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“Times are changing,” as the saying goes, but God does not change.

He is eternal and timeless. When the culture seems to shift like sand underneath our feet, God calls us to hold our ground. Commit today to stand on firm upon the Rock and affect the culture for Christ.

It’s time to stand firm.

Please leave a comment below on your experience.

Have a blessed day!

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I love to wake up early in the morning to enjoy the quiet peacefulness of a new day with my Father. After breakfast, I slip on my shoes, grab my Bible verses and take a prayer walk.

One morning the sky was filled with dark heavy clouds.

I glanced at the sky and decided to take a chance. While I was saying my verses, I kept a watchful eye on the sky. About half way through the rain began to fall. A few yards ahead, I saw a dry spot in the road; the overhanging trees offered a little protection from the rain. I hurried to the dry spot and waited. As the rain poured down I thanked God for keeping me dry in my sheltered spot.

I was tempted, as the rain became particularly heavy, to leave my dry haven and dash for home. After weighing my choices—dashing or waiting—I decided to wait. After all, I was barely even wet despite the downpour. While I was passing the time, I could sense God had a lesson for me.

“When the storm has swept by, the wicked are gone, but the righteous stand firm forever.”

Proverbs 10:25

As of late, my life has been a little turbulent and unpredictable. Usually my first reaction to trouble has been to run from it as quickly as possible.

I’ve spent my life running.

From conflict. From fear. From change. From criticism. I’ve been a runner.

But God wants me to stand firm, to quit running and trust He will work all things for my good. Instead of running from the storms of life, He wants me to stand firm in the shelter of His presence. When I am under His cover the only things that can come to me are things He allows. In His presence I am in the storm but protected from the storm.

As the rain poured down and I stood firm,

I heard my Father whisper in my soul,

The danger is not in the storm but in the running. Stand firm.

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“When the storm has swept by, the wicked are gone, but the righteous stand firm forever.” Proverbs 10:25

In the storms of life, God deals with the wicked and takes care of the righteous. Forever.

4 Ways to Stand Firm

1. Change your self-talk. Instead of rehearsing over and over how you will fail, fall or disappoint God, talk about how He is helping, strengthening, and leading you.
2. Memorize scripture. Memorizing scripture will subdue your enemies, your fears and will help you with your self-talk. Speak scripture into your circumstances. Replace the lies of your own self-talk or lies of the enemy with scripture.
3. Replace worry with prayer. Ask others to join you in prayer. Fill your prayers with God’s Word.
4. Go forward. Walk by faith. Make no decision based on fear. Think of a person whose faith you greatly admire. Ask yourself What would so-and-so do? and do it. God did not bring this challenge to you so you would fail. And if you do falter, get up and try again.

Life is sweet. Stand Firm.

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Copyright 2016.

For freedom Christ has set us free;

stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Galatians 5:1

firm [furm]

adjective:

1. not soft or yielding when pressed; comparatively solid, hard, stiff, or rigid
2. securely fixed in place
3. indicating firmness or determination

What is the first directive God give in Galatians 5:1? He asks us to stand firm.  Notice God does not ask us to fight, run, or sprint, but to stand firm. In the Greek, stand firm transliterates as steko, which means, to be firm, to persist, to persevere, to be stationary. Thayer’s Lexicon gives us the prescription of how to stand firm: to persevere in godliness and fellowship with the Lord. When we  face temptation, despite our feelings, we need to continuously obey God’s Word and consistently meet with Him. In short, follow and fellowship. Stand firm.

When we trace steko back to its root, it also means “to have a steadfast mind.”

Standing firm isn’t so much a position of body, but of mind.

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After we have been freed from sin by Christ, under what conditions can we be subjected again to slavery? If we move … if we do not stand firm.

Why has Christ set us free? So we can be free … free to love  Him, free to serve  Him,  free to take His message to the lost of the world.

Over the holiday weekend please take time to pray for our nation’s citizens and leaders, that we will stand firm in the Biblical truths that shaped and formed our great nation.

Action Points

1. In order to pray and act efficiently, we must be informed. Please click on the following link to read about current hot-topic issues in the United States. Citizen Link
2. Is there an area of your life you need to firm-up? What steps do you need to take to stand firm?
3. How can you help your family stand firm?

Please enjoy the music below.

God Bless America.

“firm.” Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 28 Jun. 2015. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/truth>.

“Maybe I should … maybe I shouldn’t. I think I will, but then again, maybe I won’t. Nope. Yep. Final decision. I most definitely probably won’t.”

Have you ever had a conversation like the above with a friend, co-worker, family member …  yourself? Have you ever had trouble making a firm decision; swinging back and forth from choice “A” to choice “B” like the pendulum of a clock? Tick-tock, tick-tock, yes-no, maybe so.

I must admit I have had trouble trying to stand firm concerning decisions. Most of my wobbliness could be traced back to one deadly sin: people pleasing. In the not so distant past, my “stand firm” decisions were quickly toppled by one opinion contrary to my own. I was as firm as Jello at a July picnic.

My lack of ability to stand firm has cost me plenty (stress, wasted time, consequences, REGRET). After much prayer, soul searching and the storing-up of God’s Word in my heart, I am learning to stand firm, but not on my own two feet. I now stand firm upon the Rock.

To learn what it means to stand firm, and continue our study in 1 Thessalonians, A Life of Faith, please  click on the link below.

1 Thessalonians Part 12: Stand Firm