No, I have learned in whatever condition I am, to be independent of circumstances. I am schooled to bear the depths of poverty, and I am schooled to bear abundance. In life as a whole, and all its circumstances, I have mastered the secret of living – how to be the same amidst repletion and starvation, amidst abundance and privation. I am equal to every lot through the help of Him who gives me inward strength (Philippians 4:11 – A.S. Way Translation).
As we grow and mature spiritually, we are enabled to endure any situation with confidence. The Lord wants us to get to the place that nothing moves us. He wants us to be able to be the same during times of prosperity and poverty; during times of great victory, and in times of tremendous duress. And during the current crisis, He wants us to stand strong in His Grace!
As we grow spiritually, it means that we become less affected by outward things, and that we become motivated by the eternal standard of what God says in His Word and by His unconditional, ever caring, ever helping love.
The more we allow ourselves to be affected by circumstances, the less we are allowing ourselves to be influenced by the Word of our God. When God’s Word through our spirit nature from within begins to rule our lives, circumstances have less and less effect upon us. And, we can weather whatever storm life in a fallen world brings to us.
Years ago, Smith Wigglesworth used to say: I’m not moved by what I see. I’m not moved by what I see. I’m moved only by what I believe. He was living and responding from the inside out!
Start now to act as though God’s Word is true throughout your day. Decide to be a doer of the Word in every circumstance. In the office setting, at home with the kids, with the obstinate person in traffic, alone with your own thoughts, or confronting the fear that is tempting the entire populace of our world right now, decide to put God’s Word first place in your life.
Today we can live independent of our current circumstances. We can walk in peace and joy. God will be able to use us in the most difficult situations today, because He can trust us to stand strong and not wave and cower in unbelief and fear.
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? (Romans 8:31-32).
I love these next verses:
Romans 8:37-39 (Passion Translation) – Yet even in the midst of all these things, we triumph over them all, for God has made us to be more than conquerors, and His demonstrated love is our glorious victory over everything! (38) So now I live with the confidence that there is nothing in the universe with the power to separate us from God’s love. I’m convinced that His love will triumph over death, life’s troubles, fallen angels, or dark rulers in the heavens. There is nothing in our present or future circumstances that can weaken His love. (39) There is no power above us or beneath us—no power that could ever be found in the universe that can distance us from God’s passionate love, which is lavished upon us through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One!