“For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.”
1 John 5:4 (ESV)
We certainly have a lot to overcome in the world right now, don’t we? Some may even feel like the world is overcoming them. BUT GOD promises that those who are born of Him, have the victory – AND it’s our faith that ensures this victory. Maybe your faith has been challenged recently. Don’t be discouraged – everyone gets challenged at times. The good news is, we don’t have to settle there – we can grow stronger in our faith. In fact, growing in our faith, is something we should be doing every single day.
Maybe like me, you’ve felt weak in your faith at times. For many years, I struggled to believe. It wasn’t until I was in a life and death battle; that I began to grow in faith. In fact, I was only able to overcome that battle through faith.
You see, the enemy means for the trial to destroy us, but he doesn’t realize, the jokes on him, because the trial is actually our training ground for faith. That’s why the Bible tells us to “count it all joy” when we fall into trials. Counting our trials as a joy sounds crazy, unless we see the bigger picture.
My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
James 1:2-4
Trials make us stronger. The word patience in this verse is the Greek word hypomone, which means endurance, fortitude, steadfastness. When we stand under the pressure of trials, we build hypomone – we actually grow stronger! It’s like lifting weights, which I hate to do by the way. I’ll jog all day long, but lift weights… ugh, they’re heavy. Building muscle is important to our health though, especially as we get older. And the only way to get muscle, is to lift those weights or do some other kind of weight bearing exercise. Going through trials is like spiritual weight training. When we bear up under the weight of the trial, our faith gets stronger. 1 Peter 1:6-9 (CEV) says this;
On that day you will be glad, even if you have to go through many hard trials for a while. 7 Your faith will be like gold that has been tested in a fire. And these trials will prove that your faith is worth much more than gold that can be destroyed. They will show that you will be given praise and honor and glory when Jesus Christ returns.
Trials show us what we’re made of. They say, trials can make us or break us. It’s really up to us. Well, since God has given us everything we need to overcome, I think the best choice is let it make us! The trial we face in our world right now, is an opportunity to sure up the weak areas in our lives, and allow God to unlock the potential He’s placed inside of us. If Jesus lives in you, then there’s greatness inside, just waiting to be released! The Bible says, “Greater is He that’s in you, than He that’s in this world (1 John 4:4).”
Trials show us who God is. I think of the many trials I’ve been through and have overcome. Some have been the fight of my life, but when I came out on the other side, I saw how God had never left me, how He sustained my life in the battle, and how He empowered me to overcome every obstacle I faced. My faith in God’s goodness, in His faithfulness to His word, in His infinite power and His perfect love for me, increased exponentially. Maybe you can attest to this too. Our testimonies of God’s deliverance in our lives are so powerful. This is why the Bible says, “We overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony (Revelations 12:11).” Our testimonies remind us that God never fails us and He’s not about to yet! Remind yourself of your past testimonies. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is not taken by surprise with the happenings in our world. God is always on the throne. He always reigns. And the victory promised, is always ours! God wants to show up and show out for His people in this season. He’s calling us to take our eyes off of the natural circumstances and stand on the supernatural Truth of His Word. His Word stands forever and will never return void.
Trials put God’s power on display. People of God, the world is watching us. This is our shining moment (Matthew 5:16, Isaiah 60:2 ) As God’s ambassadors, we have an opportunity like never before, to show the world who He is. It’s so easy for us to get caught up in being concerned for our own needs, but church, if we have nothing else, we have Jesus. What about those who don’t? I say this with lots of love and to myself as well -Sometimes we need to get over ourselves and remember – it’s not all about us – It’s all about Him! And God has chosen you and me to be the vessels that His Glory can shine through, so others can discover who He is. What an honor and privilege! But this is going to take great faith, because we’ll certainly be challenged.
So we have a choice to make. We can sit locked up in our homes watching Netflix, reading the news, and being overwhelmed by fear or boredom; or we can use this opportunity to grow stronger in faith. When things are nice and comfy, we don’t really need to exercise our faith, do we? It’s very easy to become self-reliant and lax. But trials remind us of our need for God, and that we can’t depend on ourselves, this world system or anything else.
Romans 10:17 says “faith comes by hearing, and hearing the Word of God,” so let’s use this time wisely and fill ourselves up with as much of the Word as possible. Recently, many have stepped up their vitamin intake to boost their immune systems, and that’s great, but let’s also step up our intake of the Word, the best immune booster of all. Let’s make the commitment to use the trial we face today, to grow stronger than ever in faith. We have the victory!
