Sometimes the easy road isn’t God’s route. That was part of a message that Pastor Hank shared earlier this year. Indeed, sometimes the road of life feels difficult, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not the path of the Lord.
As a lifelong runner since childhood, I set my sights a few years ago on running a 26-mile marathon. Little did I know the challenge that I signed up for. I soon discovered that my training would require tremendous effort, extreme discipline, and more tenacity than I had originally anticipated. By the strength of the Lord, I accomplished my goal. It wasn’t an easy road, but in the end, it was a joyful one and I learned a lot of similarities between training for a marathon and traveling the road of life.
One of the things I learned along the way was the power of renewing our thinking according to the Word of God. Recently, Pastor Hank shared that we must change our words from “I can” to “I will” in order to succeed. He stated that we must not go into a battle with a defeat mentality. He further encouraged us that God has never lost a battle, so we need to stop talking or thinking about the battle. Instead, as we align our words with God’s Word. we’ll go in the direction of our victory.
A verse that Pastor Hank has been sharing with us for months now is Exodus 14:14 (NKJV) which says, “The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.” Sometimes in life, our path may feel challenging, but we can encourage ourselves that not only is the Lord aware of our challenges, but He will fight for us! Our job is to simply hold our peace.
Pastor Hank further shared that peace isn’t a feeling; peace is Jesus. After all, the Lord is our Prince of Peace according to Isaiah 9:6. So as we hold our peace, Pastor Hank encouraged us to speak the Lord’s peace, to speak life, and to speak the Word. As we do that, we will look back and see that the Lord has indeed fought for us.
There will always be challenges on the road of life. God’s route isn’t always an easy one, but as we hold our peace, we will see the Lord’s joyful victory in our lives!
Rachel Stageman is a staff member of Lord of Hosts Church.
