When the Path is Hard
by Victoria Thornton - FindingGodsWill.com
When the path seems hard and what should be working isn’t, do you give up or keep going?
With your growth in Christ sometimes He’ll put you into the fire to let you see what is in you. When the path gets hard it is often times He’s working out wrong ideas you had lodge in your soul that wasn’t serving you but causing problems.
Other times your path is hard because the enemy is fighting you and you’ll have to fight for all the ground you take. Its hard to fight in order to receive or recover but that is what you’ll have to do. And most times, when times get hard, He’s stretching and bringing to the next level.
Whatever the reason you are thrust into a situation you’d rather not be in know that it can be worked out for good if you stick with Him and His Word.
Because no matter how hard it gets I found that He directed me back to one thing. Of course you should pray; of course you should fast and of course you should fellowship with other believers’, but what I experienced each time when things became unbearable and when I wanted God to comfort me instead He would direct me back to faith and obedience to His Word.
For instance, there were times I became weary and wanted to quit. Sometimes He would encourage me and show me why my prayer wasn’t coming as fast as it should, but it took faith to believe what I saw.
John the Baptist was in so hard a place that it caused Him to doubt what he believed. John’s birth was miraculous and His calling in life was to prepare the way of the Lord (Luke 1:13-17). He preached Jesus and led many to Him, but after he was thrown in prison he began to doubt.
I am speculating but it might have been because prison was hard and being the upright man that he was, he never expected he would end up there. Whatever the reason, He began to doubt so much so that he sent his servants to Jesus asking Him ‘are you the one or do we look for another’.
Now remember that John was filled with the Holy ghost from birth, heard the voice of God confirm that Jesus was the
savior of the world and preached that but when things got hard, he questioned it. Now in answering, Jesus could have cuddle John and spoke great things to them to tell John, but He didn’t. Instead Jesus ignored them and healed the sick, open blind eyes, raised the dead and preached the gospel to the poor demonstrating exactly what the Word said about Him.
Luke 4:17-19 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
And that’s what He’ll do to you. If you are believing Him for your mate, when things get hard, He’ll refer you back to his Word too.
Because as New Testament saints, as empowered sons of God, it takes faith to appropriate the things He has done for us and see them manifested in the earth.
So in order to get what you need from God and escape that hard place, faith will be needed.
Situations that you may find hard as you believe for mate include the following:
-believing that it’s done when you have no sense realm evidence.
-staying with your faith after nothing seems to change.
-seeing others receive their mate and you are left still in expectation.
-being around married friends and relatives and they are wondering why you aren’t married yet.
-knowing who your mate is but he or she doesn’t feel the same.
-standing in the gap for your mate when he or she doesn’t know that you are their mate.
-watching your mate entertain others.
These situations can be hard and test your faith but if you cling to God and stand, God is faithful. So here are some things you can expect as you walk your hard path.
1. It won’t get better or come to end without you. Whatever the reason for the hard path, your cooperation is necessary. If your mate hasn’t manifested because you or your mate are exhibiting doubt, then the doubt will remain until you deal with it.
If you feel too much time has passed without movement, then it’s up to you to find out why. Your participation is required throughout this process and it doesn’t end after the initial prayer.
2. When you don’t know what to do, a good place to start is making sure you are in faith. Make sure you ‘believe you actually received’ to the point where the lack of evidence doesn’t matter.
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Then begin again to confess out loud and take some form of action.
3. Remember to stay proactive. If you find yourself inactive, get moving and find some way to express your faith.
4. Don’t forget to give God praise and thanksgiving. Praise does two things, it honors God and stills the enemy it .
It is also an expression of faith because what better way to show that you believe than to give thanks. If I gave you a gift, the next expression out of your mouth would be to say “thank You”
5. Don’t forget that God honors His Word above his name so keep His Word in your heart and speaking it out of your mouth.
6. And last, pray. If you need God to tell you anything about your situation, pray until you get the answer. If you know who your mate is, yet he or she isn’t walking in God’s Perfect Will, along with your faith that God has transformed them, you should pray.
When a person’s will is involved you cannot use your faith to change them. While God will respect their free will, with prayers from you, God can deal with their heart to want to change.
In closing, in any hard place that you are dealing with, know that you’ll win if you won’t quit. Total victory can be yours but, it’s up to you.†
