How to Choose Joy in Adversity

The Lord has allowed men and women who promote evil ideas to become our earthly rulers. As He allowed Israel to be ruled by the Assyrians, the Persians, the Greeks and in the 1st century, Rome, so now He has given us a similar gift. The U.S. was not defeated in war by another country but we have in essence been taken over by a foreign philosophy. In the following discussion I want to share my own response to these events by giving a detailed description of the thought process that has enabled me to be joyful in this adversity.

First, I believe that the election of a President who believes in socialism as the preferred economic system qualifies as an adverse situation. I consider our current political situation to be detrimental to any earthly, worldly goals we might hold. I am convinced that many policies that contradict the scriptures will be put in place or at least attempted. The principles of scripture that we as Christians know to be right will be counted as wrong, narrow minded and even deemed evil. In the coming months we will see the world we know turned on its head and turned inside out. Right will be wrong and evil will be known as good. For the first time in my lifetime, it is possible that we will experience real persecution.

In response to this adversity, I have decided to obey the command found in James 1:2.

Jam 1:2 Consider it pure joy, my fellow believers, whenever you are suddenly surrounded by trials of many kinds.

The word “consider” is a command using the Greek word hegeomai. This word as I have been discussing in previous articles means to use your God given imaginative faculties to envision possible life scenarios that might occur. In order to arrive at “pure joy” when surrounded by adversities, we must use our imagination to envision all the good that God intends to produce out of the events in question. We must reject the temptation to dwell on the negative scenarios that might occur as a result of this situation. Only by visualizing the blessings that God in his sovereignty has decided to generate through these adversities, can we feel joy in response to difficulties.

My decision to obey God requires that I reject the negative images related to the loss of worldly goals and imagine the good that God is working. If I fully obey God, He will enable me to experience pure joy in response to being ruled by the Godless. I am sharing my thoughts as I seek an obedient posture with the Lord to demonstrate the process the Spirit uses to enable us to apply God’s word. My hope is that my own process will help others achieve their own joy.

Let me summarize the process the Spirit has taught me to follow:

1. I have examined the present political situation and decided that it falls into the category of adversity. I will expand my conclusion in later discussions.

2. In response to adversity I have examined my options:
A. I can choose to sin by cycling negative images related to the loss of worldly prosperity. These losses will be caused by the abandonment of free enterprise principles.
B. I can choose to obey God by cycling images of His possible good intentions for allowing this adversity. Rom 8:28 God works all things together for good for His children who love Him.

Note: good: 2 Greek words: kalos = desirable, enjoyable, pleasant – good based on pleasant circumstances; agathos = good that advances God’s plan/purpose
God’s good intentions are agathos meaning that which advances His plan irrespective of how pleasant it is. The cross of Christ was good (agathos) but didn’t appear to be pleasant for Jesus.

3. Having decided to obey God, I am visualizing the agathos good He obviously is working. I have brainstormed an exhaustive, written list of possible good scenarios. Writing brings clarity.

4. Having chosen to obey God, I am alert and focused on the inner activity in my soul. I am looking inside my soul for images and self dialogue related to worldly goals. I am tempted to be angry that many Americans chose to buy into the sales pitch of evil men. I am tempted to be fearful about the coming economic difficulties we will face. I am tempted to dwell on what we might lose in the earthly realm as if that was the most important issue ie my own self interest instead of God’s.

5. When I catch myself “awfulizing” by focusing on negative scenarios, I face those images within myself and reject them because they are inappropriate for my life. I look at those ideas within myself, name them as lies and tell myself not to believe them. I visualize throwing these ideas out of my soul. When I do this consistently and hold the line, the negative ideas fade and diminish and then stop altogether. Consistent rejection of temptation breaks habits of allowing sin to control.

Note: These negative ideas hold a basis of truth. I believe a socialistic approach will harm our economy and the spirit of free enterprise investors. I believe that investors will be less inclined to risk their wealth knowing their profits will be taxed at higher rates and used to perform services with which they don’t agree. This will cause an overall decline in our economy and a loss of job opportunities. There will foreclosures, bankruptcies and many kinds of earthly losses.

I am not calling these idea lies because they are untrue. They are lies to me because to focus on the negative earthly situation rather than the spiritual good causes me to be disoriented to what God is doing in my life. The following principles explain my position:

A. God is not dependent on the economy to meet my financial needs.
B. God has persuaded me to abandon all worldly goals beyond my family’s daily needs.
C. I have chosen to believe that material prosperity will not bring happiness.
D. I have chosen to see spiritual service as my purpose for being left here.
E. I have attached my joy to an image of Jesus being pleased with me.
F. The earthly situation cannot hinder me from pleasing Christ by serving Him.

The early church flourished under a much harsher political system than what we will face. They quickly came under extreme persecution from their political leaders. Nothing in the earthly realm can hinder God from blessing us.

6. Having rejected the lies, I look to my list of possible good scenarios and intentionally visualize each item happening. I see myself in each “clip” reaping the spiritual benefit of giving out the word to hungry souls who accept it and embrace it for salvation and spiritual growth. As I see the lights come on in the souls of others, I allow myself to feel the joy that brings me. As I visualize someone at the moment of salvation, I hear the angels rejoicing in heaven and see Jesus smiling with pleasure. I intentionally visualize and even dramatize what I know is true from the word of God.

7. Having abandoned worldly goals as important and having left my financial future totally in God’s hands, I have been able to embrace the spiritual world as my reality. The temptation to be upset or fearful has faded and hardly comes at all now. I have chosen to lock into the perspective that the Spirit keeps giving me of our coming opportunity to speak to hungry souls.

8. I am truly excited about the mission. I am committed to the actions required to fulfill the mission. I have been in constant prayer. I have begun writing out my preparations and I have already preached this concept to others. I have been able to take what I consider a great blow to freedom and turn it into a source of power and inspiration.

I believe that this process is the mechanics of applying the word of God. I believe that this process will work the same way with any issue that you face. I hope that you find it enlightening and are inspired to use it for yourself. It does require a few prerequisites as follows:

A. This process is for Christians only because it is powered by the Holy Spirit.
B. This process is very difficult, especially when you are first learning it and trying to implement it.
 Breaking the old habit of choosing our sin patterns is the most difficult part of the process. The old way has a lot of momentum and has actually wired your physical brain to choose the old pattern. This is where our tendency is to give up. If you perservere you will win the battle.
C. This process requires us to totally commit to rejecting the old and therefore breaking the habit of choosing the negative. Jam 1:2-4 …produces endurance which takes us to victory.
D. You must have some knowledge of the word to understand the necessity of focusing on the good and also to imagine what God’s good might be.

Father, I pray that these ideas will help other Christians lay aside their habitual sin patterns, give them discernment about what your good really is in this situation and help them embrace your will as their viewpoint for action. I ask that you expose the spiritual need of our nation and wake us up. Bring us together with those who become aware of their need. Prepare us to take your precious promises to those who will hear and even to those who will hate us for exposing their evil. Thank you Lord for giving us this hardship so that we might know our need for you.