SUCCESSFUL SUFFERER SERIES
Have you ever considered the military? They are constantly training, conditioning their bodies, and developing their skills. It does not matter if we are at peace or war, they are always preparing. They participate in training exercises, fire their weapons, and simulate live scenarios to keep themselves sharp and ready for battle. Unknowing when and who the next battle will be with, they stay armored up. When war is declared, they do not have to scramble and be befuddled. They select the most effective strategy and weapons to lead them to victory. Although they have trained to fight in different scenarios, not every war requires the same skills.
In Ephesians 6:13, we are instructed, Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. The evil day is defined as a time full of toils, annoyances, and perils to the Christian faith and steadfastness. The evil day is coming to attack you. You may have experienced skirmishes before to test your strength and get you sharp. You may have even thought that those tests were the evil day but the evil day is coming to declare victory over you. Unfortunately, many people run, retreat, and fall apart in their evil day.
Recently, I was trying to understand how I was able to endure my evil day. The person who I am now, I was not this person back then. I was living the life that I wanted and thought that God should bless it. I saw a beautiful future with my son and a neat bow wrapped around it. There was nothing in my spiritual life that would give any indication that I should have endured. I believed in Jesus for my salvation but I did not have that inner “knowing” that brings the peace of being a daughter of God. I knew the Word but had not fully submitted my life under it. My thoughts, feelings, resources, and behavior were all about me. So, how did I endure with such a weak foundation? I asked God to give me the understanding, and He did.
KNOW YOUR ENEMY
When a country is attacked with military force, they identify who the culprit is. In the same way, when your evil day comes, it is important that you identify your attacker. Ephesians 6:12 reads, For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. We can spend so much of our focus on the natural things that are causing us distress that we never engage in the spiritual battle. It is easy to blame your spouse, coworker, child, the cashier, etc. If you never properly identify your attacker, then you will never fight the right war. When my son passed away, I immediately knew that I was in a spiritual battle and I needed to fight.
KNOW THE TARGET
The next thing to consider during your evil day is the area that the enemy is targeting. When a country is attacked, the enemy has carefully selected what to initially target. I believe that Satan attacks our health, finances, marriages, loss of loved ones, etc. but the target is really our faith, hope, and/or love. First Corinthians 13:13 reads, But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust [Faith] steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love (MSG [word added for understanding]).
In Job 1:9-11, we can see Satan in operation. So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!” There is no victory in Satan afflicting your health or taking your material possessions but he wants us to turn our backs on God by losing faith, giving up on hope, and to stop loving. He wants us to curse our loving Father to His face. Therefore, I knew that Satan was after my faith. In fact, the Word that God had given me to eulogize my son was titled, Faith Don’t Fail Me Now (Luke 22:31-32). Despite my tears, I had to persevere in my faith in God.
CHOOSE THE RIGHT STRATEGY
Knowing that I was in a spiritual battle, and understanding what the target was, allowed me to have the right strategy. I had to draw closer to God. I knew that He was the only way that I would endure my evil day. My world was rocked and I did not have the strength; I relied on God’s strength. The year or so prior to my son’s passing, I led a small group. I prepared a lesson on suffering and a series on the character of God. This allowed me to draw from that wealth of information and apply it.
In the book of Job, we see how Job’s evil day came to him. In one day, Job loss all of his cattle (wealth), servants (authority), and children (legacy). He pulled out the only appropriate weapon: worship. Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped. And he said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.” In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong (Job 1:20-22). Despite Satan’s best efforts, Job blessed God instead of cursing Him.
We are regularly consuming sermons, devotionals, and YouTube videos that we should be able to draw from the Word and rightly apply it to our situations. I put my faith in God to fulfill His promises found in Romans 8:28 and Matthew 5:4 (and like Job, I worshipped) to sustain me. Let me be clear that I take no glory in enduring. It was only by the grace of God that I unknowingly put these principles into practice. Similar to the military, we are constantly training and developing in our relationship with God. You do not know in what way the enemy will attack you but you have to be prepared, armored up to handle any battle, and protect your faith, hope, and love.
For more detail of my evil day testimony, and the tools that I used to endure, read the Successful Sufferer Series.
Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments section.
To receive new posts in your inbox, click Subscribe.
Copyright 2020 T.L. Lockley. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries.
The Greek definition is taken from Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament.
