This post, How to handle difficult times, is a guest post submitted by Pastor Ayo Ajani. I want you to read this post, write your comment and share it with friends on social media.
I have always loved the inspired information in Pastor Ayo Ajani’s post. I believe this post will help you greatly.
Related: Have you watched our new gospel movie? The Prostitute film is a story of extreme love, fury and jealousy. It is the movie version of my best-selling Christian romance novel. Please watch it below:
How to handle difficult times: Introduction
Difficult times come to everyone. The people we celebrate in the Bible all went through such.
John 11: 1-4 ; Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. (It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.) Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.”
The reason scriptures stated that last part directly was because the events following would suggest that He didn’t.
God’s love is always available during difficult times
Jesus loved them, yet He didn’t go immediately to heal His friend? By human standards this doesn’t show love!
When Jesus went to them, both Martha and Mary said to him that if he had been here, their brother would not have died.
You would agree that Jesus should have just gone ahead before he died to deliver him. Instead he allowed him to die.
God is at work during difficult times
There is something deeper within the story than just Jesus raising him up from the dead. He wants us to see that in any situation where God seems to be silent, He is working out something better than deliverance.
There is absolutely nothing – whether crisis, adversity, affliction – that happens in your life that God cannot use to write His will in your life!
The story of the death and raising of Lazarus shows the power of God to bring forth life from dead situations and to bring light out of darkness.
How to handle difficult times: Light in darkness
There is always light in the darkness
2 Corinthians 4: 5
“For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
God commanded the light to shine out of darkness. In essence, He called light from the very substance of darkness. He didn’t shine over the darkness, but He called the light to shine out of darkness.
This means there is no darkness on the inside of you or around your life that does not have light locked up on the inside of it!
Solution within difficult times
Many years ago, I heard a preacher say this; “There is no adversity perfectly planned by satan that satan himself has not worked a way of escape inside.”
God has designed that, while the devil is planning trouble, he imputes the solution within it. There is nothing to cry about.
John 1:5 – “And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”
The light shines, not above the darkness, but in the darkness. It keeps rising and rising such that the darkness can’t comprehend it.
Darkness can’t hold it down or overcome it. There is light rising in that darkness that can’t be held down! There is resurrection life waiting for you at the end of that adversity. You will come out with a life that is different from the life that was ‘killed’!
How to handle difficult times: Step by step guide
I want you to look at the step by step guide on how to handle difficult times below:
1. Ponder the situation in the light of the cross
Everything takes a different colour when you see through the lens of the cross. Luke 16:9 MSG “I want you to be smart in the same way—but for what is right—using every adversity to stimulate you to creative survival, to concentrate your attention on the bare essentials, so you’ll live, really live, and not complacently just get by on good behaviour.”
What are the bare essentials in adversity? They are these: Jesus died for me, Jesus rose for me, this situation is covered in the cross. There is no situation that is not taken care of by the cross.
2. Perspective
When you ponder that situation in the light of the cross, you will begin to see God’s perspective on the matter. Then you can truly count it all joy as you see that this thing is not to your end, it can’t destroy you or change the will of God for your life.
I want you to say this out loud; “God is working it out. He is writing a beautiful story out of your life.” Rick Joyner said something powerful. He said when he went to heaven, he found out that the saints that shone the most where the ones who had the most scars.
3. Praise
Praise is what naturally follows after you have pondered the situation in the light of the cross and, as a result, have your perspective changed.
You praise, knowing that within this darkness, there is light arising. God is re-routing the darkness to write a beautiful story with your life.
“Let everything that has breath, praise the Lord” (Psalms 150:6).
This means that every time there is praise, life is at work. When death knocks on your door, if you want to turn around the tide of adversity, you have to praise. Death and the grave would give up its dead when you praise (Isaiah 38:18).
4. Pouring out
In 1 Samuel 30, there is a story worthy of note. David and his men had returned home from battle, only to find it invaded, burnt down, and empty. Their wives and children had been captured.
His men took up stones to stone him. Imagine the kind of emotional turmoil he was going through – the pain of losing loved ones, and his men turning against him.
Yet David was not so consumed with his own need that he would not help someone in need. He helped the Egyptian slave, and that turned out to be his salvation.
Adversity tends to turn your disposition to yourself and that is the biggest mistake you can make. When you find yourself in the place of adversity, search for ways to pour out more.
5. Find your power points
By this, I mean the confession of your lips and your community of faith and prayer. Remember when Peter was in prison, what brought his deliverance? It was the prayers of his community.
The energy of faith is usually supplied by your company; two or three persons who will hold you by your hands and stand with you in prayer. 2 Corinthians 1:8,11.
“For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life: Ye also helping together by prayer for us,…”
Paul was not ashamed of sharing his problems. He talked about the problems he was experiencing while he resorted to trusting and believing that God would deliver him from all his troubles.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with sharing your problems with your company. You don’t need to do life solo. Find your company, let them surround you with the gift of mercy through prayer.
This post, How to handle difficult times, is a guest post submitted by Pastor Ayo Ajani. I want you to read this post, write your comment and share it with friends on social media.
