Friday Fight 123: Pathway to Praise
Every Friday, when I wake and pray, God places something on my heart to help me fight darkness beginning in our minds. Today is FF123.
How often have we walked away after overreacting, immediately knowing we made a huge mistake? We are all a work in progress, and thankfully, the Holy Spirit gently corrects us as we learn. Regardless of the situation, what is our initial reaction when facing adversity? How does it change the course of our day, week, or something more significant?
Pathway to Praise:
Inspired by a journey through the book of James at church, this lesson is to bring awareness to our character during trials and tribulations. The Bible is very clear about how we should respond to struggles or circumstances beyond our control. So, how impactful can our responses be? James 1:3 proclaims that testing our faith produces perseverance that eventually produces greater maturity.
For this lesson, imagine our walk as a sailing ship led by the Holy Spirit. Our goal is to love God, love others, and help those in need. Imagine trials that compromise this, like storms, loss of power, low resources, illness, or whatever else applies to this sailing ship. What if our ability to navigate this ship is directly impacted by our poor responses to the adversities that we face?
Now, say our sailing ship was approaching an iceberg in the distance. Remember, the only visible part of an iceberg is what sits above the surface of the water. If we can see it, we can acknowledge it and navigate around it by leaning on God. Let's examine four possible responses and how they affect our future journey.
Responses to Adversity (The Four Layers of an Iceberg):
Criticism: Some of us are good at losing our cool and reacting with our emotions. We have an immediate response to something we find attacking. We attack back or shut down, causing our ship to run into the ground. We are so focused on the hurt and anger we do nothing to divert from the massive obstacle in our way.
Complacency: This type of response leaves us accepting struggles as a new norm and remaining still to avoid further issues. In other words, we see the iceberg yet do nothing about it. Not only does this prevent us from moving forward spiritually, but just as icebergs poke holes in ships, being complacent in our response can poke holes in our Christian character.
Contentment: Our responses are somewhat acceptable at this level, but we still carry our struggles rather than allowing God to lead us fully. Allowing ourselves to sit in complacency leads us to believe we've gotten through. However, we are unaware of the small holes being poked in our ship that unknowingly are slowing us down and planting lies and misconceptions about where God has led us.
Celebration: We see the top of the iceberg clearly, and because our eyes are opened, we can visualize the entirety of the iceberg, even the parts that can't be seen from the surface.) With the knowledge of what's ahead, we can plan a safe passage. Even through trials and tribulations, we have a protector in God. He will see us through. So we recognize in all things that we are His, and when we do, Heavenly wisdom flows, and earthly wisdom ends.
Using this ship analogy, imagine the Word of God is like a thruster; it moves us forward. The Holy Spirit leads us when we surrender to Him in times when our flesh wants to take control. God will reveal those icebergs and protect us along the way. When we lose power and become dead in the water, our internal, worldly desires now control the trajectory of our ship. The best thing we can do to combat a sinking ship is to be aware of how damaging our response to adversity can be to our future. Let's continually reflect on our reactions and strive to celebrate being a child of God.
Pastor Shannon
New Life Calvert