Author: Dr. Mark D. Flattery 

Chapter Five

Victory Action #2: Stand Firm: The Declaration

 

“No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it” (I Corinthians 10:13).

 

 

I remember vividly the day that I learned that there was a high probability our third child would not be healthy when born. My immediate reaction was that I was too stunned to speak or even move. It was as if even fiber in my being came to a screeching halt. But, within a few seconds I felt the Lord put into my heart this thought, “We will love this baby with all our hearts no matter what his condition may be. This child is a gift from God and we will shower him with love.” I thank the Lord that He gave me the wisdom that day to draw the proverbial line in the

sand and declare my position. From that moment on, there was no reversal, retreat, or second-guessing. Praise the Lord, four months later, my son was born completely healthy.

Once you put on the full armor of God you must now implement Paul’s strategy to winning life’s battle “Victory Action #2 Stand Firm: The Declaration.” You are going to play by God’s rules no matter what happens. Making such a declaration is vital to the rebuilding of your life because it will serve as an anchor in the midst of the storms of life. The ebb and flow of your existence will challenge your desire to act in a manner that honors God and will seek to knock you off course from where God wants you to be.

Like Joshua, you must declared “whom you will serve” and stick with your plan that says, “But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15). It is in your best interest to state your position that you are either 100% following God or 100% that you are not. Vacillating between the two fools only you because truthfully, you are either following God or you are not. There is no middle ground. My prayer is that you will declare, this very moment, “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord!” If you do, then you are on the road to recovery. If you do not, then your plan is like fool’s gold and you will never recover fully.

Standing firm in the middle of a fight does not always come naturally to us. Chances are, when life knocked you down you believed instinctively that you should either counter-attack or run away. As we discussed earlier, the “fight or flight” approach is not usually the best response in your current circumstance.

Fighting the one who hurt you places you in a reactive position. If you fight then you must question by whose rules are you playing; God’s rules or those of someone else. You know that if you follow the Lord that He will give you “a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair” (Isaiah 61:3). What will result if you respond by t

matters even worse, you will cause further pain, and you are forced to live with a lifetime of regret. Plus, fighting back at the one who hurt you lowers you to the level of your offender and you are equally as guilty at that point.

Fleeing the situation, physically, emotionally, or in responsibility, also brings a negative outcome. You can avoid the situation for a time but, eventually you must encounter it. At that point, the encounter will hurt even more; like ripping open an old wound. Plus, I believe that if you know your Bible at all, then you know how God wants you to respond in the situation. If you avoid responding in a manner that honors God then you are like Jonah who ran away rather than fulfill God’s will. Life became even worse for Jonah until he repented and did what he knew he was to do.

Adam and Eve serve as a classic example of how you do not want to respond when you are knocked to the canvass by temptation. You could say when God held them accountable for their behavior that they did both the “fight” and “flight.” They fought back by trying to defend their actions and then they ran away by hiding from God’s presence and by refusing responsibility for their behavior.

Since hindsight is 20/20, we can examine the mistakes made by Eve when she was knocked down by the devil as recorded in Genesis 3. Her mistakes that are apparent immediately are that (1) she dialogued with the devil, (2) she considered the devil as a credible source who could make a more valid point than God, (3) she allow the devil to plant seeds of doubt towards God in her heart; “did God REALLY say …”, (4) she took her focus off her relationship with God and considered how pleasing the fruit looked to her, and (5) she blamed the devil.

Adam’s misplayed this episode as well when he did the following: (1) he did not stand as the spiritual authority in the relationship and say that eating the fruit was wrong, (2) he allowed

his guilt to override his sense of be accountable before God as seen when he and Eve hid from God, and (3) he blamed Eve and God!: “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it” (Genesis 3:12, NIV).

No matter what life used to knock you down, you will be tempted to make the same mistakes as those made by Eve and Adam. There are voices in your head, voices from the media, and even voices from friends who are well-meaning, telling you how to respond to your current life drama. It is vital to your emotional and spiritual health that you consider these voices through the filter of God’s Word. If what you are hearing does not align itself to God’s Word then those voices must be rejected!

I know how hard it is to “turn the other check” (Matthew 5:39). I know why easy it is to blame the one who hurt you! Somehow, we seem to find solace in taking the stance of being a victim and reciting the outrageous wrongs of our offender. Even though you may indeed be the victim, such a response to being knocked down by life wastes your emotional energy and focuses on the incidents rather than on the solutions. The fact is that you cannot change the one who hurt you. But, you can determine how you will respond!

It is shocking to me how readily Adam was to blame God for his behavior! I have been equally guilty of this at times in my life, too. But it makes as little sense as when we saw Champ, in my story of the boxer, get knocked to the canvass and turns to blame the referee. The devil wants you to blame God for your current predicament! If you do, you will alienate yourself from the Answer, the very One who is Truth and Love.

So, you are now at the crossroads of how you will rebuild your life. If you respond like Eve and Adam then you will receive the same results. If you follow the apostle Paul’s “Victory Action #2 Stand Firm: The Declaration,” then you will rebuild your life on a solid foundation and reap the benefits for the rest of your life.

Four times in our Ephesians 6 passage, we are told to “stand”: “take your stand,” “stand your ground,” “stand,” and “stand firm.” The repetition of the word reveals the necessity to stand is of the highest importance. The quality of your life will be directly proportional to your ability to stand firm by standing with God. Thankfully, we have an example from our Lord to see how we can stand firm in the face of a spiritual attack.

In Matthew 4 we read of the time in His life when Jesus went to the desert and fasted for forty days and forty nights. The Bible says that He was “hungry.” It was at this point, when he is physically and emotionally weak, that the devil enters the scene to tempt Him three times.

The temptations begin with the devil demanding that Jesus prove His deity to him. “If you are the Son of God,” the devil demanded. But who is the devil that he should demand anything from the Son of God? Jesus was not required to prove Himself to anyone but God the Father. So, Jesus stood firm immediately by not engaging the devil in conversation about the devil’s false authority.

The devil then went to the first temptation: “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” But instead of fighting the devil physically or with a war of words and instead of running away, Jesus responded to the evil one with the Truth of God’s Word. “Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ The temptation before Jesus was to delve into the pleasures of the flesh but He stood firm by declaring the Truth of God’s Word.

As you decide how you will respond to life knocking you down, you must determine whether you will seek the quickest and easily way to rebuild your life or if you will declare that you will follow the right way. As we discussed earlier, when someone hurts you then you are tempted to hurt your offender more because this will restore your sense of “justice” and make you feel better in the short term. But, this is not the response that honors the Lord. Instead,

following God’s Word, like obeying Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7, will bring you greatest benefit in the long term.

The second temptation appealed to Jesus’ pride. The devil wanted Jesus to show off His position as the Son of God. But, Jesus stood firm by standing on the Word of God again as His authority. Jesus received His sense of self-worth and His identity from God the Father and not from the fickle approvals of others.

As you consider how you will react to your current personal drama, you must ask yourself if your plan of action is rooted in seeking truth or righteousness or if you are actually just lashing out because your pride was hurt. Thoughts like, “how does he think that I am?” and “She can’t do that to me!” are probably rooted in pride and thus, you are on shaky ground from the start when trying to defend yourself. Like Jesus, your sense of self-worth and your identity must come from being a child of God.

The third temptation was for Jesus to be all powerful and rule all the kingdoms of the world. The price for “having it all” was that he would owe his soul to the devil. This was ludicrous from the very mention because, while the devil has his authority for a time, his demise is well documented in the Bible. So, he is not worth to be worshipped at any time. Jesus stood firm by remaining consistent in His response. He acted righteously by quoting the Truth and by relying on God the Father.

You have been knocked to the canvass of life. You know must determine in our heart whose path you will follow. Playing by the devil’s rules will bring some sense of accomplishment but that is fleeting. Sure, you might get revenge and you might even fool yourself into thinking you can elevate your life by degrading your offender. But, such “power” if valued only by the weak-minded and the morally spineless. Proverbs 14:12 states is this way, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” True power comes

from obeying God’s word, especially in the most difficult moments of life, and then allowing the Lord to take care of the consequences.

I hope that you are ready to make the declaration that you will stand firm. This is a definitive, “draw the line in the sand” moment where you declare, like Joshua, “as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” But, I also know that you must live this declaration each day.

If you are still in shock from being knocked down by life then living this declaration can be challenging. Start where you are emotionally and build to where you want to be. Before your feet hit the floor in the morning, pray and ask Jesus to stand with you and to give you the strength to stand firm throughout the day. Living this declaration may mean that you try to stand firm for one hour. The Lord will give you strength. After doing this for some time, you will soon grow to ask the Lord to give you strength to stand firm for the morning. He will do so because He stands with you. After a time, you will stand firm for a whole day and then a week. The point is that if you are faithful to stand firm for as long as you can then the Lord will help you to build on that commitment and lead you to rebuild.

This process reminds us of the passage in Philippians 4 where Paul writes, “I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances” (Philippians 4:11, NIV). Living your declaration to stand firm will teach you to be “content whatever the circumstances.” Initially, standing firm will not seem to make much difference in your life. But, as you stand consistently, you will begin to see tangible differences in your life such as regaining your strength emotionally and physically as well as having your joy for life return.

The passage continues, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or

hungry, whether living in plenty or in what. I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:12-13, NIV). Another translation reads, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (NKJV). If you stand with the Lord, you will learn to be content no matter what the circumstance. The Lord will give you strength!

The remainder of our key passage will give us direction as to how we can stand firm with the Lord and rebuild our lives. We put on the armor of God and stand firm in truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, the Word of God, praying in the Spirit, and caring for others. The more we are faithful to stand firm each day, then the more we will see the tide of doubt, anger, and feeling like a victim subside and the growing tidal wave of hope, restoration, and even joy will one day define our daily walk.

 

 

For You To Consider

 

1. Tell me why fighting and fleeing are each not appropriate responses.

2. What does Jesus’ response to the devil teach you about standing firm?

3. Remind yourself that learning to Stand Firm is a process. Read again Philippians 4:12-13 and then compose a prayer to ask the Lord for help in this endeavor.

 

Scripture for You to Pray Today: Joshua 24:15, “But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

 

What is the Lord saying to you right now?