Riding the Winds of Resistance

I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth (Isa. 58:14).

Those who fly through the air in airships tell us that one of the first rules they learn is to turn their ship toward the wind, and fly against it. The wind lifts the ship up to higher heights. Where did they learn that? They learned it from the birds. If a bird is flying for pleasure, it goes with the wind. But if the bird meets danger, it turns right around and faces the wind, in order that it may rise higher; and it flies away towards the very sun.

Sufferings are God's winds, His contrary winds, sometimes His strong winds. They are God's hurricanes, but, they take human life and lift it to higher levels and toward God's heavens.

You have seen in the summer time a day when the atmosphere was so oppressive that you could hardly breathe? But a cloud appeared on the western horizon and that cloud grew larger and threw out rich blessing for the world. The storm rose, lightning flashed and thunder pealed. The storm covered the world, and the atmosphere was cleansed; new life was in the air, and the world was changed.

Human life is worked out according to exactly the same principle. When the storm breaks the atmosphere is changed, clarified, filled with new life; and a part of heaven is brought down to earth.
--Selected

******

Far too often, I witness believers struggling to circumvent the vicissitudes of life. I seem them praying for immediate extraction from the hardships that roll into their perceived paradises. If the believer is ever to walk in true triumph, he/she must be able to apprehend with great measure the principal of process. The believer must understand that adversity is the fertile soil in which the seed of faith is planted and cultivated.

it is when we meet resistance in this life that we are strengthened and developed. Elevation in the Christian life comes when the fierce winds of adversity blow in with a ferocity that shakes you very core. It is when there seems to be no answer, no escape and no help that the audacious and radical faith of the believer rises to the occasion. This faith is developed in the darkness of the tempest that rages uncontrollable around them.

Dr. Rick Wallace

How often has the believer cried out to God in the midst of the storm, "Lord take me out of this,' but the Lord's response is no, but I will bring you through it. God knows what's best and he understands that though comfort may feel good, it is not good for us. Comfort breeds complacency, compromise and lethargy. God looks at you and with an unparalleled love, He says, I will not bring you out, for I am more concerned with your character than I am with your comfort.

You have been looking for you promotion and your breakthrough, but you have been avoiding the very thing that brings about your rise, adversity.


It is amazing how many believers fail to grasp the principle of process. There is a process that precedes the promise. We love to claim promises, but we rarely are willing to endure the process. It is important to understand that process precedes promise. Before there can be an obtainment of the promise there must first be an endurance of the process. ~ Dr. Rick Wallace