New Life

Finding opportunity in opposition has been our theme over the last two Sundays; here is another key in this regard: There are weapons for your overcoming warfare that are sanctioned by God.

The challenge is that His Word, the weapon sanctioned, attracts conflict. When you take a stand to actually believe God is good towards you, Satan comes along desperately creating storms around you that seem to indicate God does not care about you. The disciples discovered this when they crossed Lake Galilee with Christ on the way to the Gadarenes. A great storm arose and eventually the disciples woke Christ, who was asleep in the boat. "Teacher do you not care that we are perishing?" (Mark 4:38). Christ arose, rebuked the storm and then rebuked the disciples for their lack of faith in Him, the Living Word among them. They had seen the miracles, they knew because Christ had taught them. One of their problems was they succumbed to their immediate experience and condition, allowing that to steal their peace and rather choosing to empower that experience through fear.

The issue is not the size storm the enemy creates, but what will you resort to when dealing with that challenge? In the passage referred to the disciples never considered Christ as the option until literally all hell broke loose. Why wait until that moment before requesting Christ's help? They tried to handle the storm through their own fisherman's experience: strength and toil. The word of God is the sanctioned weapon of your warfare, nothing else. Within that word there are praises, prayers and plans by God for you and your life. Look at the examples of opportunities taken by the folk written about in the Bible. Know that they are there for our example. In conclusion realize Christ is in the boat with you, use the words He has given you that are found in the Bible.