Laughing in the Face of Adversity and God’s Grace is Sufficient

What has been will be again,  what has been done will be done again;  there is nothing new under the sun. Eccl 1:9

There is nothing new under the sun as far as Satan is still up to his old bag of tricks. 

I woke up one Saturday morning and I heard God say, “Put on the whole armor of God.”  I knew that was God’s call to pray and I’ve woke up many times early morning knowing it was God’s call to pray.  

I saw on Facebook that a pastor’s wife had been attacked and when I went to church on Sunday, I found out a minister on the Southside had been shot and killed by a mentally ill person.  Indian Creek Christian church took up a collection for the family.  

Though they plot evil against you and devise wicked schemes, they cannot succeed. Psalm 21:11

Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? Psalm 2:1

Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other Zech 7:10

If anyone is captured by the enemy in war times, he will pick you apart piece by piece.  It’s the same with our adversary the devil, but sometimes that can happen through other people.  It’s because Satan is looking for a weakness in our armor. 

Satan found a weakness with Solomon (a wife lead his heart astray), David (coveting his neighbor’s wife) Samson (his weakness for Philistine women), Jacob (at first lying and deceiving), Moses (anger), Saul (rationalization of his actions), Ananias and his wife Sapphira (greed and lying),  Esau (chose the physical rewards over the spiritual) Zechariah (was mute because of his unbelief in Elizabeth having a child), Peter (legalism), Abraham (impatience), Elijah (depression and self-pity), Jonah (disobedience probably due to he did not like Ninevites), and Noah and Lot (drinking).

There are several people in the Bible where Satan found a weakness, but I don’t see that with Daniel (a man of prayer).  Being on guard is “watch and pray.”  

Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous.  Be strong 1 Cor. 16:13

Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. Mark 13:33

Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man." Luke 21:36

A lion roars when its conquered its prey.  I know Satan was roaring big time when my husband had that sudden heart attack, but I gave him a big kick in the teeth when I used it to witness to a bunch of people about Jesus Christ in my college class and at the funeral.  It’s say that he is “like a lion” – Jesus is the lion of Judah and it says the “righteous are bold as a lion.” Proverbs 28:1

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

The shield of faith is a full body shield.   If soldiers receive a purple heart for their service in this world which is a temporary crown, we know that we are battling for a more enduring crown.  

Satan likes to rain on our picnics of fun like he rained on Job’s kids when they were having fun.  If the enemy would have been a kinder master over me as a teenager, than maybe I would still be serving him, but he played his cards way too many times when I was non-believer so he lost a soul that he thought he had when I was 17 years old.  I realize that he tries to reap havoc on my life, but we have to learn to deal with that havoc.

#1 is to laugh in the face of adversity.

I visited one of my friends in Ohio and also met my daughter at a business conference for the Alive Festival.  Most of the time it was like Woodstock with pouring down rain. About the only group where it did not rain was Skillet.  I like going to an outdoor Christian concert, it’s very exuberating.  I enjoyed going to a 3-day outdoor Jesus festival in my early 20’s in Florida and I remember going to an outdoor concert with Andre Crouch when I was in a Christian traveling ministry.

They had us park our cars in a field and it was a field of mud by the time we were ready leave. Our car was stuck in mud knee deep, it was midnight, and I needed to leave the next morning rather early, because I had signed up for a Christian Mingle dinner event.  I started laughing so loud.  I was thinking, “Wow this is literally praising God in a storm like that Casting Crown song.” 

Laughing in the face of adversity.

It continued to rain while we were covered in mud and there was no way we were getting out of that field.  Some of the SUV’s with 4-wheel drive got out.   Finally, they got some tractors and pulled us out.   It makes me think with Paul and Silas were beaten and in prison and it was the midnight hour in their life and they were singing and praising God and an earthquake let them out of the prison.

I think that would be very hard to do that in a German concentration camp.  Corrie ten Boom said she thanked God for the fleas.  And then the fleas are what kept the guards from beating them.  Her father and sister died in the camp, and it was very hard to forgive one of the German officers when he came up to her later when the war was over to shake her hand.  She shook his hand as an act of faith of forgiveness to what he did to her family and others in the German concentration camp.

At times, there are things that happened to us in life that really are beyond our capability to forgive others, but through God’s grace we can do it.

As a young believer, I had havoc in joining a Christian missionary group where the elders were like Job’s friends.  This was during the Jesus movement where there was more communal type living.   They believed if we had trials in our life, than we had sin in our life.  I was living in this camper tent with my son to zealously preach the gospel five days a week.  Much of my zealousy was without knowledge, but I had spent two years previously in street evangelism in my hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana, and a personal study of God’s word.  People were going to these “family” meetings and beating themselves over the head about sin in their life and the elders asked me about why my son was sick.    

He was two years old and I was sleeping in a tent and I had a man on the propane crew who made me feel guilty for keeping my tent warm at night so I scaled down on the propane and my son got an ear infection.  I also did not have very sterile conditions living in a tent.  They mowed over a field and mice made a bed in my mattress so I had to throw that out. The mice just wanted a new home.  I told the elders of that ministry that God was capable of bringing me through each and every trial and bringing me to the other side of the lake.  It was very similar to the children in the firey furnace and God was faithful to bring me out of the trial.

A rug my mother had bought for my tent to make it nicer got rain soaked so I took it to the laundry mat and I did not realize with a rubber backing at 19 years old – can’t put it a dryer.  The rug burnt up.  I pulled that rug out and I said, “Oh well Praise God.”  There was a young Christian with me who could not believe that I praised God.  That was a blessing to her that I praised God.

Like those teens thrown in the fiery furnace I told those elders that God would get me through each and every testing living in a tent for two years and he did.  I actually got upgraded to a camper right before I left.   I left on the high end of that ministry, not on a low end.   I find that God likes me to conquer trials.

Sooner or later ---I pray to God later – everyone is going to realize that nothing on this earth is permanent, it is temporary and everything is subject to attack and change.  Even heaven and earth is going to pass away, but God’s word is eternal.

Many people tell me that they don’t believe God’s word and that they believe it’s been corrupted through time.  They did not have the written word back then, but everything had to be passed down from generation to generation from word of mouth.   Even if you don’t believe the Old Testament and certain parts, Jesus said his words will never pass away.

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. Mark 13:31

I’ve had a number of attacks by the adversary, and I made a commitment to praise God through each attack.  In fasting food and seeking the Lord, the Lord showed me it’s a messenger of Satan sent to buffet me.  When God told Paul that “his grace is sufficient” what God showed me it’s sufficient to get me through each and every trial/attack I go through in life.   One dream I had was an evil man was stabbing me with a sword and trying to steal money out of my right hand.  That was right before the transmission place overfilled my transmission.

The first attack I had of a heart arrhythmia – I had one sitting at a Bible study, I laid hands on my heart and the Lord gave me that scripture – “many are the afflictions of the righteous and the Lord delivers him out of them all.”  So I just pray now whenever one hits me and thank God for that verse.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. Psalm 34:19

I was watching this kid’s show when I was babysitting my grandson and it was about these bionic teens that go on space missions.  One of the teens got hurt and then he was so fearful of getting hurt again that he was in a full body armor type suit and had on safety goggles. He also said he would go on no more missions.  I laughed very hard for several minutes because that is me.  I don’t want to go on any missions for God anymore because they are too dangerous.  It’s like what happened to Joseph when he left his father’s side and he got thrown in a pit.

I like what David said:

For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. Psalm 84:11

He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. Psalm 91:4