PUSHING THROUGH ADVERSITY

I went for a walk this morning, and noticed in several places along the side walk that there were things growing right through the black top. I was amazed.  Then I saw this little flower, so pretty sitting there in its glory having pushed its way through the black top, as though it were saying, "Nothing can stop me! I've broken through and I'm victorious and I'm beautiful!"

It made me think of our different responses to adversity in life.  This little flower's response to all hindrance to its life gave me faith.  It stirred up a kind of hope, a feeling of endurance and reluctance to give up or let myself become discouraged.  It was as though God placed it there for me to say, "Never grow weary, Ginny.  You will surely reap if you faint not."  This little flower had some pressure, some adversity, some resistance to push through but it endured.  Life gives us many types of resistance to the Gospel of our Lord.  It gives us much resistance to the message of life He has given us and wants to tell us continually, "give up! give up! give up! It's no use!  Why are you fighting against a world that is determined to hate God?"

Some have formed a movement of resistance today.  It's a resistance against anything of God, anything of the Bible, and anything Christian.  It manifests itself in politics, in religion, in counterfeit Christianity, and as the Bible told us, it comes against all that is of God with a vengeance.  How can we stand in such an evil day?  How do we push through the resistance of life that seems to never end. It's not enough that the world is against us, and a false church as well, but the circumstances of life and perhaps our health can be a heavy weight we must also push through.

We can overcome, just as this little flower. We can keep reaching up for the sun.  We can not even look at the adversity but instead look up to the Son and see He is there, He is faithful, He is ever giving us the grace, the power, the encouragement, the hope, and the promise that is sure, we will reap if we faint not.  we will by our endurance through His power, gain life and have victory.  We will win this battle.  We will break through every barrier and every resistance.  Why?  Because He has.

John 14:27  Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
John 16:33  I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."

He Himself has overcome every resistance in this world that could possibly come against us and nothing can stop His plan for His church.  Nothing can defeat His children.  If He says don't be afraid, it's not just an empty phrase, but it is with power and meaning and truth.  We have no reason to be afraid if He says we don't.  So we do not have to "let our hearts be afraid."  Even though in this world we have tribulation and resistance and many times it seems, defeat...yet He has overcome the world and anything it can do to harm us or separate us from His love, or defeat His purposes from being carried out.  Our own purposes, goals and dreams may have to be taken to the cross, but His will be carried out, and His purpose for each of His children is more than we can fathom. 

So push on dear child of God! don't be dismayed.  Push through every obstacle that comes against you and keep looking and pushing forth toward the Son.  

COMMUNION WITH THE SON

O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free!

Refrain:
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

Helen H. Lemmel, 1922

"Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus"

Song of Solomon 1:4  Draw me after you; let us run. The king has brought me into his chambers.

Psalm 27:8  You have said, "Seek my face." My heart says to you, "Your face, LORD, do I seek."

Are you weary and troubled?  Aren't we all at times?  And more so as the days grow evil. So many times in our Christian walk, we find ourselves dry, empty, filled with the cares of this life or the bitterness of the evil and deception in this world, fearful of what may happen, and we have failed to see our eyes somehow have gotten off from the Lord, our hearts away from the fellowship and communion with Him, and we've become preoccupied and distracted and yes, manipulated.  The Lord is always faithful to draw us back, again and again, as we become distracted.  He is faithful to draw us again to His love, to the communion He desires to have with us daily.  That communion is but a glimpse of the perfect communion we will have with Him one day in eternity, when corruption puts on incorruption and we are clothed with perfection. 

We may sing songs in church, we may participate in "worship services" and think we are worshiping the Lord, yet if our hearts are not in a daily communion of worship, we have not yet entered into the true worship that that Father seeks.

John 4:23-24  But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. (24)  God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

Is there maybe a lack of worship in your daily life?  Is this perhaps what is missing?  Do you take time to sit at His feet before you start your day, meditating on His Word, asking Him to speak to you there, interacting with Him as He does, bowing down to Him, praising Him, thanking Him, trusting Him, surrendering your heart to His?  Do you see your daily life as an act of worship as you go on in that fellowship throughout the day, pondering what He has spoken to you that morning?  Do you act on what He has revealed to you?  I know I find too often I fail to, until He reminds me again, in His loving way, that my act of worship is to take His Word to heart, bow down to it, and believe it and act on it, exercising faith in it. 

There are times we find ourselves in a spiritual dessert, and soon anxiety takes over our lives, or bitterness, or some other fruit of the flesh, rather than the Spirit.  When this happens it is a signal for us to again, "turn our eyes upon Jesus" and "look full in His wonderful face" and when we do the "things of this earth will truly grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace."  We do that by once again taking time to worship Him. 

Revelation 3:20  Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

John 14:23  Jesus answered him, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

 

To think of it! God Himself desires our communion!!  God's love for us is greater by far than we can fathom!  We fail to receive and experience the love He longs to reveal to us.  He delights in us and wants us to delight in Him.  We are missing out if we think we are serving Him, yet are not enjoying that communion with Him each day through His Spirit in our hearts opening up His Word to us, making it personal and living and life giving.  If we are not responding to His love, giving thanks, offering ourselves in worship to Him, then we are missing out on the most vital part of our walk with Him.  If we are not abiding in Him each day how can we bare any fruit at all?

John 15:4-5  Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. (5)  I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

Too often in my own life, when I find myself weary, dry, or fearful, I have to ask myself, "am I abiding?"  Another way of looking at it in modern terms "am I plugged in?"  "Am I vitally connected?"  He says it is in keeping His commands or His Word that we stay abiding in Him, and in doing so we show we truly love Him (John 15:9-12).  That does not mean to live by the law, but to hear His Word, His heart, and agree and seek to do all His will.  He has shown us His will in His Word.  If we abide in His love, we walk in His love toward one another.

One day I was depressed and weary of life and just complaining in myself.  I was prompted by the Holy Spirit as I read John 15 to "abide in Him" which meant keeping His Word which told me to trust in Him, to believe in His purposes and His love, to rejoice in Him.  I could not hold onto my weariness then, but had to give myself to His Word and do so.  His presence filled me and gave me the power of it as soon as I made the choice.  So many days I find in this dreary world I need fresh manna from above.  I need to go to Him and listen to Him and worship Him.  To worship Him is an act of surrender and faith.  You can't worship Him and hold onto your own ways of thinking and doing.  No wonder He calls us to worship Him.  It is for our own sake when we do.  As we delight in Him we are set free from ourselves and from any power on this earth that could harm us. 

Worship causes our attention to focus on Him, His glory, all He is and does and has promised.  We forget ourselves and are filled with faith as we do so.  Worship is a privilege only God's true born again children have.  No person who does not have His Spirit is able to truly worship Him.  It is His presence inside of us that draws us to Him and reveals Him to us so that we can truly worship His glory, which then becomes our glory and delight. 

Worship is not a hyped up emotion.  Anyone can have their senses stimulated and brought to a sense of euphoria through the flesh.  Loud music that stimulates the senses does not create true worship.  Worship is of the heart as we look at His glory, and see Him, and respond by bowing down our hearts in admiration and surrender to such an awesome God.  We may say we want to be like Jesus, but in order to do so we must walk with Him, fellowship with Him, and abide in His Word.  There is no other way.  We grow more and more like Him as we commune with Him. 

Lord, open our eyes to see, our hearts to receive, our ears to hear, and our spirits to worship You!