Stand Fast, Take Courage

“I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved” (Psalm 16:8).

Here is some encouragement to seasoned warriors, for people who have lived long enough in this life to have had their struggles, learned from them, and are still standing to march on. We all have access to God and He wants us to encourage each other, so this is your encouragement to stand fast in the Lord.

Why are big battles difficult? Because we are mortal, the outcome unknown, and because the battle is real and not in theory. In a real battle you are forced to fight because God, the general, is the one who puts you there and asks you to take this ground. And take it you must, even in your imperfect, fallible state.

So how do you approach a battle? Focus. Focus on something bigger stronger and more stable than you are. Focus on the One who says He will go before you and be your rear guard, on the One who gives you your weapons, ‘the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit,’ and who teaches you how to use them to their fullest. Focus on the One who has everything in perfect control and is working it out for much good for His kingdom in ways that even you can’t know. And, focus on the One who, even if you were to get a little bit beat up in the process, will scoop you up in His arms and hold you.

“The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deuteronomy 33:27).

That is our goal for all battles that will come our way –to focus on the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who bought us with the blood of Jesus and is conquering the world for Himself somehow using our trials to do it. It is a privilege and an honor to be so used.

So stand fast. Take Courage.

John 16:33 states the words of our Lord: “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace, In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

Swimming in a storm

“Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me! for my soul trusts in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, until these calamities have passed by. I will cry out to God Most High to God who performs all things for me” (Ps 57:1, 2).

Trials are hard. Sometimes in a hard trial you can be on top of it emotionally, having given it to God, but then, out of the blue, you get hit with an emotional reaction. This can be frustrating but this is how I see trials in this metaphor on swimming.

Sometimes your trial assigned to you is swimming in an indoor pool doing a mile. It is work, but you learn how to do it and reach the end. Sometimes your trial is swimming a mile in a lake. Hard work again, but you are able to do it by remembering what you had learned in your previous trials in the pool, so that even with difficulty, you finish the mile in the lake. But sometimes, you are asked to swim in an open ocean at night in a storm. This brings swimming up to a whole new level. You now need to remember what you learned both in the pool and in the lake to attempt the ocean successfully. Even though it is still a mile you are swimming, it is a different matter altogether, because in the ocean you are dealing with cold, with darkness, with waves that will batter you, roll over you, and sometimes make you dip under their surface with their strength. But, the amazing thing is, that you keep popping back up to the surface to keep going. Why? Because you have a heavenly coach right with you saying, “stroke, stroke, ‘at a girl, now come back up, good, steady, keep fighting, don’t give up, come back up, now stroke.”

With your heavenly coach, along with the boat crew cheering on the side as you go, you make it. You make it based on the strength of the One who is teaching you to swim in high seas. I like the fact very much that there is such a strong, caring God who loves His mortal, weak children so much that He even puts His hand under their chin when they need it.