Articles
Preparing to Battle Adversity
We live in a world of adversity. Every day, almost without exception, there is another moral issue being undermined: Isaiah’s words appropriate in most any era, saying, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20). Nevertheless, it is the world we live in.
Although “Morals and Ethics” are a study within themselves, it does not take, as the old adage goes, “a Solomon to figure out” what is good and what is evil. The nation is rapidly sinking into an abyss from which it will not easily recover. The condition of the nation is a testimony to the fact that families have lost their moral compass.
Christianity is a warfare. The Apostle Paul instructed Timothy to “war the good warfare” (1 Timothy 1:18), and as such godly individuals are constantly wrestling “against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). Therefore, the apostle Paul said, “take up the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day” (Ephesians 6:13).
When the moral compass has not been properly calibrated, an individual can get adorned with the colorful attire, girded with truth, proudly displaying a breastplate of righteousness, feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace with the “helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17), and out the door the beautifully attired soldier goes! The battle is on! But the power behind all the beautiful armor is left behind.
When Ezra was faced with a nation laden with sin, he said, “I arose up from my humiliation, even with my garment and my robe rent; and I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto Jehovah my God; and I said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God; for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our guiltiness is grown up unto the heavens” (Ezra 9:5-6). When the Apostle Peter was at the door of the executioner’s block “prayer was made earnestly of the church unto God for him” (Acts 12:5). When the prophets and the teachers of Antioch, being faced with the daunting task of sending Paul and Barnabas into a world of ungodliness to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, “when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away” (Acts 13:1-3). When the Apostle Paul reflected upon his condition, as he endured his Roman imprisonment, he said, “For I know that this shall turn out to my salvation, through your supplication and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope, that in nothing shall I be put to shame, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether by life, or by death” (Philippians 1:19-20).
The religious world will come together, sing their favorite hymns and hear a message of peace when there is no peace, because they have lost an essential piece of armor, i.e., “prayer and supplication praying at all seasons in the Spirit, and watching thereunto in all perseverance and supplication for all the saints” (Ephesians 6:18). Ross Triplett, Sr.
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