Dr. Charles Stanley.

“How to fight like a Christian.”

Is there any challenge you are facing? Are there people or circumstances aligned against you in your health, finances, career, relationships, or walk with the Lord? If you want to overcome difficulty, the absolute best way is by spending time alone with God. Only He can give you victory.

How do you fight this battle on your knees? First you do so by setting aside time alone with the Father. It is easy to be distracted. You become so busy fretting about your troubles and running after solutions that you fail to turn to the One who can best help you. (Ps. 103:19)

Second, listen to the Father and expect Him to speak to you. Prayer is not just telling the Lord how you feel – although that is part of it. Rather, He wants to reveal Himself to you and direct you in the way you should go.

Third, if the Lord reveals any sinfulness in your life, repent of it immediately. Remember, the Father’s primary goal is to have an intimate relationship with you. When sin is present, it is evidence that you are hindering Him from having full access to your life. Therefore, agree with God about your iniquity and allow Him to teach you. He will show you how to change the way you operate for maximum intimacy with Him, effectiveness in your life, and influence with others.

Fourth, remember there can only be one general in this battle – and that is the Lord. God willingly employs His supernatural power in defending you, training you, and bringing out your full potential. However, you must be willing to acknowledge that He is in control and knows the path ahead better than you do.

Fifth, see everything that happens to you as coming from God. Why would you do this? Because if the Father allows a trial or challenge in your life, it is ultimately for your good and His glory (Rom. 8:28). Knowing that He has permitted the troubles in your life for your benefit makes it easier to forgive those who hurt you and accept the seemingly inexplicable circumstances you bear.

The truth, is, you and I are always going to encounter struggles until we go home to heaven. However, God has promised, “No weapon that is formed against you will prosper, and every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. (Isa. 54:17) When you fight the battle on your knees and faithfully obey Him, you invite God to be your Redeemer, Defender, General, and Protector. That’s not only the best way to win—it’s the most wonderful, eternal path to triumph every single time.”

Hope this blesses you like it has me.

Collin Wimberly

A Theology of Work

In 1981 the band Loverboy released the song “Working for the Weekend.” The idea of the song was that we work 5 days a week, so that we can really live each weekend. According to this point of view, work is a means to an end and that end is a good time. Is that really the purpose of work? Is it a necessary evil that we all must endure to have the things we need and want?


Scripture says No! Work is divine gift to humanity through which God is glorified. Exodus 20, verse 11 states that for 6 days you shall labor. God Himself modeled this for us in creation. The universe was created by Him, from nothing, in 6 days. Therefore, God is a worker and we ought to work as God does. Jesus often remarked to His disciples that He came to do his Father’s work. In John 5:17 He told the religious leaders of His day that “My Father is always at work to this very day, and I too am working.” Christ came to defeat sin, death and Hell through His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead. His work was the redemption of humanity.

What does this mean for us? That work can and should be God-centered and Gospel motivated. We work for far more than a paycheck or the pleasures it can provide. We work for the glory of God. We avoid the sin of laziness and idleness that Christ might be most honored by our lives. Work gives us a way to provide for our family and others, just as Christ’s work provided a way that our greatest need might be met. There are no small tasks. No meaningless occupations from the Scripture’s viewpoint.

Martin Luther King, Jr. said it well . . .

“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.”

Let’s continue to do our jobs well to the glory of almighty God!