Believing Through Adversity audio video notes. How we handle the tough times of life will make us or break us. The problems you face will make you better or bitter. Too many people today become negative and sour when they face adversity. Their belief is dampened. They question God. They wonder where God is and if God is. Believing through adversity is tough.
THE POWER OF BELIEVING
By Pastor Delbert Young
Believing Through Adversity – Transforming Challenges into Opportunities
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Believing Through Adversity – Transforming Challenges into Opportunities
Scriptures: Mark 9:23, Isaiah 30:20, Psalms 4:1, Romans 8:28, 1 Samuel 17:44-46, 1 Samuel 17:45-46, Proverbs 24:16, Genesis 37:23-24
There is POWER IN BELIEVING, unlike any other power in the world. It has the potential to change the natural into the supernatural. It can save a soul and heal a body. Belief can change the course of nature. It can do anything.
Mark 9:23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
I want to talk to you today about believing during adversity. I don’t want to talk so much about keeping your belief as you go through adversity. So I want to primarily talk about believing good things will happen because of the adversity. How we handle the tough times of life will make us or break us. The problems you face will make you better or bitter.
Too many people today become negative and sour when facing adversity. Their belief was dampened. They question God. They wonder where God is and if God is. Instead of allowing the adversity to make them better, it makes them bitter, and they settle for mediocrity in life.
Believing Through Adversity – Transforming Challenges into Opportunities
I want to show us that we learn and then live at a higher level of life by BELIEVING THROUGH ADVERSITY. Adversities teach us. Adversities mold our character. Without adversities, we will never become the best we can be.
Isaiah 30:20 Though the Lord gave you adversity for food and affliction for drink, he will still be with you to teach you. You will see your teacher with your own eyes
In other words, the adversity we go through comes with a teaching of which we will see the results with our own eyes. God has not forsaken us. God has allowed the adversity because he knows we need it to become what we desire to become. We learn great things and become great people when we can continue BELIEVING THROUGH ADVERSITY.
IT’S IN THE TOUGH TIMES OF LIFE WE DEVELOP CHARACTER.
Most people do not understand that Father God does allow us to face adversity. It’s not because he is angry with us or because we have done something wrong. It’s because adversity will make us stronger and better people. This is when we must stretch from our comfort zones and prepare to go to the next level of life.
You need to view tough times as opportunities to grow and advance to the next level.
Believing Through Adversity – Transforming Challenges into Opportunities
Psalms 4:1 Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.
Adversity does many things to us. One thing it does is cause us to pray.
Notice David said God enlarged him in his times of distress. David did not enlarge in his good times. He enlarged in the tough times. David believed adversity enlarged him. David believed he enlarged when his brothers criticized and ridiculed him, not when anointed by Samuel to be king, and David believed he enlarged when Goliath was cussing him, not when he cut off Goliath’s head. Also David believed he enlarged when he was fleeing from Saul and living in a cave, not when he was comfortable and living in the palace.
IN EFFECT, DAVID SAID, “IT WAS IN THOSE TOUGH TIMES I REALLY LEARNED TO TRUST YOU. IT WAS IN THOSE TOUGH TIMES SOMETHING HAPPENED WAY DOWN INSIDE OF ME NOBODY OR NO CIRCUMSTANCE CAN TAKE FROM ME.” David believed adversity made him better.
That is exactly what God is doing in every one of us. We can’t see anything good happening when we go through tough times. However, we must learn to believe something good is happening. If we will then we will come out of our adversities enlarged.
Believing Through Adversity – Transforming Challenges into Opportunities
THINK ABOUT IT.
What was the catalyst thrusting David into becoming the king? I know it was God and God’s anointing, but was this the only thing? Was it in and of itself enough? Could David simply tell people God had anointed him and wanted him to be the king? No. It was how David handled adversity promoting David. The recognition of David by people began when he defeated his adversary, Goliath. The enemy sent an adversary to destroy David, but God allowed it to take David to the next level.
Think about this: God allowed little David to face off with a giant. God didn’t do it because he was angry with David. He did it because he knew David was well able to handle adversity. Because of this, David gained instant recognition. Instead of destroying David, adversity promoted David. David learned to BELIEVE THROUGH ADVERSITY.
Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Believing Through Adversity – Transforming Challenges into Opportunities
God loves you, and he will take your tough times and make them stepping stones for good times. God will take every adversity and make it a good thing. David allowed every adversity to become a stepping stone for him. With every resistance and adversity, David rose higher and higher. David believed adversities were opportunities.
That’s exactly what God wants us to do. We need to BELIEVE THROUGH ADVERSITY. If we do, we will continue going to the next levels of life.
David became a soldier after Goliath. He warred with the Philistines, who tried to kill David. Again, David used adversity as a stepping-stone. Once more, the thing attempting to destroy David became the thing promoting David. Later, Saul, who was king before David, began to hate David and try to destroy him. How David handled the situation promoted David, and the thing trying to destroy David became a stepping-stone for David.
It’s the same way with us. Every adversity we face will bring us closer to the abundant life God has planned for us. The enemy sends it to destroy us. God only allows it because he knows you are well able to handle it. It is indeed a giant and an enemy, but it will only be a stepping-stone if you will BELIEVE THROUGH ADVERSITY.
Believing Through Adversity – Transforming Challenges into Opportunities
You may be going through something today.
If you stand strong and BELIEVE THROUGH ADVERSITY, God will use adversity as a stepping-stone to take you to the next level. YOUR ADVERSITY CAN BE YOUR GREATEST ASSET. IT’S THE STRUGGLE GIVING US STRENGTH. No one will ever develop muscles without resistance. It’s this way in the spiritual. Adversity develops spiritual muscles.
We need to get an attitude about believing especially when going through adversity. Remember what David did when he faced Goliath. Goliath said,
1 Samuel 17:44 “Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!”
However, David had an attitude.
1 Samuel 17:45 David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
1 Samuel 17:46 This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.
Believing Through Adversity – Transforming Challenges into Opportunities
No matter what you are facing today or what you will face tomorrow, you need to look it in the eyes and tell it you will defeat it. Don’t have a weak and wimpy attitude. Don’t doubt and do the “God, I don’t understand this” thing. When you face your Goliath, BELIEVE THROUGH it. It has come to take you out. Goliath said he would take David out, but David gave it right back to him. BELIEVE THROUGH ADVERSITY God will give you divine guidance just as he did for David. Believe your Goliath is there to take you higher.
Life Gate began in adversity. I came to this area in 1985. I had a message of the kingdom, the goodness and greatness of God, and the kingship of Jesus Christ, and I thought everyone would be happy with our message, but they were not. Adversity came, but from the adversity came what has become Life Gate Church. We were told it wouldn’t last. People told you I wouldn’t stay. You were told I would blow out exactly as I blew in. They were exactly right. We have been blowing for 19 years.
Yes, we are blowing the message of the kingdom of God all over this region. We are not finished blowing yet. God used adversity and every adversity we have faced since to enlarge us. Because of adversity, we are touching lives all over this region. What the enemy meant to destroy us, God used to take us to the next level. It’s because we continued BELIEVING THROUGH ADVERSITY.
Believing Through Adversity – Transforming Challenges into Opportunities
I’m not saying God sends adversity no more than I would say God sent Goliath to David.
However, God will use adversity to take us to the next level. Adversity should get us going, not destroy us.
Two men were walking through the woods, going fly-fishing, when they spotted a grizzly bear. The first man immediately opened his bag, took off his waders, and pulled out a pair of tennis shoes. “You’re crazy! You’ll never be able to outrun that bear,” the second man said. “I don’t have to outrun the bear,” the first man replied. “I only have to outrun you.”
BELIEVING THROUGH ADVERSITY is saying, “God, I don’t care how what comes against me, I don’t care how long it takes, it’s not going to get me defeated or get me down. I know you are taking me upward to the best life I can possibly have.” This was the attitude David had. When you have this kind of attitude, nothing will defeat you. Use the adversity to take you upward.
There is a story about an old mule I want to tell.
Believing Through Adversity – Transforming Challenges into Opportunities
I don’t know if this is true or not, but it’s a good story. The old mule fell into an old, dried-up well. The farmer who owned the mule loved his old mule, but there was no way to get him out of the well. To put the mule out of his misery, the farmer decided to bury the mule in the well. He got some neighbors over, and they began shoveling dirt into the well on top of the mule.
However, as the dirt came down on top of the mule, the mule shook and then pushed up on the dirt. As more dirt was shoveled on the mule, it would shake the dirt off and push up. Finally, the old mule stepped out of the well. The dirt intended to bury the mule actually saved the mule.
We all have dirt shoveled on us during life.
It’s how we handle the dirt of adversity determining the outcome. Will we fall into the pit of pity, or will we shake off the dirt and then step up? Don’t stay down in the dirt. BELIEVE THROUGH ADVERSITY and use it to get up and go higher.
Proverbs 24:16 for though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again, but the wicked are brought down by calamity.
Don’t let calamities keep you down. BELIEVE THROUGH ADVERSITY. Calamities are a stepping-stone.
Believing Through Adversity – Transforming Challenges into Opportunities
Somewhere along the way, we all fall into the well. Maybe there was a bad relationship, an illness, finances went south, a failed business, a tragedy, etc. I want to tell you that you can come out of it and experience a great life if you will BELIEVE THROUGH ADVERSITY.
The Bible tells us about Joseph. Joseph faced adversity after adversity. Once, his brothers threw him into a well.
Genesis 37:23 And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, that they stript Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colours that was on him;
Genesis 37:24 And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it.
You know the story. Joseph was sold as a slave in Egypt to a man named Potiphar. Joseph didn’t allow adversity to stop him. He BELIEVED THROUGH ADVERSITY and used the adversity as a stepping-stone. Joseph was doing well, but there was another adversity. Potiphar’s wife falsely accused him, and Joseph was condemned to prison. Still, Joseph would not allow adversity to stop him. He continued BELIEVING THROUGH ADVERSITY. Soon Joseph was put in charge of the prison. Eventually, God turned it all around and Joseph was taken from prison and placed in command over all of Egypt.
Believing Through Adversity – Transforming Challenges into Opportunities
No matter what pit or prison you are going through, if you will continue BELIEVING THROUGH ADVERSITY, you will come out on top.
Listen to this story.
1- He failed in business at age twenty-two.
2- He was defeated for state legislature at twenty-three.”
3- He failed in business again at twenty-four.
4- He was elected to the legislature at twenty-five.
5- His fiancée died when he was twenty-five.
6- He had a nervous breakdown at twenty-seven.
7- He was defeated for Speaker of the House at twenty-nine.
8- He was defeated for elector at thirty-one.
9- His young son died when he was forty-one.
10- He was defeated for the U.S. Senate at forty-six.
11- He was defeated for vice president at forty-seven.
12- He was defeated for the Senate again at forty-nine.
Believing Through Adversity – Transforming Challenges into Opportunities
The person would not stop trying. He continued BELIEVING THROUGH ADVERSITY. Don’t you imagine people were telling him to stop beating himself? Most people would have given up with so little success. Had he, we would not know about number thirteen.
13- Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States at age fifty-one.
Abraham Lincoln led our country through one of the most adverse times in our history. He was a great president who believed through Adversity.
“The will of God prevails… In the present civil war it is quite possible that God’s purpose is something different from the purpose of either party – and yet the human instrumentalities, working just as they do, are of the best adaptation to effect His purpose.” Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln knew the adversity of the Civil War was somehow working God’s will and purpose. What possible good could come from brother fighting against brother? Lincoln knew somehow, war was a stepping-stone for the nation. Somehow, the nation would be a better nation, IT WAS, and IT IS.
No matter what war you are facing, I promise that if you allow it to be a stepping-stone for you and BELIEVE THROUGH ADVERSITY, your life will be better than ever.
Believing Through Adversity – Transforming Challenges into Opportunities
I want to encourage you today. Tap into the Power of Believing. All things are possible. See adversity as stepping-stones. Learn from them. Enlarge from them, as did David. Look your adversity in the eye and tell it you will defeat it. Shake it off and push up. God has a great plan to bless you and give you the abundance belonging to you. Amen.
Believing Through Adversity audio video notes
Believing Through Adversity audio video notes
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