CHALLENGES
WRITTEN BY ELIZMA BYLEVELDT
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Dear friends in Christ,
It’s so nice to write another article and I give God all the glory for the opportunity. We all go through times when we seem to be bombarded with challenges of all sorts and from all directions all at the same time. How do we react to such challenges and how do we stay positive and not lose hope and faith?
I don’t know about you, but when I suddenly experience challenge after challenge, that just keeps hitting me from all directions for no apparent reason, attacking my peace of mind, health, finances, relationships with people in my life or any other area of my life, I find it difficult to focus on anything else. I immediately tend to start looking for reasons to blame myself for it and in the few instances that I really cant find any reason in myself for causing it, I throw a pity party and feel very sorry for myself because life is treating me so unfair. Does this sound familiar? If so, you, like me, need to move your focus away from yourself and back to God, for all the answers to all our questions are to be found with our Father.
So, how do we tackle challenges in our lives and overcome them? First we need to identify the nature of the challenges. By this I mean we need to do a bit of self inspection and evaluate what is going on in our lives at the time of the attacks because then it becomes easier to figure out the reasons for it. For instance:
You are in a season of growing closer to God. This is especially the case for many new believers who have just given their lives to God and are now in a process of getting to know Him more intimately. Doesn’t it then make sense that satan would try his best to make you doubt your newly found faith, while you are still getting to know God and learning to trust Him?
You have established and accepted who you are in Christ, your identity is now secure in Him and your faith is strong. The challenges you face now may often be direct attacks on your faith and on your self image or other people’s opinion of you and your abilities etc.
You are actively playing a role in leading people to God, Spreading The Gospel and bringing the truth of Jesus Christ to those who desperately need to hear it. This means spiritual warfare, because now you are hitting satan where it hurts! He knows what his end will be and that it will come to pass when the Gospel has spread throughout the entire earth to all nations. Therefore satan wants to stop God’s children from doing work for His Kingdom and he will stop at nothing. Here he attacks people with challenges that are very personal to each individual and he chooses the areas of our lives where each of us are hit the hardest and also areas in our lives where we have been hurt before.
You have drawn away from God and have become a lukewarm Christian or you have become too comfortable with your life, thinking that you have everything figured out and you end up feeling like you don’t need God anymore. This is an easy one for satan, because here he uses the desires of the flesh and the riches and temptations of the world to lure God’s children away and he focuses on those who are easy targets- those who have forgotten that they need God. These challenges at first seem like innocent fun or just small wrongdoings that you may not think much of.
Only when you hit rock bottom you realise what you have done and that is when satan throws blame your way and puts you on a guilt trip to make you believe you are now beyond forgiveness.Then the challenge gets serious. These are just a few examples, but the list goes on and on. It is important to know where you are in your life and what you are busy with when you face a sudden attack of multiple challenges all at once, because then the nature of the attack becomes clearer. Once you have figured out why it is happening and what the intended outcome is, you can take it to the Lord and stand up against it directly with the full armour of God ( Ephesians 6:10-18.)
Dear friends, it’s not fun to talk about the devil and spiritual warfare, but the reality is that satan is very alive and “walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8.) The powers of darkness are loose in the world and satan does not like that the children of God are arising and coming to power and standing up for their faith. I have realised that whenever we are planning a big outreach or whenever I testify about what God has done in my life or when I am feeling strongest in my faith, then the attacks come all at once. Also usually once I then start proclaiming victory over every attack, they stop just as abruptly. Thus I know it is satan trying to steal my joy and faith, but he is a coward and he can NOT stand in the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Thus dear friends, once we know we are being attacked, once we know the reason for it and once we know what the desired outcome of the challenges are that satan wants to achieve, we have all we need to launch a counter attack and successfully overcome the challenges. We do not need to accept any but ANY attack launched upon us and we have the power and the authority, given to us by God, to stand up against any attack on our lives, including our health, faith, emotions, heart, relationships, finances, families, careers etc.
So how do we do it? How do we stand up against attacks and overcome challenges?
1. Start praying immediately, ask God’s protection and confirm your faith in Him.
2. Declare God’s victory on the cross and what it means for you and for satan.
3. There is power in the Word of God, so use it. Quote scriptures that remind you of the authority that God has given you! For example:
“I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” (Luke 10:19.)
“.. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” ( Matt16:19. )
“No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgement you shall condemn.” ( Isa54:17.)
The whole of Psalm 91, etc.
4. Then, you stand on your faith and you demand satan to leave and you declare in the Name of Jesus Christ that you will not stand for any attack against you or your loved ones, you declare that the battle has already been won and therefore no attack can stand and every challenge has been overcome and declare that it is done.
5. Now you start giving thanks for the victory that is yours in the Lord. Praise God for being faithful to His Word and His promises and continue thanking Him for being victorious even if you don’t yet see the result you are looking for. Stand on Heb 11:1 and you will see the attacks that were launched on you, will fall to the ground like dust and they will disappear before your eyes.
If you do this every time you face sudden attacks in your life, you will see your faith grow and with it, you will start living out the authority and the power that God has given you when you gave your all to Him. Dear Lord, I thank You for the power and the authority I have over all the works of the enemy. Thank You that I am Yours and that I never have to accept any attack launched against me. I stand on Your Word. Lord You are everything and You are all I need. Amen.
Expect the unexpected and be fearless in Christ.
Lizz
(PS: Please note that scriptures are taken from the NKJV, unless stated differently.)