TAKE THE NARROW ROAD
First of all, it is not hard to live victoriously and “have faith” when all in your life and world are well. But life is rarely all easy sailing. With every trial of life, you have a decision to make. You get to decide to either believe God and His promises or disbelieve God. Whatever you decide to believe, will determine the way you walk, even the very course of your life. You can walk by sight and natural ability, or walk by faith into all that God has promised by the Spirit.
Perhaps you are struggling with temptation. Decide to believe God that you are dead to sin (Rom 6:7,11), and thereby put to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit (Rom 8:13), until you are walking as a new creation. Perhaps you are struggling with a cold or empty relationship. Decide right now to love others, not because they deserve it, but because God loves you! Because it is who you are! Love until the love you have sown comes back to you. Perhaps the pressures of life are like a flood. Keep standing! Floods don’t last forever. Decide to stand on God’s promises for your life until your feet are established on the Rock, Jesus Christ. Perhaps you are enduring injustice or slights. Decide right now that God is your vindicator and your strong defense. Let go of defending yourself or what others think so that you can live uprightly and let Christ manifest His life through you as a demonstration to the world of His goodness. Every time you are tempted to believe you will not have the victory, remind yourself that the promises of God are yes and amen, and it is impossible for God to lie.
You probably are thinking “that is a tall order.” Yes, it is! In fact, you can’t do it without Jesus. The very things you struggle with are going to be the things that the Potter uses to conform you to the image of His Son. You will have to bow down and yield your ability so that you can stand up and experience the freeing and empowering life flow from above. If it were easy to do, it wouldn’t be a victory! If it were easy to do, you wouldn’t need Jesus or experience Christ in your life. So give thanks in all things. God is up to something good in your life. Take the narrow road of faith that leads to victory in Jesus, a testimony of God’s goodness, and a life satisfied in the Life hid above.
Victory is the result of standing in the truth and taking Jesus for all His promises when you have no immediate proof nor change. What is impossible for man is God’s opportunity to demonstrate Christ’s resurrection power. Resurrection power manifests in and through those who believe. So despite anything, decide to believe God for the victory. When everything is going south, determined to continue walking and facing north. Take the narrow road of faith. “I will go before you and make the rough places smooth; I will shatter the doors of bronze and cut through their iron bars. I will give you the treasures of darkness, and hidden wealth of secret places, so that you may know that it is I, The LORD, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name.” (Isaiah 45:2-3)
This was inspired by Lisa Schaffer, Executive Director of Lean on Me, who is an example of walking by faith, being conformed to the image of Christ, and living victoriously through the storms.