Fight Back

Fight back against the status quo of living a miserable, defeated, and broken life. Quit acting like God’s grand plan of redemption was only a patch up job. Jesus took your suffering, your pain, your poverty, your sickness, your distresses, and bore it on His sinless, spotless body—all so that you could walk in freedom, joy, peace, health, richness, and victory.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.—2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV

When you accepted Jesus as your Savior, your old, sin-filled life of suffering passed away with Jesus on the Cross. Behold, you have become a new creation. He didn’t do a repair job. He made you brand new. To identify as broken is to believe a lie and to scoff at the Cross. Jesus took all your pain and shame and paid the price for them, not so that you could live defeated, broken, and disgraced. Even if you sinned this morning, even if you sin later today, it still does not undo what God did through and with Jesus. Every vestige of defeat, hopelessness, and despair that we experience in life is brought on by an out of touch estimation of just how powerful Christ’s redemptive work is. Since when is our sin more powerful than the Blood of Jesus? Why are so many married to and defined by their suffering? Problems do come, and you can begin to feel tired, sick, and broken. This does not mean you are to identify with these things; instead, you shake it off and re-fix your perspective on God. It’s our perspective that determines how difficult our lives are. There are people battling cancer without a dime to their name full of joy and peace; meanwhile, there are people with good health who are incredibly rich that are suicidal. It’s our perspective empowered by what we believe and what we consistently meditate upon that determines the kind of life we will enjoy—or endure. There are two passages in the Bible that reveal the consistent perspective we are to maintain as believers. The first is:

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.—2 Corinthians 4:17–18 KJV

The Bible tells us that when we experience a problem it is “light” and “momentary.” Then it tells us what to do as a result. We are to refocus our attention away from what’s going on in this world; everything in the world is subject to change. If a situation goes from good to bad, it can go from bad to good. This world is temporal and everchanging, so we can’t place our attention or trust in it. However, God is unchanging, always faithful, and eternal. So you look to, and meditate on, Him and His Kingdom. The second verse furthering this perspective is:

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. —Philippians 4:11–13 ESV

Paul had a recognizable contentedness and security based on Christ’s empowering, redemptive work. Paul was not at the mercy of his situation. He was not at the mercy of his emotions. He never played the victim; though, he had every cause to, considering what he dealt with in life:

Are they servants of Christ? I know I sound like a madman, but I have served him far more! I have worked harder, been put in prison more often, been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again. Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea. I have traveled on many long journeys. I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas. And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not. I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm. Then, besides all this, I have the daily burden of my concern for all the churches.

—2 Corinthians 11:23–28 NLT

He was able to call all of these things light and momentary and walk through life happy, content, peaceful, full of faith, and empowered by Christ because he kept his attention off of his situation and onto God. When you put your faith and trust in God, then these light afflictions dissipate as quick as they come, and deliverance becomes inevitable.

You see, just like God didn’t do a patch up job with us through the redemption work of Christ, He also doesn’t put forth a half-baked effort when it comes to deliverance. We read in Daniel 3:16–28 (Click to read full story) that when these three Hebrew children were thrown into the fiery furnace, God delivered them in such a powerful way. They walked out of the furnace without a single hair singed, and they didn’t even have the smell of smoke on them. They were under the Old Covenant too; how much more will He deliver us in like fashion with this New Covenant where God looks on us as His children just like He looks on Christ.

Believe in Him, trust in Him, and watch how different your life becomes. It is really that simple.

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. —Galatians 5:1 ESV

We pray for you, our readers, and partners. Blessings be to you and yours.

Jake and Keith