How To Be Strong And Courageous When All Hell Is Breaking Loose Part 5 – Rest 2.0
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What do you do when you see the light at the end of the tunnel, but it’s another train? How do you handle the struggles that inevitably come with life? What do you do when all hell is breaking loose in your life?
Over the last several posts, we’ve been exploring five ways to live strong and courageous no matter our circumstances. It’s a mix of awesomeness and challenges. After all, life is 50/50.
We all encounter struggles; what matters is what we do when the battle comes.
If you missed the other posts, start here with part one, How to Be Strong and Courageous When All Hell Is Breaking Loose.
In the last post, I shared the fourth tool that we need so we can respond in faith when the challenges come. It’s the tool that ties all the others together and makes it all work worth it. Click here if you missed that post.
Step Four: Rest
We need to learn to Rest on our Heavenly Father.
Rest in God, knowing He’s got you through it all!
I also shared the key that keeps us from resting. So, if you missed that, please click here to head over to that post now and meet me back here.
So, how do we actually Rest on our Heavenly Father?
Here are five principles that, if we embrace and believe, we’ll begin to rest knowing our Heavenly Father has our back.
Each of these could be its own blog post, so I won’t unpack these principles in length due to space. However, I’ve included some extra blog posts in the resources section so you can study these principles further.
1. Father Never Leaves Us
Hebrews 13:5b NASB
“I will never desert you, nor will I ever abandon you…”
Our Heavenly Father has declared He will never desert us.
Desert in Greek means to send back, to relax, to loosen, to let sink. Abandon means being left in a condition of lack or “without”; to feel forsaken or helpless, like when left in dire circumstances.
Both Desert and Abandon also have a special emphasis that magnifies their meaning.
So, Father will NEVER, NEVER, NEVER loosen His hold on us, let us sink or leave you helpless and in dire circumstances.
Now, like me, you might be thinking, “Are you kidding me, I’ve totally been in dire circumstances, and I certainly didn’t feel God there helping me out!”
I’ve felt that way too!
Let’s follow that thought up with the following verse to discover our next principle.
2. Father Is Our Helper
Hebrews 13:6
So that we confidently say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?”
Helper here means a helper, bringing the right aid in time, meeting an urgent, real need.
Father is bringing the right aid at the right time, so we don’t need to fear.
It’s easy to mentally assent to this “The Lord Is My Helper” concept.
I’m still growing in this trust factor. When I’m in the middle of my challenges, I struggle to believe my God is right there with me, helping me in my dire circumstance and bringing me aid at the right time because the support I want–I want it NOW–and when it doesn’t come WHEN I expect it or HOW I expect it, I feel abandoned.
When I stop and remember all the aid He’s given me in the past, it fuels me to believe He’ll be there for me again.
The next time you are in challenging circumstances, reminisce on all the past obstacles the Lord has helped you through. Write them in a journal so you can continue to remind yourself. Remembering the good puts the right song track on Repeat One, as we discussed in the last post.
Now, for most of us, God’s timing is hard, leading me to our third principle.
3. Father’s Timing Is Perfect
My timing isn’t always Father’s timing–darn it! Wouldn’t that be nice?
When I was a teenager, someone told me that “God is never late, but He’s seldom early.” Oh, how true that is!
When I think of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, it reminds me of Father’s timing. You can read the full story in John 11.
John 11:21 NASB
Martha then said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.
But then Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead.
Jesus could have come days earlier and just healed Lazarus. However, there was a bigger plan in play.
John 11:45-46 NASB
45 Therefore, many of the Jews who came to Mary, and saw what He had done, believed in Him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done.
Many Jewish leaders believed when they saw what Jesus did, and some went and tattled on Jesus to the Pharisees, sealing Jesus’ fate to die on the cross.
But, what would have happened if Jesus had never died on the cross? Where would we be?
When you’re in the thick of a challenge, ask yourself these two questions:
What opportunity does this challenge make possible?
What can I learn while going through this opportunity?
These questions help us remember there’s a greater plan in play, and God’s timing is worth the wait.
I want to caveat this:
I don’t believe God’s greater plan includes causing people to get sick and die. We can see in 1 Peter 2:24 that Jesus paid for our healing as part of Him going to the cross. We don’t have time to go into it here, and there are many factors involved but know that James 1:17 reminds us every good and perfect gift is from our Father and sickness isn’t one of those good gifts. Can He turn it around? Yes, but that’s not His perfect gift (Romans 8:28).
4. Father Wants To Bear Our Burdens
1 Peter 5:7 NASB
Casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.
Casting means to throw or place upon. So we’re to throw or place our anxiety on our Heavenly Father.
The word anxiety in this Scripture means to divide and fracture a person’s being into parts.
Have you ever been so stressed out you felt like you were going to pieces? Yep, you are–literally from the inside out. No wonder anxiety is so painful; we’re not designed to bear it.
Our Father is the only one that can bear that kind of burden, so let Him carry it for you.
For more on casting your cares, I’ve included a blog post in the resources section called How to Jump off the Merry Go Round of Anxiety and Finally Experience Peace.
For now, here’s a way you can give Him your burdens, challenges and pains. One thing that helps me is envisioning myself handing over my care to Him. Then I picture crawling up in my Heavenly Daddy’s lap and letting Him hold me. Try it.
5. Father Provided All Our Needs
We can rest because our Heavenly Father provided everything we need. If you noticed, I said “provided” in the past tense. You see, when Jesus went to the cross, He not just paid for our ticket to Heaven, He paid for us to have Zoe life here and now. That encompasses all our lives, including wholeness and provision.
Philippians 4:19 NASB
And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Matthew 6:8b NASB
For your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.
There are so many provision stories in the Bible. Still, one of my favorites is Father provided the means for baby Jesus and His family to escape to Egypt using the gifts from the Wiseman who provided these gifts before they needed them. (Matthew 2:11-13)
I can see Father’s hand of provision throughout my life. It may not always come like I’m expecting, yet He always comes through. He will do it for you too!!
No matter what comes our way, we can choose to rest on our Heavenly Father. Cast your cares on Him; He can bear it better than we can. Rest in knowing He will never, never, leave us in dire straights, and He’s right there reaching out His hand to lift us. But it requires us to reach back and believe Him and receive His help.
As you Renew, Review, Rule and Rest, you become strong and courageous, continuing in faith, knowing your Heavenly Father will see you through even when all hell is breaking loose in your life.
Until Next Time, Live Fearlessly Free.
Discussion
I shared five principles you can implement so you can Rest on your Heavenly Father. What's one principle you want to implement this week and why?
I will focus on Father's Timing Is Perfect, resting on the fact that His provision will come at the right time. Why? Because being a new business owner is challenging me to trust my Heavenly Father more than ever, and I want to remind myself He's called me to this and is aiding me each step of the way.
Resources
Course:
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