Challenges Of The Present Hour
2Timothy 3: 10- 12: But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience. 11: Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me. 12: Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution."
THE route to eternal life in heaven is not and will never be a bed of roses for Christians who are desirous of being with their maker, our Lord Jesus Christ, after death. They are bound to face challenges, temptations, and even persecutions in the course of the heavenly of actualising their goal. The Devil is in constant war against Christians simply because of their faith in Jesus' Christ, the Son of God. In league with the fallen angels ( Satan), the Devil mounts challenges, temptations and oppositions against the children of God so that they will fall out of faith and be destroyed in hell fire.
The Devil, as a result of pride and his attempt to usurp power from God that resulted to war in heaven in which Angel Michael led other angels to fight him. Angel Michael defeated him and then threw him and his angels out of heaven into the earth. He knows there is no other chance for him to enter heaven or be with our Lord Jesus Christ again, so, he resorted to fighting the people who are obedient to the word of God. He wants all to disobey God and fail to enter the Kingdom of God. He, therefore, mounts oppositions, challenges, and temptations against the children of God.
Fortunately, challenges and temptations are good for heaven- bound Christians, as they serve as preparatory grounds for them. It is when one faces challenges and overcomes that he/ she is strengthened to do exploits for God's kingdom.
In the lead scripture, it is written that the people who will truly serve God must suffer persecutions. Christians are bound to suffer challenges and temptations for heaven's sake. In its original Greek translation, the word ‘ tempted’ literally means to test for weakness. It is the same word used for the process of testing a sword for strength and proper forging: the same process we can call tempering in today’s parlance. This was done by putting the sword in fire. The steel for the sword is heated until it turned red- hot and then beaten flat into proper shape. After this, it will be held up to reveal any grayish spots in the red- hot metal that indicated areas of weakness. The sword will then be taken back into the fire, and the weak spots are beaten with hammer on an anvil to smash the molecules together so they would be tighter and stronger. After this, the sword is placed in cold water to freeze the molecules in place. Then, it is heated to red- hot again and re- examined for weak spots. This process of examination, hammering, cooling, reheating and re- examination are repeated until all the weak spots are beaten out of the sword. Only then is the sword ready for use in battle. An untested sword might break in the heat of the battle and this has a deadly consequence on the soldier who is using it. Therefore, the word tempted means to test for weakness, not out of a desire for destruction, but for the purpose of making one stronger and unbreakable. So challenges, oppositions and temptations are to strengthen the believer in the work of God and to face challenges that might arise in the course of the heavenly race.
The children of God are never consumed by temptations and oppositions or defeated in the battlefield because God will always intervene and give them victory. In the Bible, the Israelites were turned to slaves in Egypt after Pharaoh who did not know Joseph mounted the throne. They were subjected to forced- free labour and their daughters taken into marriage without proper rites. At the heat of all these, God’s intervention led to their delivery from this bondage. On their way to the Promised Land, notwithstanding they were moving under the will and guidance of God, they met stiff oppositions and great lack in the wilderness. They faced enemies who engaged them in battles, they lacked food and water and also suffered snakebites, but all these later became history as God granted them victory in all situations.
When a Christian is faced with temptations, oppositions and challenges, these are meant to strengthen him to forge ahead boldly. Apostle Paul using himself as a case- study in encouraging the believers to endure whatever comes their way in the course of the heavenly race has this for them in 2Corinthians 11: 24- 28: “Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. 25: Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep. 26: In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren. 27: In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. 28: Beside those things, that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.”
The great Apostle Paul suffered all these and he overcame to the extent that he announced his waiting for the crown, which the righteous God will give to him and to all the people that love the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. It should be noted that the more persecutions and oppositions mounted against them, the more they did exploits for God's Kingdom. God will not allow us to be tested beyond our capacity; hence, He is always with us to ensure we overcome temptations and challenges. Romans 8: 35- 39 says: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36: As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the daylong; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37: Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38: For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come. 39: Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Eternal life with our Lord Jesus Christ is the focus of every Christian and as long as God is with us nothing shall separate us from loving, serving, and following Him till the end, when we shall reign with Him in the New Jerusalem. Temptations, trials, challenges and oppositions are bound to come and whenever we are faced with them, God has given us answer to troubles and oppositions in Psalm 50: 15, which says: “And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.” Whenever, the Devil and his agents confront us in all solutions, we are to call on God for intervention. Temptations and challenges are for our good because they are to strengthen us, but when they become hard on us, we are to call on God for intervention and deliverance and He will answer our prayers in Jesus' name.