Maturity Through Adversity
by Daryl O'Neil
Today, I want to share with you a principle I believe will help strengthen each of us.
I believe God desires for us to know His ways and His patterns. He is building His church on the foundation of the apostles & prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone. He is building strong, healthy kingdom minded believers who can “endure hardness as a good soldier.” We are an advancing army who must be able to have strong inner toughness to succeed in this life and impact others.
As followers of Christ, we are to be desirous of having His nature developed within us. God desires for patience to be developed in us. He suffers long with man-kind and desires us to be like Him. Patience is one of the chief characteristics of an apostolic people. Apostolic people are ordinary people who are able to do extraordinary things by the power of the Holy Spirit. I believe I’m talking about who God wants you to be!
Get a bible and look at 2Corinthians 12:9-12, patience is a mark of apostolic people.
I declare to you that the Lord your God desires to make you into an individual believer, who will be able to properly view every adverse situation in the proper perspective. Doing so will cause us to fully mature and be able to overcome in every situation. We are going to have trouble in our lives, but if we know the purpose for it we can rejoice, pass the test and kick the devil right in the backside!!
I believe it is important to define two words that are key to spiritual maturity: adversity and patience and see how they work together.
What is adversity? In the Hebrew it is the word tsarah (tsaw-raw') meaning affliction, anguish, distress, tribulation, trouble, adversary.
The word patience comes from the Greek word: hupomone meaning 1) steadfastness, constancy, endurance a) in the New Testament, the characteristic of a person who is not swerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and sufferings. Let’s see them together in the word of God.
James 1:2-4
Dear brothers, is your life full of difficulties and temptations? Then be happy, for when the way is rough, your patience has a chance to grow. So let it grow, and don't try to squirm out of your problems. For when your patience is finally in full bloom, then you will be ready for anything, strong in character, full and complete. (TLB)
· Adversity tests our ability to focus on our purpose, stay loyal to our God and permit patience to grow.
In the Christian life, there are trials and temptations. Successfully overcoming these adversities produces maturity and strong character. With this being the case, let’s not resent unexpected trouble when it comes but look at it as a tool of development of Godly character.
Let’s look at Israel/Judah and see what we can learn from them as a prophetic picture of us as God’s people and what attitudes we may have and how God views things: Isa. 30:1-17.
· The people of Judah were rebellious. They wanted to do things their own way.
· In a time of trouble and adversity they sent a bribe to the Egyptians trying to buy protection when God would have been their protection and wisdom if they had only asked Him. (We often when in trouble tend to seek advice, comfort, counsel everywhere except God. We also always want an easy way out of trouble.)
· Judah needed help, but did not want to hear the truth. Verses 9-10
God says, we should be prepared when adversity comes, sometimes He’s permitting it!
The Lord wants to be gracious unto us, but He wants us to ask Him for help. He will not override our desire.
God releases His teachers during times of adversity that we may hear Him and turn from our own way of how things can become better for us.
Your trouble you are going through is not always about other people. If viewed in the right perspective, it might be about us growing up.
· Adversity, when it comes into our lives can mature us. God will permit adversity to come, because when everything is going well we may not hear God as clearly as we can if we are going through a time of testing or shaping of our character.
Points to remember:
· God is a God who delivers out of adversity.
· Don’t faint in the day of adversity. Prov 24:10
· Real brothers & sisters are born during adversity. Prov 17:17
· Listen for truth during times of adversity. Is. 30:9-10
· Ask what in my character is being developed during this test. James 1:5
· God is making us what He has purposed us to be.
May God give us grace to endure, persevere, receive truth, not faint, and not rebel.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
