Gallup research group recently held a telling study. They asked a large group of people two questions. First, “What was the best moment of your life?” Then, “What was the worst moment of your life?”
What they found was intriguing: 80 percent of the time those best and worst moments were connected.
This shocked me at first, but the more I thought about it, the more I recognized its truth.
We’ve all met people who have experienced terrible hardship. Maybe we have even experienced some ourselves. Looking back, though, it’s clear our futures were not defined by what happened; they were defined by what we chose next. Did we allow that trial to define the rest of our lives? Or did we allow God to make it a springboard making the rest of our life the best of our life?
As believers, when we face trouble, we have two choices: allow our weakness to overtake us, or use it to tap into a power that’s greater than we are—God’s Holy Spirit.
Romans 8 tells us that the Holy Spirit’s power is available to every believer. But although it’s available, it’s not automatic. Every person must choose to tap into it. Let’s talk about how.
We first have to live set apart—or what Scripture calls sanctified. When we try to do everything our own way, we keep ourselves from the better wisdom God can bring. When we walk God’s way, we experience love, wisdom and redemptive blessings we can’t bring about on our own.
This reality is why Paul encouraged the Ephesians in Ephesians 4:17-18: “… You must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts…” Bottom line-we don’t treasure God’s influence like we should until we take that challenge.
After we sanctify ourselves, we next must choose to submit ourselves, both to God and to the people He has placed in our lives. Now, before you dismiss the second part, understand this—submitting to others doesn’t mean we’re stuck doing everything anyone tells us to do. It simply means we practice life with more complete and better perspectives when we honor God’s grace and the strengths He placed in others.
Friend, if you feel stunted by your weaknesses, I encourage you to do two things. First, give yourself some grace. (After all, God does!) Then, get out of your own way. Instead of dwelling on your weak spots, let the Holy Spirit work in them. Sanctify and submit yourself to God, trusting that Proverbs 4:18 will become a reality for you—your future will get brighter and brighter!I’m incredibly grateful that because of Jesus, we don’t have to live defeated. We can live victorious throughout every season, declaring like Paul in Philippians 1:19: “For I know that through your prayers and God’s provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance!” Our God is more than able!
