Standing firm

Hurray!!! We are already in the month of December.

The long awaited December 2020. Countless number of times this year I exclaimed “2020, please can you pass very fast, I am tired of hearing bad news!!” I am sure most of us reading this piece have had that same thought. We have been through ups and downs, negative news and depressing situations, especially with COVID-19 and its effects. Hey guess what…we are in December already. “The Lord crowns the year with his goodness and his paths drip with abundance”. Psalms 65:11.

After the year ends what next? We all are looking forward to a great 2021 ahead. Hence, we find most people taking end of year retreats, self evaluation, corporate evaluation meetings, and many others. The question we ask ourselves is what if 2021 will have even more bad news? At the same time, what if 2021 is better? This is the reason why this month of December, our theme will be on “Standing Firm”. Someone may ask, why should we stand firm? Or how should we stand firm? We will help you answer all these questions in the course of the month.

Many times I have been faced with taking challenging decisions. Especially the decision about “WHAT NEXT”. It is like standing in a valley between two hills. You just climbed one hill, got to the other side and now you are trying to figure out whether or not you should climb the next hill. Then you begin climbing the hill and half way through, you discover that was not the right path to take. Or you shouldn’t have climbed the first hill before this one. In the midst of such confusion, you don’t know if to just continue in the wrong direction or go back or what? What about the obstacles we faced as we move into different stages? The times we had to compromise on certain decisions in order to achieve what God planned for us? We need to stand firm.

What does it mean to stand firm?

To stand firm means to refuse to change your mind about something. Once you have the strong believe and conviction, it cannot be changed. The phrase “Stand firm” can be used interchangeably with words like “steadfast”, “still” , “faint not” amongst others. This cuts across many life areas. For example, you received a strong prophecy about something to happen in your life, you held on to it but nothing happened. You started a business and then COVID-19 came and the business did not yield as much profits as you expected. You planned to be an entrepreneur this year and had made all the plans to succeed but there is one very tempting offer from a good company and you are thinking about compromising on what you believed strongly in your heart about working for yourself to impact lives. How about that brother who is 6 fit tall with muscles, 6 packs abdomen, broad shoulders, Holy Ghost filled and dollars loaded asking for your hand in marriage. He appears to be all you ever craved for but that one thing you miss is the peace of God and the personal conviction that he is the one. So do you stand firm on your believe or go with the flow? STAND FIRM.

Why should we stand firm?

From the pages of scriptures, we see lots of examples of people who stood firm and how they emerged at the end. Look at the Story of Daniel who was thrown into a lion’s den because he refused to follow the orders of the king (Daniel 6). Look at the three Hebrew boys (Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego) who refused to bow down to the image made for worship by the king(Daniel 3). What about Joseph who refused to defile his boss’ wife and rather went to prison because he feared God (Joseph 39). Why then should we stand firm through trials and tribulations, failures and hardship? Here are a few reasons:

1.) That’s what God expects from us.

“With flattery he will corrupt those who have violated the covenant, but the people who know their God will firmly resist him.” (Daniel 11:32).
“Conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.” (Philippians 1:27)
“Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.” (Ephesians 6:11)

2.) It leads to a greater reward.

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9)
“But those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31
“Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast and immovable. Always excel in the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” Isaiah 15:58.

3.) It builds a good reputation about you.

After the three Hebrew boys refused to bow down to the image the king wanted them to worship, the king ordered that they should be thrown into fire that was heated 7 times more than usual. But God recued them. With that, the king ordered them to be removed, respected the God they served and promoted them in the province. (Daniel 3:28-30)

How should we stand firm?

By faith in Jesus. Faith is defined as the confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. (Hebrews 11:1).

When we talk about faith, most people restrict it to world religions. Among Christians, many people take faith to mean your denomination. So sometimes when asked about their faith, they say I am Presbyterian, Catholic, Pentecostal, etc. This is far from it. When planning for an event, we do not know what will happen on the day of the event but we budget for food, drinks, the number of guests and we hope they will come. In fact, most times we can bet on who will be there and on who will not be there. This is faith in action. The only thing is to be able to apply it to this area of Christ. It is like someone who is to write the GCE Advanced level exams and really desires to pass all papers. No matter the obstacles, hardship, sleepless nights, he is convinced that at the end he will come out victorious. So that conviction makes him to pull through. This is what we mean by Standing firm. Just focusing on the end of a thing and doing all you can to get there. It is when you have that conviction in something that you stay glued to it.

1 Corinthians 1:24 b…” For it is by your faith that you stand firm “.

I know you have heard many talks on standing firm and faith. But I plead with you to not give up. It is all working out for your good. No matter how many trials St. Paul faced, he had this to tell us: