Sometimes, life is hard. Things get tough. If someone told you when you got saved that everything would be easy from now on and that you’d skip through life on flowery beds of ease, they lied (sorry!).
Because we have an enemy in the earth (1 Peter 5:8). We live on an earth with a curse – we can’t be surprised when trials and troubles come our way.
But! As children of the Living God, we are can rise above them! We can come out on top, and keep our joy all along the way! We have all the power we need to be overcomers in the midst of adverse circumstances (Romans 8:37).
The Will of the Lord
So what do we do when the going gets tough? Ephesians 5:17-21 tells us what the will of the Lord is:
1) be not drunk with wine, but be filled with the spirit,
2) speak to yourself in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord
3) give thanks always for all things unto God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ
4) submit yourselves one to another in the fear of God
Whenever the pressures of life start squeezing us like a tube of toothpaste, it’s good to check up on ourselves using these verses. This is the will of the Lord for us.
We can ask ourselves: “Am I doing these things? Am I staying filled? Do I have a song in my heart? Am I constantly thankful? Am I submitting myself to others and being teachable? These things are God’s will for me!”
Burn Brighter
Keep in mind that Paul is writing here in Ephesians to people who are already born again and spirit filled (Acts 19:6). So he’s obviously not telling them to get filled – he’s telling them to live filled.
Romans 12:11 says, “Be fervent in spirit.” Other versions of that verse say, “Be glowing in spirit…have your spirit aglow….be on fire with the spirit….maintain the glow.”
Throughout the New Testament we find God’s people being re-filled with the Holy Spirit in order to "keep their glow." Look in Acts 4:23-31, where the church was being persecuted, but as they prayed in the midst of trouble, signs and wonders followed.
It just goes to show that when the devil turns up the heat, you and I can burn brighter in the spirit!
God wants us to maintain the glow! He tells us to have a song in our heart! To laugh in the face of circumstances! The worst could be happening, but you and I can maintain our glow in the midst of adverse circumstances!
Endure Hardness
If you live for God, sometimes you have to swim upstream. It’s not always easy. Second Timothy 2:3 says, “Endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ."
Recently I was going through some things and I'll just be honest with you -- I was tempted to feel sorry for myself. Then I read this scripture, and it was like a reminder from the Lord. Endure hardness! Anyone can maintain their glow when things are easy.
But the Bible tells us that in the midst of hard times, we can thank God for His goodness. Faith says that we're going to come out on top! This is just another opportunity to exercise our faith, believe Him, and watch Him work!.
Nowhere in the Bible do we find God telling Christians to gripe and complain. Remember Paul. If anyone had opportunity to compain, it was him. He was beaten, persecuted, betrayed, nearly drowned, and thrown in prison, amongst other things.
Yet he said, "I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord" (Phil. 3:8).
I encourage you this month to rise up when things get tough. Follow the instructions in Ephesians 5 listed above and determine to maintain your glow no matter what's happening all around you. As it says in that scripture, in the midst of trouble, that is the will of the Lord for you!
