Creflo Dollar Ministries Featuring: "Hatred Turned Inward" on Your World with Creflo

Handling Adversity

by Creflo Dollar 

Most of us have discovered that life can throw some unpleasant surprises at us just when things are going along great. Adversity can come in many forms, but the common theme is that it’s never welcome when it shows up. Handling trouble the way most people handle it involves relying on our own knowledge and resources, which may or may not work. The other way is to acknowledge a higher power that’s infinitely more capable than us and cares deeply about what happens in our lives.
God loves us and doesn’t want to see us struggling with painful issues we can’t handle on our own. He wants to get involved with everything that concerns us; going to Him in prayer allows Him to do so. Praying, first, instead of as a last resort, isn’t something the world does—this may explain why some people never seem to be able to move past their bad situations. When we’re willing to cast aside our pride and humbly ask Him for help, we’ll see amazing results. “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up” (James 4:10).
It’s God’s will to lift us out of the messes we can get into. He knows there will always be problems that surface that are too big for us to manage. When we choose to recognize God’s presence, and His ability and willingness to intervene on our behalf, He’ll always respond to us. This knowledge gives us peace of mind from worrying and wondering if God will answer us. “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6, 7, NKJV).
The way religion teaches us to pray leaves us uneasy, half wondering if God will answer or if He even hears us. Prayer according to what God teaches us leaves no room for doubt; it’s full of confidence and the certain expectation of hearing back from Him. Not only does He hear us, He actually tells us to pray in full faith that what we ask has already been done. “‘Have faith in God,’ Jesus answered. ‘Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours’” (Mark 11:22-24, NIV). Believing what God says He has already done, regardless of the way the situation looks, is definitely not the way religion teaches us to pray.
We can either let adversity stop us in our tracks, or we can accept God’s help in handling it and come out stronger than before. Trusting our own strength to solve the problem may not give us good results; trusting God allows Him to deliver us and give us knowledge and insight we didn’t have before. “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not” (Jeremiah 33:3). When we decide to turn over our issues to God and recruit His help, He’ll go to work on our behalf.