trouble | Missing Pieces

This is the fourth article in the “New Life” series written to address the needs of those seeking or those new to their faith in Jesus. This series may also be helpful to anyone who suspects that something is missing from their faith walk.

You no doubt have noticed that life can be difficult. Sometimes it is challenging to get through one day, let alone one hour, at a time. For many of us, our difficulties are what brought us to Yeshua in the first place. We realized that we needed help; we could not make it on our own. Why is there so much turmoil and heartache in our lives?

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

Whether or not we realize it, we live on an unseen battlefield. Understanding this battlefield and how it came about helps us. Just as we all have the same Creator, we also all have an unseen enemy who wants to harm us, even destroy us.

For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12).

The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life (John 10:10).

Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8).

God creates only what is good and fruitful. He created us to grow and to thrive. God desires only good and pleasant things for us. It was the same when He created Heavenly beings. One Heavenly spirit was especially beautiful and was appointed to a high position. He began to boast about himself. At some point, he decided that he could replace God. He gathered an army of other Heavenly spirits to go against their Creator. They were cast out of Heaven. We call the rebellious leader Satan in English, taken from the Hebrew hasatan, which means “the adversary”. You can read about this in Ezekiel 28:11-19. The beginning of the chapter discusses the prince of Tyre, but many believe verses 11-19 refer to Satan. Verse 13 says, “You were in Eden, the garden of God”. Humans were banished from Eden after Adam and Eve sinned (Genesis 3:22-24), so these words cannot apply to the prince of Tyre. Ezekiel also says that this spiritual being walked among the stones of fire, which are near the throne of God (verse 14).

Since the adversary could no longer go directly after God, he decided to go after humans who were created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26-27). God had created a delightful garden on the earth called Eden. Everything was beautiful and perfect, a reflection of Heaven. We were created in God’s image to reflect His glory. Satan sought revenge by going after God’s creation, especially us. Satan tricked humans into serving him, rather than obeying and serving God. Adam and Eve believed Satan’s lies and disobeyed God (Genesis 3). They no longer reflected the glory of God, and the earth was cursed. When we disobey God’s commands, we do not reflect His glory, and we separate ourselves from Him. Satan and his followers are constantly at work to claim the earth’s inhabitants for their own. We are caught in the middle of the battle. So, what can we do?

The first thing is to realize that there is a spiritual realm, in addition to the physical realm. We are used to operating in the physical realm. When we are born again, our spirit belongs to God. When we are born again, the Holy Spirit moves into us to care for our spirit and to teach our spirit how to live in the Kingdom of Heaven. Our job is to cooperate with the Holy Spirit to learn how to operate in both realms. The physical realm reflects what is going on in the spiritual realm. Jesus set the perfect example of operating in both realms while He was on earth.

For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children (Romans 8:16).

Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed (John 5:19-20).

We can pray to our Father and Jesus to ask for help. The Holy Spirit will guide us, if we ask Him. We can pray for discernment so that we can discern what the Holy Spirit is guiding us to do. The Bible teaches us about God and His ways. We can praise and worship God in all things. Every day, we should remember to put on the whole armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18).

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right (2 Tim 3:16).

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future (John 16:13).

We need never be alone on the battlefield. As born-again believers in Jesus, we have access to the Father and Jesus. We learn from them how to overcome the enemy’s attacks. We mature in operating in both the physical and the spiritual realms.

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:37-39).

Yeshua warned that we would face persecution and tribulation because of our relationship with Him. As I ponder having to suffer or die for my faith, I feel weak and afraid. Will I be able to endure to the end?

I think about Simon Peter and his struggles (Mark 14:66-72). His love for Yeshua was genuine and strong. Yet, at his first test of loyalty, Peter succumbed to fear and denied Yeshua as strongly as he had earlier declared his willingness to die for his faith.

When all was said and done and Peter was not arrested, he agonized over his disloyalty and his weakness. Perhaps it tormented him day and night. Yet, Peter learned a valuable lesson, one that we must all learn. He could not be brave on his own.

When the resurrected Yeshua visited His apostles, how hard it must have been for Peter to face Him, to look Him in the eye. Yeshua addressed this matter with love. He did not tell Peter that his cowardly act was alright. Instead, Yeshua gave Peter an opportunity to declare his love and commitment the same number of times that he had formerly denied even knowing Yeshua.

Yeshua understands our weakness. That is why He promised to send the Holy Spirit to us (Luke 24:49). What a difference it made to Peter after the Holy Spirit came upon him at Shavuot (Pentecost). Peter was no longer cowering, but now boldly proclaimed his faith to the multitudes. It is the same for us. We must welcome any and all assistance of the Holy Spirit in order to do what is required of us.

We can be sure that when we face trials and persecution, the Holy Spirit is with us (1 Pet 4:14). The Holy Spirit leads us into all truth (John 16:12) and strengthens us (Rom. 5:3-5). All that we need to perform any task YHVH assigns to us will be supplied by the Holy Spirit.

We will never have to face persecution alone. It will not be our strength that will overcomes, just as it is not our righteousness that reconciles us to our Father. YHVH is so good that He supplies all that we need and if we just use what He offers, we have the dignity and gratification of having accomplished great things. It is much like a child who proudly performs a task while the parent gently guides the child’s little hands. If we welcome the help of the Holy Spirit, our Father will guide us even in times of trial.