(This post is more of a Bible teaching than my usual posts. It is taken from something that I shared with my fellowship and I thought might bless you too. So, here goes…)
I had a Bible teacher who used to call problems, “opportunities”. Because, as he said, “Every problem is an opportunity to believe God and see His promises in action”. At first, I thought this was an overly optimistic idea. Calling problems by another name doesn’t make them better. But, as I grew in my understanding of God’s Word, I began to comprehend what my teacher meant by his statement.
First of all, we must recognize that problems come from the world, not from God. Never from God. So why should we, as born-again sons of God, accept the problems that the world dishes out? We are in this world, but we are not of this world. We do not have to conform to the world’s way of thinking. Worldly people accept problems as ‘just part of life’. But we don’t have to! Yes, we may have problems in our lives, but we don’t need to accept them as inevitable, because God is stronger than the worst problem the world can throw at us! And since we have God in Christ in us (Colossians 1:27) – we have God’s strength in us, and we can overcome whatever BS the world sends our way!
1 John 4:4 – Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. This might be a familiar verse to a lot of us, but we should not take it for granted. We must believe that this verse is true, because it is. Christ in us IS greater than the adversary who is in the world. And not only is God in Christ in us more powerful than the devil, but Christ in us also gives us the same authority over the devil that Jesus Christ has.
Colossians 2:15 – AMP
When he (Jesus Christ) had disarmed the rulers and authorities [those supernatural forces of evil operating against us], he made a public example of them [exhibiting them as captives in his triumphal procession], having triumphed over them through the cross.
We have that same ability and authority to disarm and defeat our spiritual enemies. We can parade them as our captives in our own triumphal procession because we are identified with Christ. (Remember John 14:12 – the works that I do, shall ye do also, and greater works…?) We have all the ability that Christ had on earth because God gave it to us when we got saved.
John 10:10 – The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy:
The devil is out to rob us, hurt us and if possible, ruin our lives. That is his mission. BUT he has NO legal right to do any of those things. Jesus Christ already defeated him, and we share in that victory.
That being said, there are still times that sons of God get tricked, or times they may give in or quit. At those times, it might look like the adversary is winning. And he will eagerly take credit for that! But he can ONLY win if we as God’s sons allow it. And there is a big difference between winning because you won and winning because your opponent let you win. The devil cannot win unless let him. Make up your mind that you will NOT let him win!
The thief is always lurking around and looking for a chance to do his dirty work. We may not be able to stop his lurking, but we have the right and the power to kick his butt and send him packing if he tries to pull any of his stunts on us.
John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: Does the verse end there?? NO!! The second part says:
“I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
That is Jesus Christ talking. And who is in us? Christ in us the hope of glory! The second part of this verse totally overrides the first part, grammatically and in practice.
What Jesus Christ accomplished was so magnanimous that not only can we outwit the schemes of the adversary, but we can also triumph over them so much so that we can live a super abundant life in every single category of living.
The Greek word for “life” in John 10:10 is zoe – which means life in all of its manifestations. We can be abundant in every manifestation of living. Not just some or even most, but EVERY LAST ONE! And that includes our weakest traits. Just because we may not be strong in some category, or even if we’ve failed many times in some category, that in no wise diminishes the power that we have as sons of God. We just need to understand and/or remember the power we have and use it.
So, we know that the more than abundant life is the truth of God’s Word. However, we may not be living it in some category right now. Does that make this verse untrue? Of course not! So, what’s the answer?
Romans 12:2 – And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
We must control our thinking.
The word prove in this verse means to examine or test for authenticity. What are we supposed to prove? It says, “prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” God is saying, “Go ahead, put my will to the test to see if it’s genuine. Try it out. Scrutinize it. See for yourself.”
And where do we find that perfect will of God? In His Word. The Word of God reveals the Will of God, just like our words reveal what we want known.
How do we prove God’s Will? By renewing our minds and transforming ourselves into new creatures that are no longer conformed to the confines of this evil world.
And how do we renew our minds? By changing our thinking to align with what God’s Word says and acting accordingly. We change our mind’s diet. We feed ourselves the truth of God’s Word and avoid the detrimental sustenance that the world lives on. It’s a lifelong endeavor. It’s not just one and done. We must continually feed on God’s Word. And if worldly thoughts creep in, we must crush them with the truth.
Look at Romans 8:18
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Nothing unpleasant that happens in this life will matter one bit after Christ comes back to gather us together! And as far as I understand, we won’t even remember this junk. So, why not think about our problems in those terms. For example, we can say, “Yes, this problem sucks. I hate it. BUT, compared to the glorious liberty of sons of God, it is just a minor inconvenience. The love, joy and peace of God totally overshadow this circumstance. And I know that I will live forever with God and His son Christ Jesus. So this problem right now is but a grain of sand compared to all the glorious beaches of eternity!”
Here’s another idea. We can heed the advice I heard in a teaching once, “When something goes wrong, don’t ask, why is this happening? Instead ask, what amazing thing is God going to do for me now?”
Jeremiah 32:17 – Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:
This is just one of the many verses that help us see Who God truly is and what He can and will do for us. It is one of my very favorite verses.
Find your favorite verses and fill your mind with their truth. And should negative thoughts creep in, allow that truth to burn white hot and disintegrate those stupid worldly thoughts before they can take root. And when we do that, our problems will absolutely become wonderfully successful opportunities to see God’s promises in action!
Note to my readers: God is able to turn any problem into a victory. And our ultimate victory is absolutely guaranteed. There is no problem on earth that can stop us from going to heaven!
Thanks for reading.