When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Down On Their Knees.

          Let me tell you, you take one step in the right direction and the devil is going to knock you off your feet. But look where you are; you are in perfect battle position on your knees. Exodus 14:14 reads, "The Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still." The thing I always stress in my Bible studies is don't just read the sentence. You've read it a hundred times, you can recite it to anyone you meet, but you still don't let it affect you. What does it actually look like to let the Lord fight for you?
          None of us are strangers to trouble. It's been my experience that as Christians, the more we try to be like Christ and do things to advance His kingdom, the more trouble we're going to find ourselves facing. 2 Timothy 3:12 seems to agree with me. Sometimes it can feel like you just want to look up at God and say, "Are you serious? You ask me to follow you, and I do, and this is what I get?" Whenever I find myself talking to God like this, I get this mental image of God doing the 'Should've had a V8' head-bonk to me. Because time and time again, Jesus looks at us when we're struggling and his heart just breaks because all we have to do is let go. You see, the troubles we face in this world can feel completely overwhelming. Bills need to be paid, schoolwork has to get done, people turn against us, plans we thought were what God wanted for us fall through, and we're always left frustrated and confused. 
          I have known way too many white-knuckle Christians. What I mean by that is that when these troubles come at them, they try to take matters into their own hands and say, "I can beat this. I can push through and win this battle." So they spend every waking second of their lives fighting and fighting, and the problems might fade away for a bit, but they never truly go away. If you are trying to beat something on your own, you will spend all of your time trying to beat that thing, and you will be rendered ineffective for the Kingdom of God. So the enemy wins that battle! But here's your other option: let go, and let God work. Letting go of whatever problems you're facing does not mean ignoring them. It means looking them dead in the eye and saying, "My God is so much bigger than you." You acknowledge that there is a problem, that it's bringing you pain, and that God is going to bring you through it. 
          I'm not here to tell you that this is the easiest thing in the world and it will completely fix your life and you'll never ever feel stressed ever again. Trusting in God to handle things that seem completely out of control isn't always easy. But luckily for us, we have the most trustworthy entity to ever exist on our side. Our God is all-powerful. Not only does He have the power to change any situation, He's already got our entire lives figured out for us. How seriously cool is that? Every single trouble we go through was designed for a greater purpose. Repeat that to yourself out loud: Every single trouble I go through was designed for a greater purpose. Yes! That purpose might not be revealed to you as soon as you get out of it, but if you truly believe in the goodness and fairness of God, you'll be able to see that ways God has used seemingly awful situations to bring glory to His name. 
          Now as far as being on your knees is concerned, I want to show you one of my personal favorite passages of the Bible. In Luke 22:39-46, Jesus is in the final hours of his free life. He knew He was soon to be betrayed, and Jesus was freaking out. He goes off by himself, gets down on his knees and says, "Father, if there's any way you can stop this from happening, please do it. BUT, if it's Your will, I won't refuse You." That whole passage is such a beautiful model for how we can pray when we're going through some of the roughest times in our lives. We can cry out to God and ask him to take away this thing that we're struggling through, but we have to accept that there are things we have to go through to get to where God wants us to be. And one of the most sincere ways to ask God to move is on our knees. Kneeling before the Lord is a sign of true surrender. You're saying, "I don't even have the strength to stand on my own, I need You in every single aspect of my life, God." It's a sign of respect and submission. When you're on your knees, you give up control. When you give up control, you let God fight for you -- and our God never loses. 

"Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify You." -Psalm 63:3

God I thank you so much for loving us so fiercely, so jealously, that when the enemy sunk his teeth into us, You sacrificed your own Son to free us from his grip. That same jealous love is the love with which you hold us safely above the fray when everything seems to be falling apart. I pray that someone would read this and just let go of whatever is holding them back from doing amazing things for Your Kingdom and let You, the Creator and Master of all things, fight for them. Thank you so much. I love you.

In Jesus' mighty name,
Amen.