Do you ever ask the question why bad things happen to good people or maybe, Is God mad at me? Why am I going through adversity? If you've ever struggled with those questions, today's podcast is for you. Stay tuned. How do I bring my faith to work? How do I tap into the power of God in my work life? Paul, why am I going through this adversity? Is God mad at me? I'm also yeoman and I've been helping leaders like you enter these questions at more for over 30 years. That's what this podcast is all about. Let's learn and grow together. Welcome to TGF today. God is first. Well, welcome Today's podcast is entitled four reasons why you'll go through adversity. You know, we all go through adversity. The question is are determining why we go through that adversity and today I want to give you four reasons. I believe that we all go through adversity, but make sure you stay through the end because at the end I'm going to give you a resource that'll really help you, that has supporting scriptures in it that you'll be able to download. At no charge. So just stay with me till the end. You know, I went through a seven year adversity back in the early nineties. It was a devastating time. I'd lost over a half a million dollars. My wife left me, 80% of my business went out the door. And it was a very difficult time. I had a vice president take my second largest account and so many of you who follow my podcasts already know my story so I won't get into it. But you know, it was during that time that I really discovered a lot about why I went through adversity and why others go through adversity. And so that's what I want to talk about today. You know, Satan has three great lies and, and I wonder if you know what those lies are because he speaks it to almost every person, whether you're a believer or a nonbeliever. These lies are 1)you are powerless over your circumstances, 2)you are a victim of an unjust God 3) who left you here to suffer. Those are the three lies that every believer will believe at one time or another. So, you know, we need to understand that Satan wants your past to be your future, but God always sees you for what you're becoming. You know? And that's where we see in the story of Gideon. Gideon was spoken to by the angel of the Lord. He says, “Oh, mighty warrior!” Now, he wasn't a warrior at the time, but I can assure you that God was looking at him through different lenses. You know, he was hiding behind a fence trying to protect himself from the Midianites. And so he was impugning the nature of God too. When the angel started talking to him, he said, “Why do you care? You don't care about us. You're not helping us. What kind of God are you?” And that's the way many of us are. But you know, God worked in his life and he did become a mighty warrior. You know, in the book of Mark we see a passage that says, “Jesus told them, you're all going to feel that your world is falling apart. And that it's my fault.” You know, I think that we've all identified with that statement, but we need to better understand what the Bible says about adversity. And while we might go through adversity, let's look at these four reasons that I believe we all will go through adversity. The first one is a consequence of the call. Our biblical example of that is Joseph. Now Joseph learned later about his adversity, that his brothers meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. You know, I believe that Satan entered the heart of his brothers. And yet God's omnipotence even worked in that situation. So Joseph went through 13 years of adversity that included slavery and also being a slave in Potiphar's household. And it, the Bible tells us about Joseph that he did. He was blessed by God and God prospered him. He used that word prosper. You know, it doesn't seem like he's being prospered, does it? But that's what the Bible says about him. And so, you know, when it came time to him to be elevated, God used his gifts and talents as Joseph, in the prison there. And his dream interpretation ability became renown. And as a result of that, he interpreted the dream for Pharaoh. And that's what got him out of prison. And Pharaoh chose to use him to be number two over all the land that what an incredible story that is. Uh, but it came with great heartache and great, um, persecution. But we learned from that story that sometimes God uses great adversity in order to fulfill your purpose for a larger story. And that's the key thing you need to remember. It's for a larger story. And Joseph had a larger story than what he was living. God gave him early visions of that story through dreams and visions. And so God used that. And so, you know, it's a consequence of the call was the adversity that Joseph went through and because there was a big call and the the greater the adversity often the greater the call and the greater the influence. And we see this really lived out with Paul and the disciples and just about anyone in the Bible that God used significantly went through a major crisis. Number two is sin. We can go through adversity because of sin. The guy Gehazi was the assistant to Elijah and he had his boss heal a general. And when that that general got healed, Gehazithought that they should be compensated because that was a man who had means. And so he wanted to benefit from that. And that was not what God had in mind. So God judged that sin and he got leprosy and he lost his job. And so here was a situation that he thought he deserved something because of the power of God that worked through them. And so sin can be a place that can keep us from fulfilling our destiny. It can cause adversity in our life. The scripture is very clear about this area. You know, just in the old Testament, we see where Joshua, uh, in his first battle where they went into Jericho, they won the battle. But God said, don't take any first fruits. And so there were a couple of people that did take the first fruits and hid them in the camp. Well, the next battle they go out at I and they you know, they're not winning. And Joshua was wondering why are we not being blessed by God? And it's because they had a disobeyed God even though he didn't know, uh, someone in his camp disobeyed God. God was not blessing his organization. And that's another principle to learn. If we've got people in our organization that aren't doing the right things, then you know, that could hinder us and cause adversity in our own situations. So the next one is son ship. And Hebrews 12 find the Bible tells us that we are sons of God and as sons he disciplines us just as the earthly sons need discipline. And so in this situation we see that God might reproof us and the Bible speaks about being reproved as sons and daughters. And so it's important that you and I know that, you know, God's going to allow things in our to our lives that will really keep us in the right path. You know, a parent always wants to keep their children and going down the right path and God certainly wants to do that with us as well. And so here we see sun ship as being the third reason we might experience adversity. And then the fourth reason is spiritual warfare. John 10:10 tells us that Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy. And you know, the second part of that says, Jesus came to give us life and life abundantly. There are two mission statements in that one, uh, scripture verse. And so we see that Satan wants us to, uh, really have terrible life on this earth. If you can't kill us at birth. And he tries to wound us so badly in childhood that we are in effect ineffective in our walk with God and on the earth. Now, Ephesians tells us about this warfare. He says, finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the armor of God so that you can take your stand against the schemes for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but of the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places. Therefore put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground and after you've done everything to stand. So you know, first John three eight tells us that Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil. That was another reason he came, in addition to being the savior of the world, but also to destroy the works of the devil, and he causes us to do the same. You know, there's another aspect of adversity that I just want to briefly mentioned, but I won't teach on it today. And that is the Joseph calling. Some of you may have a Joseph calling on your life, and that's a calling that's earmarked by adversity. When we think of Joseph, we think of the adversity he went through. He was a spiritual and physical provider to others. And, uh, you know, when I first encountered a man to help me understand my adversity, he says, loss. You have a Joseph calling on your life. It's earmarked by adversity. When people think of your name, do they, uh, relate the adversity to your name? If so, there's a good chance you may have a Joseph calling. You know, God created us with seven needs. And these are found in Genesis one and two. He created us with a need for dignity and authority, blessing and provision, security and purpose and meaning and freedom and boundary and intimate love and companionship. And so in order to raise, you know, have those needs met, we have to depend on God for that. But if we try to meet those needs outside God's design, that really opens us up to what the Bible calls a spiritual stronghold in Corinthians. Paul talks about this in Corinthians, and so we need to make sure that we're clean. You know, Jesus, there was nothing in Jesus, uh, in which the devil could use as a reason to attack him. You know hereafter I will not talk much with you for the Prince of this world comms and that nothing in me. In other words, what he's saying is that there is no sin in my life. Jesus had no sin so he couldn't attack Jesus for sin. You get attack him because he's the son of God because of warfare, but not because of sin in his life. And so there was no entry door into his life. And we need to understand is there any entry door to our life? Could he come into us because of that? Now in Corinthians, we see the definition of a strong home. It says, the weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. And so that is the definition of a stronghold. The opposite of that is found in Ephesians 3:17 Paul says, and “I pray that you being rooted and established in love may have power together with all the saints to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Now, whenever we seek to meet one or more of these basic needs outside God, we set the stage for the development of a generational stronghold. You see, Satan convinced Eve to believe God was holding out on her and he would not meet her needs, so she chose to meet her own need. Now there are examples in the Bible of generational strongholds. We see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob having the stronghold of deceit and lying, and then we have control with Laban, Rebecca and Jacob, and then we have King Saul as well. We see a sexual stronghold in Rahab, David Bathsheba, Absalom, Amnon in Solomon. In Psalm 51 David says, I was conceived in iniquity. What that tells me is that perhaps he might have been conceived in iniquity or out of wedlock. Maybe that might be the reason why his father didn't even have him as a one to be considered when Samuel was looking to anoint the next King. You know, I've, I learned a lot about this stronghold through a mentor who came in my life and he had written a book called demolishing strongholds that actually helped him publish. And he said, there's nothing wrong with you. You just have a stronghold of insecurity and fear that makes you control people in circumstances. Well, I said, that's crazy. And he says, well, let me prove it to you. And so he gave me this little self-assessment tool and he says, I want you to go to your sisters and your mother, have them fill it out and come back to me. Well, what this does is gives you symptoms that rank, uh, according to your stronghold. And so what came back back from that was sure enough, I stronghold of insecurity and fear. And this was quite a revelation to me. And so he took me through a prayer of faith to get rid of that. And, uh, you know, in the scriptures in second Corinthians it says, but we have renounced the hidden things of shame. Not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully but by manifestation of the commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. And so, you know, we don't have to remain in those strongholds. We overcome the influence of strong those by renouncing and repenting of their influence through the prayer of faith in Jesus's blood to cleanse us from these influences. And one of the things I've discovered in working with people, uh, over the years is that whenever the reaction to a situation seems to be an extreme response compared to the offense, you know, there is unresolved pain or the enemy is at work in the situation. You see, whenever we grow up, uh, and have a pain or a wound in our life and never resolve it as an adult, that pain can surface through different trigger points in our life. Now when people react to the out of their pain, their behavior is never logical. And let's say a person gets upset over something and it should be a level three and they go to a level 10 well you know something's going on under the hood and you need to find out what is the problem. So there's a process of discovery and deliverance for that. First you see the symptoms, which are light lights on a dashboard. And then we need to understand what the root of the behavior is. Then we read, revisit that wound and bring healing into it by confessing it and asking Jesus to heal it. And we discover the lie. John 8:32 says the truth shall make you free. And when you discover the truth of something that begins the process of healing, you apply the truth to that situation. So the steps to freedom is this prayer. Identify the strong hole and their symptom and rank them from 1 to 10 and then you want to work with someone close to you to help you confirm those strong holes. And then you want to confess a renounce the influence of strong holes in Jesus's name. Each believer has the power of the Holy spirit to renounce the influence of strong holes over their life. We have divine power to demolish strongholds. It says in second Corinthians 10, four and then we meditate and walk according to the word. Uh, we renew our minds. We began to change our behaviors. You know, any self-image, contrary to the truth of who God says you are in the spirit is a false self-image. You must agree with God, not with your flesh or the devil. You know, this reminds me of the, you know, the fact that we've been equipping leaders for the last 25 years on things like this. And I've been thinking about what we could do to help go deeper in a lot of these concepts. And so we've decided to come out with something in the near future that's going to address things like this and other issues in people's lives as well as a marketplace initiatives. And if you're interested in being on our waiting list to know when that comes out, we set up a webpage called www.becomeGodschangeagent.com. If you go there and just enter your information there, we'll uh, make sure that you know about the program when it comes out. And we'll also give you a free download of a booklet there that I did on the 10 truths of success that I've, uh, documented over the last, uh, 20 years. The top 10 things that I have found to be the most influential in my life that perhaps would be helpful to you as well. Just for putting your name on that list. Go to www.becomeGodschangeagent.com. You know, Paul’s sufferings, it says that five times I received the Jews the 40 lashes minus one three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was pelted with stones three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night in a day in the open sea and I've been constantly on the move. He says, I've been in danger from rivers in danger, from bandits, danger from fellow Jews, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city. And in the country dangerous. See danger from false believers. I'd labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep. I have known hunger and thirst and I've often gone without food. I've been cold and naked. That's Paul describing some of the experiences that he's had, but he never complains. He always see taps into the grace of God wherever he goes. Philippians two five says, let this mind be in you. That is also in Jesus Christ. We need to have the mind of Christ. Uh, Philippians two five, whatever God sets you free from, he automatically gives you an anointing to set other people free from the same thing you were a victim of. That's your payback to the enemy. And know that if you go through something major and you get victory on that, God is gonna use that to create your anointing and the power to release others from that same thing. We want to transform our past into a new beginning. First. We need to realize our identities and then learn to contend with it and then to receive our inheritance. And so that's the process. And these are the things that we want to help you with. Facing our fears requires coming to a debt in our expectations and leaving outcome to God. And so we can't cookie cutter this. You know, I had my mentor once say a dead man can't have stress, you know? And so if you get angry or upset about things, that means you're not dead yet. We can have strong emotions about things as long as we don't sin. And so that's the borderline severe adversity will reveal what we really believe about God. It reveals our deepest fears and beliefs about God. The bottom line is every in our lives is designed to give us an upgrade with God. If we'll press end to him with our whole horror, the greater revelation, greater power, greater character, and greater intimacy will be the result of that and a greater influence as well. So fear drives us to performance and to be slaves and orphans, but they encouraged, turns us into sons and daughters. And that's the difference between operating out of fear and operating in courage and faith. So I want to help you with this message by offering you a free download of a booklet I put together called www.adversityFAQ.com or, frequently asked questions. So if you go to our webpage we set up just to download this resource. So if you'd like to receive this nine page ebook on adversity - frequently asked questions just go to www.adversityfaq.com that's www.adversityfaq.com and there you'll be able to download that resource at no charge. As we close out, I'd like to close us with a word of prayer. And then a final remark from myself. So father, we thank you for this day. We thank you Lord that you allow adversity at times to matures into sons and daughters, but you also equip us to fight the battle because we're in a war and Satan wants to steal, kill, and destroy from us. And so we ask for grace to be able to weather the storms and to persevere through them. And I pray for anybody going through adversity today that you'll minister to them through your word this day and help them navigate in Jesus name. Amen. So a final word. If you're listening to this on iTunes, uh, please, uh, give us a rating, uh, that helps others find us on iTunes and help others benefit from this teaching. If you accessed, uh, on YouTube and watching this program, please, uh, share your comments at the bottom and subscribe to our channel. That too helps us, uh, find more people who will find this message helpful. God bless. Have a great week. We'll see you next week.