Stay Positive 111 - How to Stay Strong in Challenging Times (Part 1)

0:00 You pray it and he can answer it. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. God will put the prayer in your heart to pray so that he can answer it. Goes into the hearts of the people, doesn't return void, it produces results. Hello everybody, I just wanna thank Pastor Anthony for inviting me to share this word with you today. I trust that this word is gonna speak to your heart. I believe it's a Rhema word for us in this season and in this time. I'm gonna talk to you today about how to stay strong in challenging times. With that in mind, I'm gonna go ahead and start reading from Isaiah chapter 60, verse one and two.

0:46 It says in this scripture, arise, shine, for your light has come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth and deep darkness the people, but the Lord will arise over you and his glory will be seen in you. I believe that we are living right smack in the middle of these two verses. We're living in a time and we're living in a season where darkness, gross darkness is covering the earth. There's many trials, there's many afflictions, there's many negative things going on in the earth, but at the same time, my friends, I want you to understand that the glory of God is rising in the church and God has given us weapons, God has given us tools and God has given us strategies whereby we can overcome the darkness, overcome the challenges that are facing us in this day and in this hour.

1:48 See, I know and I believe that we are a chosen generation, we are a royal priesthood, we are a holy people and we have been called and we have been ordained to live in a time such as this and those who God calls, he equips. He has put on the inside of each and every one of you the thing that you need to stand up and to be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. So as we enter into this message, I want you to keep that in mind, that yes, you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you, that yes, that you have been born for such a time as this, that yes, you have everything that you need to stand strong in these challenging times and what I'm gonna do for you today is I'm gonna highlight four specific things that will help you to stay strong in these challenging times.

2:43 The very first thing I wanna emphasize is that it's very important for us as we enter into this season, actually we already are in this season, it's very important that we intertwine our life with God. Let me say that again, it's very important that we intertwine our life with God. It's important that we put God first place in our lives. It is important that we make him Lord over our lives. It's important in this time and in this season that we give Jesus Christ our all. It's not a time and it's not a season for you and I to be on the fence.

3:25 It's either black or white. There's no in the middle, there's no in between. So if you're gonna stand strong in these challenging times, it's very important that you put God first place in your life. I'm gonna go ahead and read from Isaiah chapter 40, verse 28 through 31. Now if it sounds like I'm talking very fast, it's because I am. It's because I have a lot to say to you today. And I like what my son said to me one time. He paid me one of the highest compliments anybody could ever pay me. He said, Mommy, I like your ministry because you don't water down the Bible. You give us a lot of scriptures. And that's what I think we need my friends.

4:06 We need to war a good warfare. And the way we're gonna war a good warfare is by knowing the scriptures, understanding the scriptures, and practicing the scriptures. So if I give a lot of scriptures, and it seems like a lot to you, then I just encourage you to go back in the replay and listen to this message over and over and over, because faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. And this will encourage you and strengthen you in this challenging time. So Isaiah chapter 40, verse 28 through 31. It says here, have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the heavens and the earth, he neither faints nor is he weary.

4:52 Isn't that good news? We serve a God who is not fainting. We serve a God who is not weary. We serve a God who is not surprised by these challenging times. He says his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, and those who have no might, he increases strength. Even the youth shall faint, and be weary, and the young men, they will utterly fall. But those who wait upon the Lord shall what? They shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like an eagle. They shall run and not grow weary. They shall walk and not faint.

5:34 Now those of you that have been in the church a long time and are seasoned Christians, so to speak, this is a very familiar passage of scripture. But there's something I want to emphasize in this verse today, that's something you may have never heard before. When we look at this verse, it says here, those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. That word wait in the Hebrew, it means that they that wait upon the Lord, it's that word wait means, is the transliteration from the Hebrew, and it means to twist or to bind once a rope.

6:15 So those that wait upon the Lord, those that twist or bind once a rope, their life with God will not grow weary. They will mount up with wings like an eagle. They shall run and not grow weary. This verse reveals the active nature of intertwining one's life with the life of God. When we intertwine, when this intertwining is taking place, the person is made strong. He who waits, twists his life with God, is made strong. That's why we need to put God first place in our life.

6:55 So when you wait upon the Lord, and you intertwine your life with God, you are like this piece of rope, you are strong. And this rope can be used to pull some very heavy things. But if we don't intertwine our lives with God, and we don't put him first place, and we don't quote wait upon him, our lives become fragmented and weak. And God is saying to you today, I want you to intertwine your life with me so that you're made strong. He doesn't want you to grow weak. He doesn't want you to grow weary in well doing. He wants you to intertwine your life with him. See, many people are afraid to give God their all because they think that God wants to take something from them.

7:41 God does not wanna take anything from you. God wants your life. And when you give God your all, and you give him your everything, you are not only made strong, but your path is like the path of the righteous. Your path will grow brighter and brighter and brighter, and you will have hope for your future. So it's important that we intertwine our life with God. Okay, listen my friends, this is a very important truth. You have to know God for yourself. You have to know God for yourself. You have to have a personal, intimate relationship with God, with Jesus Christ for yourself.

8:24 You cannot rely on your mother's God. You cannot rely on your father's relationship with God. You cannot rely on your pastor or your leader's relationship and intimacy with God. You have to know God for yourself. You are the one that is responsible for intertwining your life with God. It is a personal responsibility. And as you do that, you are made strong, okay? Now, he says you'll mount up with wings like an eagle. Eagles are mentioned 32 times in the scriptures, and they are referred to as an example of the Christian life. Listen, I'll slow down for just a minute so you can breathe, okay?

9:07 Eagles are mentioned 32 times in scripture, and it's in reference to the Christian life. And God is saying here, when you wait upon me and intertwine your life with me, you're gonna mount up with wings like an eagle. And with that in mind, let's talk about the eagle. Eagles are incredible beings, they're unusual birds. And they are born, born to soar higher and faster than any bird. They are especially able to soar above the clouds and the storms. When it rains, and I've seen this in my backyard, okay?

9:48 When it rains, most birds head for shelter. But the eagle is the only bird that in order to avoid the rain soars above the clouds. Not only that, just a side note, when they're soaring above the clouds, they're able to see, actually, even at an altitude of 1,000 feet, they can spot prey over an area almost three square miles from a fixed position. Eagles are powerful, powerful creatures. And God compares us as Christians to an eagle. It's his will and it's his plan and it's his purpose that you and I have the life of an eagle where we are strong and we are strengthened.

10:35 Listen to this, eagles love a storm. When clouds gather, and I thought this was interesting, the eagles actually get excited. The eagles use the storm's wind to lift it higher. Once it finds the wind of the storm, the eagle locks their wings and uses the fierce, raging storm to lift him above the clouds. This gives the eagle an opportunity to rest. This gives the eagle an opportunity to glide and rest its wings. In the meantime, all the other birds, you know, they're just hiding in the trees and in the leaves, in the branches of the tree.

11:17 What are we saying? We're saying this. It's very simple. When we intertwine our life with God, we can use the raging storms of life to rise to greater heights. My friends, God is calling us to rise to greater heights. But he's saying the very first thing we all have to do is intertwine our life with him, go deeper with him, higher with him, put him first place in areas where we have not yet made Jesus Christ the Lord of our life. Number two, okay? How do we intertwine our life with God? Now this may be very simplistic, but you know what the Lord said to me, there's many that are listening that have been Christians a long time.

12:05 And he gave me the scripture that says that we should take heed to the things that we have heard lest at any time we let them slip. And the Lord said to me, some of my people, they've let some of these basic truths slip. And I wanna remind them today, not only to put me first, but I want to remind them to put my word first place in their lives. Put the word of God first place in your life. Not someone's experience, not someone's story, but put the word of God in your heart. Make a fresh commitment to study to show yourselves approved unto God.

12:48 Make a fresh commitment to make a conscious, disciplined effort to put more of the word of God in your heart and in your life. Because if we're gonna survive in these challenging times, we have to know what God has to say in his word. It's not some experience, it's not what we think. What does God say in his word? Okay, let me just talk to you about some scriptures about the word of God. 1 Peter 1.23, and why we need to put it in our hearts. 1 Peter 1.23 talks about the word of God. And the Bible says that the word of God is an incorruptible seed that lives and abides forever.

13:31 The word of God is so quick and powerful, it is sharper than a two-edged sword, it pierces and divides asunder. Soul and spirit goes right into your heart and it is an incorruptible seed, the scripture says, that lives and abides forever. So when you study the word or you put the word in your heart, it goes into your heart and it does not return void, but it produces something within you. The word of God renews your mind. The word of God strengthens you in your faith because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God, not having heard, but a continual hearing and hearing by the word of God.

14:13 So it's very important that we put the word of God in our lives, that we take time to study the word of God, we take time to read the word of God. I don't know about you, but sometimes I get distracted. And I'm telling you straight up, because I'm not a phony baloney preacher. I'll tell you what goes on in my life because I'm just like you. You know, the Bible says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no, not one. And the things that tempt me, tempt every single one of us. And I don't know about you, but sometimes in the morning, when I wake up, the very first thing I do is I look at my phone and then I go on social media and I look at my inbox and then I look at the emails and then I look at Instagram.

15:00 Oh, those Instagram stories, they're really fun, aren't they? And you know, the Lord's been really dealing with me. He's like, Margie, if you wanna stay strong in these challenging times, read the Bible app. Read the scripture, read the Bible app. And he corrected me. He says, you're being lazy, you're being distracted, you're distracted and it's causing you to get distracted off of your course. He says, I want you to put your word in my heart so that you don't sin against me. Because you see, when you put the word of God in your heart, it produces character, it produces strength, it produces stability, it builds you, it strengthens you and it anchors you, okay?

15:44 So the word of God is food for your spiritual life, okay? You know the prayer from Luke chapter 11, verse one through eight, it's that famous prayer, the Our Father, but in the Our Father, Jesus said, give us this day our daily bread. What is bread? Bread, you know, there's spiritual bread and natural bread. What does natural bread do? Natural bread strengthens you. Natural bread nourishes you. Natural bread helps you to be strong. Carbs are good when you wanna work out and have a good workout. So he's saying, give us this day our daily bread, okay? So let's talk about the spiritual side of bread.

16:27 Daily bread for spiritual strength. Like your body needs food, your spirit, or your inward man needs the word of God. The word of God is substance, the word of God is bread. The word of God will keep you strong. You see, my friends, many of you know this, some of you don't, but you are a triune being. The Bible says, I pray your whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible also talks about the hidden man of the heart. So you are a spirit. You have a soul, which is your mind, will, and your intellect, and you live in a physical body.

17:10 What we do oftentimes is we feed our physical bodies three full meals a day, and then one snack, especially late at night. And it causes us what? To be strong, and many of us even work out to keep us strong. We're feeding our body, we're taking care of our body, and then we have the mind. Many of you are very intelligent. Some of you are gifted in intelligence. You're very smart and creative, and your mind is very sharp. And so therefore with our mind, we feed our mind by reading things, by studying, by doing all kinds of things that feed our intellect. But what about our spirit? What about the hidden man of the heart?

17:52 We need to stop feeding our spirit one cold snack a week and start feeding our spirit the word of God so that we can stand strong in these challenging times. Otherwise, my friends, we're not gonna make it. If we don't know what the Bible has to say about our circumstances and our challenges, then we, my friends, are not going to make it. The word of God also creates stability. I'm not gonna read the verse to you because I'm trying to get through this. The Bible talks in Matthew chapter seven, verse 23 through 24, that Jesus said, whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will what?

18:35 He says, if you hear them and you do them, he said, I'll liken them unto a wise man, someone who's very smart, someone who's not neglecting the word of God, someone who's disciplined themselves to study even when they don't feel like it or they don't even understand at times what they're reading. I will liken him unto a wise man, which what? Which built his house upon a rock. Listen, this all's gonna go together. When the rains come and the storms come and beat against your house, your house won't fall. Why? Jesus said because you've built your house on hearing my word and doing my word.

19:21 So when these storms come and these winds come and these challenging circumstances come, your house isn't gonna fall. You're not gonna have a nervous breakdown. You're not gonna have panic attacks. You're not gonna go into depression. You're gonna be still and know that he is God because you know what he said in his word about your challenging times. So the word of God makes you strong, creates stability in your heart and in your life, not only that but in your family, in your home, in your church and in your ministry. Now practically speaking, and I think sometimes as leaders, we need to be practical. How do we put the word of God first so that we can stay strong?

20:04 Number one, read the Bible. Okay, read the word of God. A Bible app or I strongly, to be honest, I know this might be old fashioned, I strongly encourage you to have a Bible, to have a physical paper Bible because we're always on our phones. How about making a devotional time with God and we open up our Bible and we read one of the books of the New Testament and then underline it and make it real and make it personal. So how do we put the word of God first in our lives? Number one, read your Bible. So Margie, I read my Bible and I just don't understand what it says or what it means.

20:50 Well, I have a remedy for that because in the word of God, there's always the answer. You start praying Ephesians 1 verse 18 over your life. It's a simple prayer. Pray that the eyes of your heart, the eyes of your understanding would be opened and enlightened. Pray that prayer every time you open up your Bible to read the scriptures. Pray that prayer for yourself. It's Ephesians chapter one verse 18 and you will see that the eyes of your spirit, the eyes of your heart will begin to be opened and enlightened and you'll be able to understand the scriptures like you've never understood them before or it would seem kind of like lifeless, it's going to come alive because the Holy Spirit is the great illuminator and when you begin to pray, it opens up the door for God to work and so the Holy Spirit gets active and engaged and he begins to open up the eyes of your heart.

21:48 Number two, how do you put the word of God first? Study the Bible. So you have 15 minutes out of your day, take those 15 minutes, get a great devotional book and study the word of God or just get a commentary. Take one scripture and just meditate on it and think about it and study it and study it. What happens when you do that is it starts to build something inside of you because what we're doing is we're building something on the inside of you. So you build the word of God within you and it causes you to stay strong. Number three, we already said it but I'll say it again, meditate on it.

22:30 Meditate on the word of God, Joshua 1,8. God told Joshua, listen, you wanna be successful, I'm gonna give you a key and he said to Joshua, this book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth but meditate on it, how often? Once a week, meditate on it day and night, day and night. What I would encourage you to do is take one scripture, take a scripture for example that meets your need, your need for the day or your need for the week. For example, let's say you're anxious, you have a problem with anxiety. Well, find a scripture that meets your need.

23:11 So the Bible says, don't be anxious for anything but by everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God that passes all understanding will guard your heart and mind through Jesus. So if you have anxiety, take that one scripture and meditate on it. What does it mean to meditate on it? It means to think about it, to ponder it, to think upon it, visualize it, visualize yourself allowing the peace of God to rule in your heart, visualize yourself doing what the Bible says, I think it's Isaiah 26, three, visualize yourself being still and knowing if he is God.

23:57 If God said be still and know that I am God, well then he means what he says. What he wants us to do is he wants us to come into agreement what he already said about us because it's not his will that you be anxious or worried or fretful about anything. He wants his peace to rule as an umpire in your heart. So when you begin to meditate on these scriptures, meditate on the word of God that meets your need, it's going to change you and change your life. The word of God will change your life. How else do we put the word of God in us? Listen to it online. What I do is, and I sometimes just put scripture tapes in and I listen to it while I'm doing dishes or I listen to it while I'm walking my dog or I listen to it when I'm driving in my car.

24:44 I listen to it sometimes, not even necessarily with my head, but that scripture, that word is going into my heart. It's not returning void. That which is flesh is flesh, that which is spirit is spirit. That spirit word, that seed is going into my heart. Whether I comprehend it or not, or I'm listening wholeheartedly or not, the word is spirit and life and it's going into my heart. It doesn't return void. And then when I need something in a circumstance that I come up against, the Holy Spirit will draw it out and bring all things to your remembrance. You can listen to scriptures on tape. I produce multiple scriptures on subjects.

25:24 Freedom from anxiety, worry and fear, the heart of the Father, prayer scriptures, so on and so on and so forth. And I just listen to them over and over and over and over again. And it produces faith in my life, okay? How else are we to be able to stand strong in these challenging times? I would encourage you to cultivate an active and a simple prayer life. Thank you so much for tuning in to today's podcast. It has been such a joy sharing this time with you. For more inspiration and resources on today's topic, please visit our website at margieflora.org.