. (This was a generalization based on Proverbs, but the rest of the Bible shows that bad things do happen to good people.)

She stood through the service and then Jesus stood up in the synagogue, angry that a woman could be 18 years in the house of God and still bent over by an evil spirit. He was angry that a devil seemingly enjoyed the powerless meetings. “Ought not this daughter of Abraham be loosed on the Sabbath day (Luke 13.11) Ought not  this women be whole in the house of God. He commands demons to go and her back straightens.

How did a faithful women get bent over in the house of God?  The troubles of life touch us all, but it is never what happens to us in life that bends us out of shape, rather it is always the lies that Satan attaches to those events. Perhaps it began when someone close to her, was one of the people killed when the tower of Siloam fell. Perhaps the women had been lied to by the enemy and she had believed it. “God doesn’t care for you; you must have been a bad person; your life is a waste of time, you’ll never be well, God doesn’t think you are worthy.” The lies turned her gaze downward. It became permanent.

What lies has the enemy told you? “God can’t forgive you that many times, or you can’t hear from God, you have wasted your life” and as we believe his lies, we start bending over, loosing faith, looking down instead of looking up.

Friend, the truth is, Jesus loves you and your house is the house of God. He has come to your house and He wants you free from every lie of Satan. Hear Him speak and let His word touch you and straighten you as a pillar in His house. Look up! Be loosed from the infirmity of your thoughts.

During WW2, the allies sent battle plans across the continent, in code so if the note was intercepted, the message couldn't be understood. When the enemy heard the coded message, they couldn't understand it. They needed a code breaker, which when applied to the message, would give it sense.

Jesus the head of the church also send signals and impulses to His body but often they seem to be in a code that we find hard to understand. We need a codebreaker and that code breaker is the cross. When Jesus the Message was made flesh, the language he spoke was not just Aramaic but the language of humility. He came without reputation in the form of a servant. He humbled himself further and was obedient even to the death on a cross.

Even though He has been exalted, His messages still come to us coded in the language of humility, serving, giving and dying. Many times, we miss hearing because we have not embraced the “decoder”. His leading will still be in the form of a cross. Speak to that one, give to that one, prayer for that one, and ask forgiveness of that one. None may be easy to do.

In a war, everyday could be your last. They know that when the order is given, they must step out and face a hail of enemy lead. Some may be cut down but when the captain orders, they don’t have to weigh it up, all that has been done. They embrace death well before they face the moment. They are already dead; they just stand and fight.

Friend, Peter said that we should also count ourselves as sheep for slaughter, then we would be more fearless to obey whenever the One who loved us so much, asks from us any lessor act of humility and sacrifice.

Above the strains of constant worship, the voice of the Father could be heard as He talked with Jesus.  “Are you prepared to lose your status, for they will say you are just a carpenters son?  Are you ready to have no place to call your own, for you will have nowhere to lay your head?  Men will say with scorn “We don’t know who his father is”

You know you will lose all independence and need others to minister to you from their substance.  You will become the servant of all, and you will do and know only what I show you?

Are you prepared to be rejected by the people we love and for the monstrous injustice of being falsely accused and then suffering for the guilty? Are you ready to be forsaken as you become sin for them on a cross?

Then the heavenly harmonies seemed to quiet to a soft murmur as if every angel strained to hear the reply of Jesus. “I will.”  For the second time the words “I will” were heard in heaven.  Not "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above to be like the Most High.”  But “I will descend to earth; I will give up the throne to become like a man.”  The heavenly worship increased as they understood the magnitude of the plan and the magnificence of His love for men.

Friend, the son of God became a mere man that mere men may become the sons of God. He chose the Father’s will, to become a Saviour and make possible our inclusion in God’s family. We choose the Father’s will to trust in the Saviour and be born into that family. Fathers will or our will, determines our destiny still.

During the Viet Nam war the phrase “The Eye of the Tiger” was coined, referring to the fierce gaze of a once wounded soldier who recovers to fight again. They were different and stronger somehow. Perhaps you have been wounded in the battle. 

Although we have been delivered from the kingdom of darkness, the devil still tries to intimidate us and bring his darkness around our heart and mind. The reason Paul says that we wrestle against our enemies (Ephesians 6) and not box , is that in wrestling, you never lose physical contact with the adversary. And it is the only one that strengthens you as you fight. Have you seen the All-Black rugby team do this in training?  While you are holding on wrestling, you are getting stronger.  When Satan attacks you, he is unwittingly developing your fierceness and strength in God.  Satan may think he has your measure now, but he doesn’t reckon on who you are going to be in the future. 

 Perhaps the greatest threat to Christianity is not attacks from the enemy but a time of ease - when everything is quiet and there is no need for weapons or strength. The Philistines closed all the blacksmith shops in Israel to weaken them and stop them making weapons. A blacksmith shop may seem a dark place; there may be the sound of hammers hitting and striking; it may even look like hell. But Someone is stoking the flames and forming weapons in the fires of adversity. If you take away the “blacksmith” trial experiences, from the church, there will be no weapons.  If we have never been attacked, we cannot gain the “eye of a tiger.”  We develop “the eye” when we go and grow through his attacks. 

Friend, the enemy has tried to intimidate you. Wrestle through the heat of the battle and you will soon find that you have a new strength and weapons that can now intimidate him.