EXERCISING BIBLICAL FAITH IN TIMES OF ADVERSITY – PART ONE

Beloved friends, once again I bring you greetings…in The Name of JESUS CHRIST. I do trust that the Word of GOD you’ve been hearing is making impact and is influencing your life for good. I pray that the Spirit of The Almighty GOD will continue to help you. Give serious attention to the Word of GOD.

Today, I will be speaking on Exercising Biblical Faith in Time of Adversity.

EXERCISING BIBLICAL FAITH IN TIME OF ADVERSITY

Let us pray.

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, the Father of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, we come to YOU in a time like this. We’re really in a time of adversity; but YOU have provided us a solution. The solution is faith in you! Faith in you. There are others who, overtime, in the world, have had adversities in their time and they survived, by exercising faith in GOD. it is our turn to go through the adverse time we are in, and YOU want us to exercise the faith of our LORD JESUS CHRIST.

I pray, LORD, that this message will make impact and influence YOUR people for good in JESUS Mighty Name. Amen!

I want to read from a portion of the Bible in Psalms 27. Remember that we are talking of exercising biblical faith in time of adversity. Follow me as I read from psalm 27. We may not read the whole portion. Look at what the Bible says,

Psalm 27:1-6

The Lord is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my life;
Of whom shall I be afraid?
² When the wicked came against me
To eat up my flesh,
My enemies and foes,
They stumbled and fell.
³ Though an army may encamp against me,
My heart shall not fear;
Though war may rise against me,
In this I will be confident.

⁴ One thing I have desired of the Lord,
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the Lord,
And to inquire in His temple.
⁵ For in the time of trouble
He shall hide me in His pavilion;
In the secret place of His tabernacle
He shall hide me;
He shall set me high upon a rock.

⁶ And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me;
Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle;
I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord.

Amen!

Let’s just stop there. I said we are speaking on Exercising Biblical Faith in Time of Adversity.

The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines adversity as a state or instance of serious or continued difficulty or misfortune.  No person will deny that we are in a period of adversity even in our nation now. The period of adversity is not a desirable period at all. Every human being detests that period. But human history is filled with such periods, and people survived.

We are so privileged to be the people of GOD. We have high potential of survival. In fact, it is even a period of great growth in the faith of our LORD JESUS CHRIST.

Faith is a weapon; It’s one weapon we must use now in this period. It is an armour or a piece of weapon called the shield of faith – called the shield of faith. It shields the heart area. Faith in GOD comes by hearing the Word of GOD. Fear is the opponent of faith. It also comes by hearing. That means you need to control what you hear. You need to be very conscious of what we hear.

I want to read from proverbs 24:10

Proverbs 24:10

¹⁰ If you faint in the day of adversity,
Your strength is small.

If you faint: if you get discouraged in the day of adversity, if you fell in the day of adversity; if you are coward in the day of or in the period and time of adversity, that means your strength is small. Your strength is small.

How many will admit that their strength is small? There is a solution. You can’t remain in that state. It is the will of GOD that you be strengthened in the inner man: you gain strength in faith to stand against adversity – to stand against the wiles of the enemy – to stand against the very thing the enemy wants to happen in your life. People who cannot outstand adversity go ahead and take their lives or they resign to faith – they resigned to faith. They say, that is what the world has brought to them, and they resign to faith. No! No: we are not talking of physical strength; we are talking of spiritual strength. Spiritual strength. You will not fail when you have heard the word of GOD today…in the name of JESUS. Amen!

I say, you will not faint…in JESUS’ Name. Tell someone, do not faint; be strong in this time. It will come and go. It will come and pass. The Bible says that, it will come and go. It will come and pass. It came to pass. Have you not read the Bible that it came to pass? It will come and go.

David was one biblical character that faced adversity but conquered it by faith in The Almighty GOD. Like David we will also sustain our faith and Conquer this period of adversity…in The Name of JESUS CHRIST.

I say to you that when you contact faith in GOD, you will go through this period of adversity, and you will come out of it successfully. Do you believe me? Believe the word of GOD. Psalm 27 is the confession of a conqueror: someone who stood by faith against adversity. Notice that all the tenses are there: present, past, future. look at verse 1.

Psalm 27

The Lord is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my life;
Of whom shall I be afraid?

Friends, that is present tense dealings. The LORD is. Let me ask you, is the LORD your light and your salvation? When the LORD becomes your light and your salvation you will go through adversity. Many people have gone through adversity. I – I went through adversity. And we are still going through adversity. The body of CHRIST in Nigeria is going through adversity – it’s going through a time of adversity. But I tell you, GOD says we will come out of it. We will conquer. Because the LORD is our light and our salvation, whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life. Present tense! Not was – is. The LORD is. The LORD is. Look at verse 2.

When the wicked came against me
To eat up my flesh,
My enemies and foes,
They stumbled and fell.

When the wicked…that is past tense.

When the wicked came against me. The psalmist is leveraging on what the LORD has done in time past. The wicked came against him to eat up his flesh. The enemies and his foes – they  wanted him to stumble, but the LORD is our present help in our salvation. The past dealings of GOD is to enable us stand on another pedestal. David said he killed a bear that came to eat up the sheep; killed a lion. And based on those past dealings, GOD helped him. He stood against Goliath and said, I also, by the help of GOD, will kill you. And he did.

Verse 3 is in the future.

Though an army may encamp against me,
My heart shall not fear;
Though war may rise against me,
In this I will be confident.

That’s the future. So there is even no guarantee that adversity will not occur in the the future. But GOD wants us to go through it, in the past, in this time and in future. Prepare! HE said, when he comes: when an army comes and camps against us, our heart shall not fear. Though war may  rise against us, and of course, there are the drums of war. Drums of war in Nigeria. War. War. War. Why will you be afraid? We have our GOD. We have a GOD who delivers. GOD delivered HIS People in time past. HE will also deliver us.

My heart shall not fear. May your heart not fear in this period of adversity…in the name of JESUS CHRIST. May the LORD deliver you. May your heart not collapse…in the name of JESUS CHRIST. Look at verse 4.

⁴ One thing I have desired of the Lord,
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the Lord,
And to inquire in His temple.

That is intense desire. What is your desire, my friends? What is your desire? Here the pharmacist says, I desire one thing, and that is what I’m seeking, that I may dwell in the house of the LORD.

Friends, what is your desire? Do you hunger and thirst for GOD? It is only when we do so…the Bible says,

For in the time of trouble
He shall hide me in His pavilion;
In the secret place of His tabernacle
He shall hide me;
He shall set me high upon a rock.

Friends, I want to encourage you, this GOD is able to lead you through this period of adversity. This GOD we are serving, the GOD that made the heavens and earth is available to hide you in time of trouble. But you need to be committed to HIM. You need to be close to HIM. You need to spend time with HIM. You need to know HIM. You need to follow HIM – so that you will get out of the adversity. It will be guaranteed that GOD will keep you away from adversity. Notice that he has confidence in GOD.

I doubt if you can have confidence in a person you do not know very well. if the disciples had known JESUS very well they will not have woken him up to ask, Carest not doubt that we perish? HE has already said, let us get over to the other side.

Nothing can hinder what GOD has set out to do. No devil can stop it. So JESUS came up and said, peace, be still. And they turned to themselves and began to ask themselves, what manner of man is this or who is this that even the wind and the sea hear and obey HIM?

So friends, get to know JESUS through studying the Bible. Know what HE can do. Know HIS person – HIS life: HIS dislikes, HIS dislikes, HIS ability. As you do, you develop confidence in HIM.

If you have not accepted HIM as your LORD and savior you are a step behind. Come up by accepting HIM as your Savior and as your LORD, then your safety in this period of adversity will be guaranteed.

Let us Pray.

PRAYER

My Father, The King of Kings, in time past YOU led people who trusted in YOU. YOU helped them go through adversity. So will YOU also do for us in this time: in this time, in our nation. YOU will lead your people through adversity; and we will come out of it, and we will glorify YOUR Name. As many as are committing their lives unto YOU, O GOD, saying, LORD JESUS, come into my life and be my LORD and Saviour…LORD accept them, and grant that they will develop confidence in you, and be saved in time of adversity.

GOD bless you…in The Name of JESUS CHRIST. AMEN!