Creflo Dollar - Maintaining Your Victory in the Midst of Discomfort - Part 2
We are in the middle of a series talking about faith and grace in the midst of discomfort. In the midst of discomfort, how to walk by faith and how to depend on grace in the middle of trouble, in the middle of distress, tribulation, pain, when things are not comfortable. A lot of times, people, they just kinda calculate it up to if there is tribulation or trouble in your life, that's the devil. And yet, the Bible says that "They that live godly shall suffer persecution".
The Bible says that in this world, you shall have tribulation. The Bible also talks about the first thing that Jesus did when he received the Holy Spirit. He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted, tested, and tried of the devil. It appears to me that temptation and discomfort and pain and trouble and persecution appears to have purpose in the lives of believers. And we have to understand the purpose of it because we'll just kinda write it off and say, "Well, that's the devil. I bind you, devil," and not understand the purpose for it. And the purpose for it is to help us to mature, to grow, to become better. Discomfort and pain will hold a mirror up in front of your soul not to show you who you think you are, but it'll show you who you really are.
And it's one thing to quote scriptures and tell people how wonderful you are in Jesus Christ, but when the discomfort comes, when the pain comes, when the tribulation come, will you run away from that discomfort, or will you have an understanding enough to stay in the middle of it and say, "You know what? I'm willing to grow. I'm willing to mature". It should be that after one discomforting situation or tribulation of pain comes, the next time that same thing comes, you should be bigger now. You should be more resilient now, and you see growth, and you see maturity. And God's plan is that we will mature and conform into the image of Jesus Christ. But you can't do that where there is no pressure. You can't do that where there is no discomfort. No, it doesn't feel good. No, nobody enjoys it. Nobody's praying, "Oh Lord, give me discomfort".
But Paul must have figured something out because Paul said, "When I'm weak, that's when I'm strong". He says, "Now, I brag about when I'm weak so that I can give glory to God for the strength that he has". There's something about it. Now, we're confronting the little Christianity that floats on the cloud and picks little daisies up. That's not what this is. Maybe the reason you're going through trouble and discomfort is because God recognizes that you must mature, and some of us keep running away from the trouble. In other words, it's like a test, and until you pass the test, you gotta keep taking that test over and over and over again. And you've gotta be bold and resilient enough to stand up in the face of it and say, "You know what? God's with me. I trust God. Let me go ahead and grow out of this particular thing. Let me make sure that I get the wisdom out of this particular thing".
It would be great if you could come to church, I teach the sermon, and you go home and do it. But it ain't like that. Some of us just hard-headed, and God knows how to deal with hard heads. Now, I'm not saying it came from God or who it came from, but I know that this is a part of life. This is a part of development. This is a part of growth. It is not supposed to be where life is happening to you all the time. Through God's Word, he wants to teach us how to happen to life. Are you listening to me? We know how to do church, but do we know how to do life? And in order to understand that, we've got to know that there's purpose in discomfort, purpose in pain.
And there will become a time where you will realize that maybe your pain might one day be your greatest witness. Yeah, because everybody can bear witness to pain and discomfort. The greatest demonstration of God's power and love was not in his sermons. It was not in his miracles. It was in his suffering on the cross. And I want us to get a hold of this. I want us to not run away from the stuff that confronts us, but to stand up against it and say, "This too will pass, and I'm gonna be all right".
Now, I am not saying when trouble comes, you just kinda put up with it. No, when trouble comes, you need to resist it. Because, yeah, a lot of that trouble coming from the devil, but God knows how to use the stuff not that he has to, but if the devil throws stuff at you, God knows how to take advantage of it. Since you got to grow anyway. You follow what I'm saying? So, no, no. When tribulation comes, just 'cause tribulation comes, just because persecution comes, just because there's purpose and pain, do we just sit up there and take it? No. No, we don't. We resist it. That's how you start growing.
You see, I can take you in the weight room and put a bunch of weight on your chest. That doesn't mean it's gonna mature you and make you stronger, until you start trying to resist it. It's in the resisting that you build strength. It's in the resisting that you begin to develop. So when this stuff happens, your resisting is what's gonna make you stronger. Your resisting is what's gonna give you wisdom. Your resisting is what's gonna cause you to develop. Not just sitting there and saying, "Well, you know, the devil's is busy, so, praise the Lord, hit me. Uh, uh, hit me". That's not what he's talking about. Is everybody following me? So it's in the resistance. So since we find purpose and suffering to be conformed as an image of Christ, we should not just put up with the persecution and this situation. No, we resist.
So let's look at this, 1 Timothy 6:12. 1 Timothy 6:12. He says, "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses". So he says, "Fight the good fight of faith". So, remember: the fight of faith that we're fighting is to maintain the victory that Jesus died to obtain, the fellowship of his sufferings. His part of the fellowship of his sufferings is to die and to obtain the victory. Jesus has obtained our victory. Our job is, or our part is to maintain it, and that's where the "good fight of faith" comes in that.
You see, Satan's gonna be throwing all kinds of things to try to get you to not believe what God promised, to not believe the victory. And so there, a dart will come this way, and another dart will come trying to knock you off of the victory. Your job is to maintain it. That's the fight of faith. I'm maintaining the victory that I can't even see yet. I'm maintaining the victory that I have yet to experience. But there's something about having done all you can do to stand there for. Well, what you standing there for? Until you get what you standing there for, amen? So it comes in maintaining and maintaining that stance in what you believe. Fight the good fight of faith. A good fight is the one that you win. If you got beat up in high school, you didn't run home and say, "Mom, I had a good fight today". No, because you lost. A good fight is a fight that has victory, a fight that wins.
Now, look at this. Look at Saint John chapter 5, in verse 24. Because he says something else here. Saint John chapter 5, verse 24. And in verse 24, he says, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my words, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life". So if you believe the Word and believe what he said, you have everlasting life, "and shall not come into condemnation; but," what? "Shall be passed from death unto life". So what he says is embrace the Word and your belief about that Word. Embrace it. "I believe I'm the righteousness of God". Embrace your belief in Jesus Christ and God's plan for your life. That's where you fight the good fight of faith. "I believe the Word. I embrace it. I believe what Jesus has obtained. I embrace it".
These are practical things. When we say, "Fight the good fight of faith," how? By embracing what you say you believe. You believe that Jesus has made you righteous. Embrace that. You believe it, embrace it. Embrace it, man. Meditate in it. Embrace God's plan for your life. You know, I'm kind of over hearing a neat little saying but doesn't know what it look like in everyday, practical life. And in everyday, practical life, that means I'm gonna probably use my mouth and say, "Father, I thank you that I believe I'm the righteousness of God. Lord, I just praise you. I believe I'm the righteousness of God". And then when the temptation comes and you're not acting so right, you know, the boldness to be able to say, "Lord, forgive me for that," and I'm still the righteousness of God. See, you start believing and holding onto that, you're having this good fight of faith that's operating in your life.
Now, go to 1 John chapter 5, in verse 4, gonna look at three or four scriptures here. 1 John chapter 5, in verse 4 in the King James, and then we'll look at it in the NLT. He says, "For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith". Faith is the victory that overcomes the world. Now, faith in what? My faith in the finished works of Jesus Christ is the victory. It is the victory. See, I already have victory by having faith in what Jesus has already done. I already have victory in having faith in the grace or the finished works of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, it may not look like it, but your victory is in your maintaining your stance. Your victory is in fighting a good fight of faith. Your victory is in the fact that I am overcoming the world because I believe what Jesus has already done, even by my faith. All right, now watch this in the New Living Translation. 1 John 5:4. He says, "For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith". So I defeat this evil world that tries to say that I am worthless, and I'm not enough. I defeat it by the faith through the victory that I have. I'm a child of God. I defeat this world and I achieve victory through our faith. And it's literally, your faith is achieving what grace has already made available, okay?
So you receive what grace has already made available, and in doing so, you achieve victory. By receiving, I'm the righteousness of God. This whole thing is, it's a belief issue. Everything starts there. It's a belief issue. Do you believe it? And I'm not talking about at church. I'm talking about when you're really going through the uncomfortable situations. I mean, you're walking around with cancer, and the doctors say, "We don't even know if this is gonna work". But you're walking around, saying, "I believe that, by the grace of God, I am already healed, and I take this by faith". That right there is your victory. The issue is, can I hold onto that? Can I hold onto that through this stage and the next stage and the next stage? Can I hold onto that? This is the victory that overcomes the world.
And then James chapter 4:7 in the NLT. Of course, he tells us what we started off with as far as resisting is concerned. He says, "So humble yourselves before God". The King James says, "Resist the devil, submit yourself to God," he says. And then, "Resist the devil, and he'll flee from you". All right, so if you submit yourself to God, he's really saying, "Will you humble yourself to God"? Humility is will you agree with what God tells you to do, or will you decide to do what you wanna do? When you submit yourself to God, what you're saying is, "I am going to align myself with what God says. And if God says I'm healed, I'm gonna align myself up with what God says to me".
See, this walk of faith, sometimes it requires us to go to a classroom and learn some stuff. I mean, you're never gonna learn the things you need to learn if you allow your emotions to be in charge of your Christian life. Christianity without a relationship with the Christ is just religion that keeps you in bondage. And a lot of people are still trying to be Christians based on coming to church and learning some new laws. "Do this, do that. Don't do this, don't do that". You know, when you have a relationship with Jesus, he will show you things that you haven't even read yet in the Bible. He'll start telling you to act a certain way, and you'll look up and read it in the Bible and say, "Oh, my goodness. I am actually doing what the Word says". Well, we hadn't got to it yet, but the New Testament said, in the New Testament, he says, "You'll not need men to teach you". He says, "The Holy Ghost will teach you".
Oh, y'all don't hear what I'm saying. Now, that doesn't mean, it doesn't mean you don't need a ministry gift that the Holy Ghost can use to teach you. But when he needs you to get something, he know how to get it to you. And we've got to trust the Holy Spirit to take us on this journey. You... listen to me. Let me say it again: you're not gonna be efficient and effective in the Christian life without developing a relationship with the Christ. And that means you wake up talking to Jesus 'cause you know him. Throughout the day, you heard something he told you. When you get in trouble, you're like, "Lord, help me". It don't take a lot. You don't have to be fancy with your vocabulary when you're talking to God. Honey, when it hurt, "Lord, help"! And God got you, you understand? And anytime you think, "Well, was that me, was that God, or was that the devil"?
Well, the devil ain't gonna want you to do what the Word says, all right? And you didn't even know what the Word said. So sometimes God'll speak wisdom into you that'll make you smarter. You know that, you know you weren't that smart to come up with whatever he told you. This is a daily relationship with God. And Christianity is never gonna be what it's intended to be without a relationship with God. I can preach a lot of things to you, but the Holy Spirit on a day-to-day basis is the one that's raising you up and training you, raising, you can say something real nasty, and the Holy Ghost said, "Now, you know that wasn't nice". The Holy Ghost will, listen: there's something on the... well, he on the inside of you begins to instruct you, and you just, there are things you already know even, sometimes before I preach stuff.
Some of you hear confirmation and say, "You know, God showed me that. You know, God said that to me". That's the awesomeness about having a relationship with God: I think I'm coming up here getting ready to show you something that God done already showed you. And you coming to church to get a review because God's already taken you through the course. That's a relationship with him. That's what I pray for our church. I want our church to know him, to have a relationship with him. Not to come here with a religion. "This is how we come to church, and this is the way we go to church". And then we do all the little things that churchy people do, and then we go out, and we say, "You know, my Bible tells me I need to do this, this, this. If you don't do this, this, this".
Now, listen to this. This came to me this morning. "If you don't do this, this, this this way, then God ain't gonna be able to bless you". Be careful about talking about what God ain't gonna be able to do because you didn't do that, because that's why he's the God of mercy and grace. See, listen: there's a lot of things that God, hallelujah, wasn't supposed to be able to do with you because you weren't acting right or walking right. But see, that's why he's full of mercy and grace. He'll do something for you you don't even deserve, and that goodness will change your mind about what you used to think about him. I know I'm right about it, boy. Be careful talking about, "Well, God ain't gonna bless you 'cause you know you did this. You got a divorce".
And let me say something about divorce. The Bible says God hates divorce. He don't hate the people that get 'em. Now, can God work it out? Yeah. Absolutely, he can work that thing. He can take a mess and make it out a masterpiece if both parties come into agreement to work this thing out. Absolutely, he can work anything out. But I'm saying if it doesn't. God hates divorce because of what it does to people. He hates divorce because of the trauma that happens as a result of divorce. That's why he hates divorce, but he will never hate you 'cause you got one.
Now, did I just give you a license to go get a divorce? No, I didn't. Because what you don't know: when you talk that stuff, the people who have been divorced go through a condemnation when you're preaching about something that they wish they would have known about. They didn't learn how to relate with one another. They didn't learn how to fight fair. They didn't learn how to position themselves so that God could work that thing out. They didn't know no better. All they knew was, "I'm hurting. I don't feel like I can take it no more. I feel like I'm suffocating. I don't know what to do, but I know I can't take this no more. I'm tired".
And they're going through enough trauma going through that, and then the trauma of the aftereffect, and then the trauma of, you know, "I'm 50 years old. I mean, I ain't going to no club to try to hook up with somebody". And it's just... so God hates divorce 'cause of all of the stuff it takes people that he love through. Yeah. But I thank God, that's why it's important for you to be saved and your partner to be saved and for both of y'all to have a Holy Ghost, because he's the one that can begin to navigate the recovery so that that marriage can continue to grow into something that you never thought it would be.
Only the Holy Ghost can do that. Religion can't do that. A set of rules can't do that. But the Holy Ghost will put a love deep down on the inside of you, praise God. And you'll realize, "This is the man I can't live without. This is the woman I can't live without. So whatever adjustments I need to make, I don't want nobody else. We got something. We got", I felt that too. I felt that too, brother. I felt that in the city of my soul. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.