Hard times are real. Difficult situations are not new. The book of Eccl.1: 9 says, “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.” The hard time that you are experiencing now, or that you will ever experience is not new. In one way or another it has happened somewhere before. It may be new to you, but it is not new to man, it may be your first time to face this type of challenge, but it is not the first time that this category of challenge was faced by humanity. 1 Cor.13:10. Every difficult time that you will ever encounter in life is common to man. It is not alien to man, it is common to man.
Don’t allow any hard time to break you, to cause you to quit, give up and lose hope. Instead learn the principles that will make you harder than your hard time. When you are harder than your hard time, you will send your hard time packing and running from you!
Here are 3 Laws for Facing Hard times:
Law Number One:
Luke 9:62, “And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” Don’t quit because of negative circumstances. Don’t give up because it looks like your situations will never change and improve. Don’t abandon your goals because of disappointments and failure. Don’t throw in the towel and give up due to lack. Be it lack of money, lack of emotional support, lack of spiritual support and lack of physical support. Lack is not a good reason to quit a GOD given vision. Lack is not new under the sun. Lack is as old as humanity. It is not a strange and a new thing. Many people have passed through lack successfully and defeated it hands down- your case should not be different. In JESUS NAME, lack cannot and will not defeat you. Based on 2 Cor.2:14, I declare that you are a winner over every lack and over your current hard time Amen!
Remember this, in Deut. 1, the children of Israel had gone through 11 days of ferocious trials and harsh conditions in the wilderness. They had only two days journey between Kadesh barnea and the Promised Land. Yet, they failed because they looked back and considered the negative circumstances. They saw the giants, the sons of Anak and called themselves grasshoppers. May this never happen to you in JESUS NAME Amen! No matter how big your financial responsibilities are, no matter the giant size of the problems with your in-laws and marriage, GOD is saying to you, your problems is the grasshopper and you are the giant. 1 John 4:4. GOD in you is GREATER than the problems in front of you.
If you are faced with a hard time/s, this is what you must do. As long as what you are involved in is a GOD given vision, and you have done all that you are supposed to do well, stick with it, no matter the negative circumstances or conditions. Stay holy, stay in the Bible, GOD will exonerate you and will without fail turn the situation around to favor you. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” As a born again child of GOD, you love GOD, and GOD has called you according to a particular purpose. Stay in GOD’S purpose for your life and you will defeat every negative circumstance/s that will ever come your way. Don’t quit! Don’t give up! Do what Abraham did to his flesh when all natural hope failed. In Romans 4:19-21, “And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.”
Abraham in my paraphrase, ignored the circumstances and simply held on to what GOD promised him, knowing that GOD is able to fulfill HIS promises. Abraham trusted GOD, spoke the WORD of GOD and defeated the hard times of barrenness with a knock out punch Alleluia!
Perhaps, someone may say, you don’t understand my hard situation. For example, my condition is the following: a) I am a university graduate but I have no employment. (b) Because I have no employment, I have no transportation of my own, no housing of my own, and no money to maintain myself and my aging parents who are relying on me. (c) I am a born again Christian and I do pay my tithe and do my best. Yet, things are so difficult for me. How in the world can I not give up? It has been 5 years of looking for a good employment with no success. How can I get rid of my hard times and live a normal life?
Here is how to apply this Bible study to your situation and give your hard time a knock out punch:
2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”
The Bible is the manual or the guide that GOD has given to help us know how to approach and relate with GOD, how to relate with others, and how to solve our personal problems. The personal problem that you are facing and how to solve your specific problem may not be written word for word in the Bible, but examples of similar problems and principles that can solve your problems are definitely written in the Bible.
Your situation is real and hard, but it is not impossible to fix. Luke 1:37 says, “For with God nothing shall be impossible.” As long as you are a Christian, you must make up your mind to take the WORD of GOD, the Bible literal. The Bible says that nothing is impossible. In other words, your hard times are not impossible for GOD to handle or turn around. Believe this! This is the first step in dethroning your hard times and bringing it down to its normal size. Don’t buy the lie from the devil that your situation is beyond repair. It is a lie. All problems are solvable based on the proper application of the WORD of GOD. This is the motto that we have used in our church, Mountains of Praise, for years with numerous testimonies of miracles following the proper application of the Bible to individual lives and problems of life.
Pay attention to this, Psalms 91:1, “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” As difficult as your situation is, it is still under the rulership of the MOST HIGH. No problem of life is STRONGER than GOD. No hard time is higher than GOD. No challenge is superior to GOD. GOD ALMIGHTY is the MOST HIGH GOD! As long as you are HIS child, HE is the MOST HIGH in your life! Shout! GOD is my MOST HIGH GOD! GOD is HIGHER than this problem/s. Look at this, Philippians 2:9-11, “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” I have good news for you, by following the principles in the Bible; you will become harder than your hard times. When two opposing powers meet, the lesser power must bow. I declare that the powers of unemployment and every problem manufacturer in your life must bow to the NAME of JESUS CHRIST of Nazareth Amen!
Your hard time is not new or foreign to man. For example in Mathew 6:24-33, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
The disciples had similar hard times of lack while they were following JESUS. To the amazement of a carnal mind, JESUS did not get money to give to HIS disciples, instead, HE said to them, realign your life priorities and everything else in your life will start working normally. JESUS gave the DIVINE solution to lack which are these two simple statements:
1) Make GOD number ONE in your life according to the Bible. Proverbs 3:5
2) Live a lifestyle of holiness and obedience to GOD according to the Bible. Deut.28:1-2
This is the two failure proof principle of DIVINE prosperity in all areas of life. Do not waste your time trying something else. Nothing works except these two things. In fact in John 2:5, “His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.” Mary gave a simple but powerful message in the Bible. She said simply, whatever HE tells you to do, do it! This is the master key and the door to success in all areas of life.
Don’t quit and give up. It is not your portion. In life combat, someone must either win or give up and lose. As long as you don’t quit, the devil and his problems will have no choice but to quit and get out of your life Alleluia! Proverbs 12:13, “The wicked is snared by the transgression of his lips: but the just shall come out of trouble.” If you stick with GOD without giving up and quitting, the Bible says that you must come out with a testimony!
Let’s Pray:
FATHER, in the MIGHTY NAME of JESUS CHRIST of Nazareth, I believe in my heart and confess with my mouth that JESUS CHRIST is my SAVIOR and LORD Amen! LORD, please help me to humble myself, and make you the first in my life. Help me to live a holy lifestyle in order to see YOU in all areas of my life Amen!
FYI: Key numbers two and three are scheduled in the next Bible study series.
