Adversity (5 of 5)

ADVERSITY (5 of 5):

Adversity will affect us all at some point in our lives.

Our third response to adversity,
should NOT be to live for Christ in our own efforts,
but to realize that Christ must live in us through
the power of His Holy Spirit (Galatians 2:20).

14. Adversity can be: God’s call to identify with Christ.

      Adversity should create a desire to have more of Christ’s power in
      our lives (it provides encouragement that we cannot find from any
      other source).

      Paul suffered the loss of all things in order to gain more of Christ,
      and experience the power of Christ’s resurrection (Philippians 3:7-10).

      We can see the importance of living by the power of the Spirit
      (Galatians 5:16-18; 1 Corinthians 2:10-16).

      Paul prayed for others to receive this power (Ephesians 1:17).

      As we accept His power by faith, and allow it to become a part of
      our life, we start developing a spiritual understanding of things
      (which results in new experiences such as Ephesians 1:18-20).

      This power is available to all believers (Galatians 3:14).

      As our spiritual understanding increases,
      we can better understand Romans 6, 7, and 8.
      Romans 6:
           We learn to:
                 – Know that we are crucified with Christ.
                 – Realize that we are dead to sin and alive unto God.
                 – Yield ourselves to God, and become instruments of righteousness.

      Romans 7:
                We discover that even though we try to live according to
                God’s principles, we can’t do it (in our own strength).

               We learn that because we died in Christ, we also died to the law.
               (This makes us free to be controlled by God’s
                Spirit in order to produce spiritual fruit).

      Romans 8:
              We learn that our source of power over sin is, the indwelling Spirit of God

              We see that by walking in God’s Spirit instead of our own
              flesh, He is able to lead us into a life of righteousness.

15. Adversity can be: Our motivation for open accountability.

      God’s key to life, peace, wisdom and achievement is,
      a moment by moment awareness of our accountability for all
      our words (what we say),
      our thoughts (what we plan to do and say),
      our actions (what we do),
      our attitudes (what causes us to do what we do),
       and our motives (why we do what we do).

      This awareness is actually the fear of the Lord,
      which is the beginning of wisdom and the foundation of life.
           (Proverbs 9:10) – Fear of the Lord = wisdom
           (Proverbs 14:27) – Fear of the Lord = foundation of life
           (Proverbs 16:6b) – Fear of the lord = avoiding evil

      There are blessings to those who fear the Lord (Psalm 128, Psalm 112).

      When we lose our awareness of God, we can easily
      start thinking and acting as if God does not exist.

      God responds to this kind of thinking and acting (Judges 2:19-22).

16. Adversity can be: Our preparation to comfort others (2 Corinthians 1:3-5).
      Note: This could be the greatest possible cause of adversity in our lives.

      We are better qualified to counsel others
      when we have experienced adversity in our own life.

      When we have “been there”,
      we have a better understanding of what someone is going through.

      We can recall the things others did and said which comforted us.