You know, there are just some things in life that you can’t avoid or go around. You have to walk through them.
Unlike a physical storm that we can take authority over and rebuke in the name of Jesus, there are some storms of life that you just have to ride out holding on to Jesus’ hand. And just like the waves on a wind-tossed and stormy sea, adversity can blindside you. It can come from beneath you, from above you and from all around you.
Yes, unfortunately, tragedy and adversity can come to us at any stage in our lives. It’s what we do with it and how we react to it that counts.
This is why Jesus said in Matthew 7 that we are to build our house on the rock—the firm foundation of His Word. And when we hear it and do what it says, Jesus said: “I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house. And it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock” (Matt. 7:24b).
This subject of endurance during the trials and the pressures of life and adverse circumstances is what my longtime friend, Pastor Paul Naughton, and I spoke about in a recent episode of Expect a Miracle on the Charisma Podcast Network.
Naughton and his wife, Jo, pastor Harvest Church in London, England, where they are involved in missions and all manner of humanitarian work. They are no strangers to adversity.
They began Harvest Church with only three people back in February of 1994. They eventually outgrew the little house they were meeting in and decided to open a little hall in the “grotty part of town” as he describes it. And in his words, “I could write a book on ‘how not to plant a church’ as we made every mistake one can make along the way.”
Then in 2000, they were hit with the greatest loss they could imagine when they suddenly lost their only child at the time, a daughter, to a pneumococcal infection. If you have ever experienced a great loss, you know that all you can do in that moment is cling to the Lord.
Just as the Naughtons have done, you, too, can learn to live by the adage first coined by Winston Churchill: “Never, never, never, never give up!”
Friend, if you are in ministry and perhaps second-guessing the call of God on your life because of the struggle or the adversity you’re facing … or if your faith is being challenged by some other negative situation in your life … you can unlock the keys to being unbeatable and undefeatable. As long as you follow the Word of God, you can be unchangeable, steadfast, unmovable and always abounding.
For the full interview with Pastor Paul Naughton, listen to Expect A Miracle here. For more Spirit-filled content like this, subscribe to Expect a Miracle with Richard Roberts on the Charisma Podcast Network. {eoa}
Richard Roberts, D. Min., is chief executive officer of Oral Roberts Ministries and co-hosts with his wife, Lindsay, a daily inspirational TV program, The Place for Miracles. Dr. Roberts is also the founder of the Richard Roberts School of Miracles, hosting thousands of online students from more than 140 countries. Richard conducts healing meetings throughout America, as well as ministers to and teaches pastors in underdeveloped countries the fundamental principles of healing, seed-faith and the Holy Spirit, so they may do the greater works of Jesus in their regions of the world.
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