‘’ Now I want you to know and continue to rest assured, brethren, that what [has happened] to me [this imprisonment] has actually only served to advance and give a renewed impetus to the [spreading of the] good news (the Gospel).
13 So much is this a fact that throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest [here] my imprisonment has become generally known to be in Christ [that I am a prisoner in His service and for Him].
14 And [also] most of the brethren have derived fresh confidence in the Lord because of my chains and are much more bold to speak and publish fearlessly the Word of God [acting with more freedom and indifference to the consequences]’’ .(Philipians 1 v 12-14 AMP)
Adversity is not something you would wish upon your worst enemy, it’s not a word you want to hear, it’s not an experience you want to have. In life no matter how much we may try to avoid such, we find ourselves in such a situation at some point. According to Merriam Webster adversity is defined ‘’a state or condition, or instance of serious or continued difficult’’. In the middle of all the pain, the suffering, the misfortunes, lies life changing opportunities, transformation and restoration, after all God wouldn’t have allowed it if it was not for our benefit. Difficulty has a way of changing people living them with a fresh view about life and what is required, so I do believe difficulties can result in revelation about your life. In American history, its founding fathers like George Washington , to the businessmen Vanderbuilt ,Rockerfeller, JP Morgan , Ford to the present day Gates and Buffet , these are men who had to overcome difficult who choose to see something else besides the pain and suffering and in the course changed the whole world .
When you are in difficulties it seems all is lost there is no hope for the future you hear a voice telling you are done that’s the end, it can even drive you to being suicidal. No matter how hard it is don’t listen to it (That’s the accuser of men, the devil) .Keep your mind set on Christ and always remember this from the Lord ,
‘’For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your FINAL OUTCOME ’’ (Jeremiah 29 v 11).
Please note the capital letters , in order to survive we need to know this God and trust Him since He thinks of good about us .God is the Alpha and Omega ,the author and creator of the heavens , the earth , our life .God was there before there was a problem for us to worry about ,when darkness filled the whole vast of the earth ,He existed before He created the earth , the heavens and everything else .God is there in the past , present and the future ,everything is under His control .God can command evil spirits to take control of a person like He did to Saul (1 Samuel 16 v 14 ),He can also command them to leave like He did in Garasenes to a man who lived in a graveyard (Legion). God’s sovereignty is not questionable, His love for us is so great that He allows us to go through certain hard places, which we cannot understand so that we become better and able to handle what He has in store for us. If you find yourself in that situation just know that your moment of expansion, the place you learn handle more.
In simple terms our life is a controlled experiment and the one in charge has good plans for you, to prosper not to harm to give hope and a future. Is it that necessary we have to go through the pains and suffering? I don’t agree personally because it’s a place that takes all you have, a place where tears become your best friend , a place you get so lonely ,a place where you can even lose your mind and all you want to do is give up .Myself I have gone through this so many times, a place of uncertainty and if there is a thing I have to master is to trust God for He knows best ,He knows the outcome beforehand. God’s ways are not ours, He has the whole picture whilst we focus on having the difficulties removed, all we want is soft life. To quote one of the greatest Apostles of our time Thomas D Jakes, ‘’some lessons are best learnt in the valley, some on the mountains’’. Life is a journey and you can’t master of you have to in a single moment, it takes a life time .The good thing is you not alone in this road some great men have walked it before you .Adversity is not that you have sinned or that God has forgotten you, it’s there to test if you have mastered some principles. In school they don’t give tests and exams because they don’t like you, but like you so much to see that you succeed. Job had to go through a test, in the beginning of the book of Job, God called him the most righteous men of his time, but that did not spare him from adversity and in the end Job had a renewed view about the Lord and also about life (revelation) .
Then Job said to the Lord,
2 I know that You can do all things, and that no thought or purpose of Yours can be restrained or thwarted.
3 [You said to me] Who is this that darkens and obscures counsel [by words] without knowledge? Therefore [I now see] I have [rashly] uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
4 [I had virtually said to You what You have said to me:] Hear, I beseech You, and I will speak; I will demand of You, and You declare to me.
5 I had heard of You [only] by the hearing of the ear, but now my [spiritual] eye sees You.
6 Therefore I loathe [my words] and abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes.(Job 42 v 1-6).
Job was using his mouth to speak about God before, he was a righteous man but here he is saying he had lived his life according to hearsay. Job along the journey he had an encounter with the Lord, Jesu help someone have an encounter with you. Job goes on to say now my eyes see because He had experienced God in person . This is very interesting coming from a man God was bragging about his holiness and righteousness.
The Apostle Paul got imprisoned in Rome and whilst awaiting trial that could end his life did not lose hope. He kept his faith and produced some wonderful revelations that transformed many people’s lives and will continue to do so. Paul did not enjoy where he was , it pained him every day and at some point I believe he wanted to give up but he knew he had to carry the cross of Jesus no matter how heavy it may become .Paul used his adversity to advance the Gospel of Christ , he could have given up but he knew his destiny ,he knew what God was doing through him was great than him .Paul realized there was going to be a prize for his pains .In 2 Timothy 4 v 5 Paul encourages Timothy ,’’ But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry’’. Paul encourages believers to do their best even when the environment is not conducive, a bad situation is not an excuse to engage in ungodly behavior. God does not lower His standard .You must go through adversity with a purpose because it makes you stronger .
One of the crazy things about hard times is people desert you , devil uses this to his advantage .Demas and other friends of Paul had deserted him in his time of need, only Luke was with him (from those who were not on missions ) .You might have lost friends , people who you have known for a time , and have grown attached to ,they left the moment you needed them the most .The devil knows how vulnerable you become when alone , he tries to put all sort of ideas in your mind , the most common is give up and your life is not worth much, better you kill yourself and even God is no longer on your side . Silence that voice of the accuser ,God is for you He still loves you whether or not you have sinned or going through a hard time .He will never leave your side .
Paul had preached in many countries to many people and helped many of them ,but here he is in trouble wanting all the emotional and physical support he could get .No one is on his side except for Luke .Paul had to preach and encourage himself , Paul had the attitude of a fighter and also of a winner .Paul never lost his sense of mission and purpose ,he fought a good fight .Paul says my chains are in Christ , not in the economic , political or social environment .His mind was convinced , totally certain Jesus was in control of his situation .the Apostle Paul is speaking to you in your situation ….
28 And do not [for a moment] be frightened or intimidated in anything by your opponents and adversaries, for such [constancy and fearlessness] will be a clear sign (proof and seal) to them of [their impending] destruction, but [a sure token and evidence] of your deliverance and salvation, and that from God.
29 For you have been granted [the privilege] for Christ’s sake not only to believe in (adhere to, rely on, and trust in) Him, but also to suffer in His behalf.
30 So you are engaged in the same conflict which you saw me [wage] and which you now hear to be mine [still]. (Philippians 1 v 28-30)
Paul’s attitudes toward adversity was so incredible even though he could not plant more churches whilst in prison but he kept focused. How could God let such a man go through all this? Adversity has a way of bringing out the best out of all and help you to advance the Gospel of Christ .
Paul wrote about 14 books in the bible including Hebrews, mentored John Mark who wrote the Gospel of Mark .The Gospel of Mark is the first written Gospel of Jesus Christ, all other Gospels are based on the book of Mark.
Jesus the Christ the messiah, the Son of God, the one sent to redeem the world from sin ,Jesus who was so loved by God also had to go through adversity and testing .When Christ came down to earth He became like us so that we had to be like Him ,He had to go through the pain the suffering ,the rejection , the humiliation .He had to be nailed on the cross .Whilst Christ was preaching and freeing mankind from their oppressions, Judas a man He had grown attached to and ate with over the years was busy approaching the High Priests so that he could assist them in their diabolical plan .
I wonder how Christ must have felt being betrayed like this .Peter a member of Jesus’s inner cycle who shared many emotional and wonderful moments ,Peter who promised Jesus that he would go with him to prison and would die with him, denied that he knew Jesus not just once but three times .When you need people around you in your darkest hour no one is available .Christ before being arrested he was in so much agony and I believe in fear also , had to pray for strength .In hard times you need no ordinary strength, only God’s strength can help you to overcome .God had to send an angel to pray with Jesus , he was in so much pain that the bible describes His tears and sweat as being red like blood. He must have felt like giving up because the sin of all humankind is heavy, Satan tormented Him with very crazy thoughts and ideas. The very people He was redeeming from sin, mocked, humiliated, spate on him as He made final steps to Calvary. What crime had this man committed, what had He done wrong? it’s not about what you have done it’s what God is doing through you .Jesus knew His purpose and He also had to carry the will of the Father .God is using your adversity to lay a road for others that will follow after you, maybe this never crossed your mind, that wife/girlfriend who left , that job you lost , that dream you lost, God is directing things in your life so you become better, a better you is more effective as a soldier in advancing kingdom territory .Jesus says, whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven, that experience is not a waste .
Joseph after He saw what God had done through his adversity had this to say to his brothers
‘’As for you, you thought evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring about that many people should be kept alive, as they are this day’’. (Genesis 50 V 20 )
Just like any of us Jesus become weak during trying times, He knew God will was hard but necessary for the greater good. I don’t have my strength, I don’t like where I ‘m but God’s will have to be done over my life because He knows what’s best for me and He knows everything, things beyond human reasoning. It’s not going to be easily , but I will have to depend on Him to carry me through. I will carry the words of prophet Isaiah which says, He (God) gives power to the faint and weary, and to him who has no might He increases strength, those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired. The bible says because of His (Jesus) pain and agony He prayed so intense and so intimate, close to God. Jesus wanted to show us that in Him we will conquer adversity and advance the Gospel.
As I have said before at some point in life will go through adversity, at times it will be so fierce that you will be pushed to your limits. Adversity will burn out all the impurities in your character such as pride, a better you means the gospel is advancing . Jesus prayed with so much focus and intensity when the spirit of death was hovering around Him, when pain was all over Him. Joseph was sold into slavery then wrongly accused by Portifa’s wife so that he became a better ruler when his time came .Our pains can become stepping stones into our destiny. Paul had to be imprisoned and rejected so that you and I can hear the wonderful gospel. In Egypt 21 people had to lose their lives in the hands of extremist organization ISIS because they refused to denounce Christ.
In some countries such as Iran Christians are persecuted daily, regarded as second-class citizens. Some have fled their homes some lost their lives because they believe in the one and true God. Their adversity is not going to stand in their way to get salvation. Job was a righteous man according to God himself, but he had to go through adversity, through trials through temptation that he become a better man. In the end God blessed him with more than he had before spiritually and physically. Job confessed that he knew God through second hand accounts, but his eyes got opened in adversity to see God and experience him first hand. So, every time you go through adversity remind yourself that what’s happening to you will work out in your favour. My prayer for you today is may the Holy Spirit possess you and enable you / help you through what you are going through it will come to an end one day. May the grace of God be upon you!