Overcoming A Personal Crisis

"People are enslaved by whatever defeats them" (2 Peter 2:19, HCSB).  
"You belong to the power you choose to obey" (cf, Romans 6:16).  
"O that they were wise, that they would consider their latter end" (Deut. 32:29, KJV). 
Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision" (Joel 3:14, KJV). 
"Tell me your certainties, I have enough doubts of my own." --Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German dramatist, scientists, poet, philosopher
"If you come to a fork in the road, take it!"  --Yogi Berra, Yankee great Hall of Famer

We all have come to a point in our lives when we face a fork in the road, a decision to make. We all must come to a point of relinquishment to God's will just like Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane, saying, "Nevertheless, not My will, but Thine be one."   For example, when Alice of  Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland asked the Cheshire Cat which way to go, he said it doesn't matter as long as you keep going, you'll get somewhere eventually--that is if Alice didn't care where she ended up.   We must have heavenly goals in our lives not temporal.  But our lives are headed toward an eternity with or without God in the picture--how bleak to spend it without His presence.  We ought to always consider our motives for God judges them (cf. Prov. 21:2) and that the heart of the matter is that it's a matter of the heart ("Consider your heart, for out of it flow the issues of life,"  --Prov. 4:23).

A crisis is merely preparation for what we must be in Christ--we either become bitter or better. The same crisis can evoke skepticism and doubt in one and faith and rejoicing in another the same way the same sun that melts the butter hardens the clay.  We all must endure trials for Christ's sake for the virtue of adversity is fortitude.  We must endure all trials and tribulations with eternal grit, not the grin, and bear it of stoicism but in faith (not in fate) but in a personal God who loves us and has a purpose for it all:  "He will fulfill His purpose for me." (Cf. Psalm 57:2).  God is determined to make us in the image of Christ and when we enrolled in the school of Christ we signed up for Reality 101 which includes all manner of adversity, difficulty, trials, tribulations, suffering, afflictions, and tests to measure our faith.  Our faith is more precious than gold or silver and must be tested--note that Christ was honest enough to warn us of them and did not exempt Himself from suffering.

At least once in everyone's life comes a time of testing of his character, to see if he is just going to stand on the fence or if he will take a stand for right against wrong or stand up for Jesus and declare Christian colors.  We cannot stand on the sidelines forever but must make our decision to follow Christ or not--as Jesus said that if we are not for Him, we are against Him.   We must even dare to be "Daniels" who stood alone against the king's edict and prayed anyway.  Only overcomers are able to defeat the devil and live victoriously in Christ---and this is our victory (our faith).

After the crisis, we find out what we are really made of and what kind of people we are for Christ's sake, whether we really do have saving faith or if it's a mere bogus profession.  We must pass the test with flying colors and prove that Christ lives in us by our testimony and good works, which they cannot deny even if they disagree.  We are to emulate Christ with an exemplary life and live out the gospel of Christ in our lives so that the world may see our good works and have nothing evil to say of us, even if they disagree.

The only faith worth having is a tested and proven one; if faith were not difficult, it wouldn't be worth much. We don't just want a faith we can live with but one we can die for.  For instance, if you wouldn't die for your honor, you probably don't have any.  If you aren't ready to die, you aren't ready to live!  We prove the earnestness of our faith by endurance through trial as Habakkuk did when the fields failed to produce fruit and said in Hab 3:18, "Yet I will rejoice in the Lord."  We will not know the future but can know who holds the future! We ought not to complain but realize God did something about evil--He made us!

A personal crisis is unique to us, in other words, not collective or congregate.  We all have our own crosses to bear and if we have not cross we deserve no crown, for Christ seeks to live out His sufferings in us to completion (cf. Col. 1:24).  We are all called to die to self and live solely for Christ's glory and kingdom.   It's not just about building character but virtue added to our faith that counts.  When the infidel sees our good works he may glorify God in the day of visitation  Therefore, we must never jeopardize our testimony by bringing Christ to public shame and acting like the world, for we are under a higher standard--the law of love.

The opposite of faith is despair, unbelief, fear, confusion, suspicion, and anger, or anything contrary to trusting God for the outcome and taking matters into our own hands and losing our patience or grit. Note that doubt is not the opposite of faith, but an element of it; we all live in the faith-doubt continuum just sort of absolute certitude till we reach glory. It takes courage to doubt! Learn to doubt your doubts and believe your faith.   But we have been given a spirit of love, not of fear, and God is not the author of confusion meaning we see things clearly and bear witness to the light, not darkness, and we never become angry at the perpetrators of evil against us, even the powers that be nor do we suspect God of wrongdoing or of being unfair in treating us.

We must learn to rest in peace and faith for God works this fruit in us through the Holy Spirit as a gift, winsome grace, and fringe benefit of being saved.  Just as God rested on the seventh day, we also can from our works as we walk in Christ.  But there comes a time when we stop trusting ourselves and of trying to save ourselves and lean on Christ as the Rock of our salvation; we cannot lift ourselves up by our own bootstraps and we must realize that our salvation is not a do-it-yourself proposition.  We must realize that God is at work within us to do His will and make us conformed to His image.

Remember, whatsoever is not of faith is sin!  Unbelief is sin! We must be willing to go wherever the Lord leads us and follow Him to our cross if necessary.  Come what may we must be willing to stick with Him through thick and thin, even when the chips are down, willing to say in faith with Christ that we trust God and let the chips fall where they may.  This is not blind faith that doesn't know where it's going but a trust in what we have good reason to believe to be true, for Christ alone is worthy of our faith; it's not how big our faith is but how big our God that counts.  But in the final analysis, Christ will render to each according to his faith but reward each according to his works--therefore our testimony and walk with Christ are paramount. 

If anyone had a personal crisis that we should relate to, it's the passion of  Christ from the Via Dolorosa to the crucifixion.  He had every reason to see Himself as a victim of circumstance but understood that it was the Father's will to afflict Him on our behalf.  He never succumbed to temptation nevertheless, and didn't even sin or take retribution, when at His most human of vulnerabilities on the cross.  He found the power to forgive His enemies to assure us that He can even forgive us.    Soli Deo Gloria!