Your Attitude Inside Challenges: Confidence in God’s Ever-Present Help

Inside every challenge, there may be an opportunity, but your attitude determines how you discern it. In this message, we reflect on Luke 21:12–15, Psalm 46:1–5, and Joshua 1:9 to see how confidence in God’s presence helps us respond with faith instead of fear. Be encouraged to settle it in your heart that God is your very present help in trouble.

Transcript

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Every challenge carries more than prayer. It can also carry an opportunity. But the opportunity inside the challenge is often revealed by the attitude you carry while you're going through it. Good morning and welcome to this episode of Igniting Your Day. This morning, the Lord is speaking to us about our attitude inside challenges. Inside every challenge, there exists an opportunity, but your ability to unravel that opportunity will depend on your attitude while you are inside the challenge. Let me say that again. Inside every challenge, there is an opportunity, but your ability to discover it, to discern it, and to take advantage of it will depend on your attitude while you are in the challenge. This morning we will look at a particular passage where this truth becomes clear. It may not be the most common text people would use for this subject, but this is how the Holy Spirit impressed it upon my heart. Let's read Luke chapter 21, verse 12 to 15. But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you and prosecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake, and it shall turn to you for a testimony. Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer. For I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay or resist. Let me take that part again. For I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist. What's the Lord trying to tell us? You and I must carry an attitude that is rooted in confidence. Confessing is ever-present help while we are inside any challenge. Jesus said, It shall turn to you for a testimony. That means the challenge does not have to end in defeat. The pressure does not have to swallow you. The opposition does not have to silence you. The situation can turn. It can become an occasion for testimony. But then Jesus says something very important. Settle it therefore in your heart. That's the main point this morning. Settle it in your hearts. Let it be established beyond objection. Let it be known beyond controversy. Let it be decided beyond every reasonable doubt. Settle it in your heart that you will not allow fear, that you will not allow anxiety, that you will not allow panic, that you will not allow overcalculation to control your attitude in the challenge. Jesus said not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer. In other words, do not enter the challenge depending only on premeditated options. Do not allow your confidence to rest only on what you have already planned to say or do. Why? It's because God is a very present help in time of need. Luke chapter 21, verse 15 says, For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist. The Lord is pointing out something very important here. I call it coordination. He does not only promise to give you a mouth, he says he will give you a mouth and wisdom. That's important because the supply will be instant. There are moments where you may have words but you may not know how to coordinate them properly. You may have something to say but not know how to say it effectively. You may have an answer but not know how to present it with strength, with wisdom and timing. But the Lord says, I will give you a mouth and wisdom. That means I will not only supply you with words, I will supply you with strategy. I will not only give you expressions, I will give you the wisdom that makes the expression effective. A mouth and wisdom, words and coordination, expression and strategy. This is important because Jesus also says your adversaries will not be able to gain say or resist it. Why will they not be able to resist it? It may be because of the freshness of what God releases through you. You did not premeditate it, you did not manufacture it, it came right there in the moment. Nobody was prepared for what you were about to say because that wisdom was released freshly from heaven. So they may not know how to handle it. My friends, do not rob yourself of this kind of opportunity. Jesus knew we have the tendency to do that. That's why he said, Settle it in your hearts, settle it in your hearts, settle it in your hearts. He is telling us, always be conscious of my ever-present help. I will be there to help you. The Lord wants to pay attention, he wants you and I to pay attention to this. The Lord wants us to pay attention to this. He's not saying that challenges will never come, he's not saying you will never face something that confronts your confidence, your faith, your position, or your authority. But what should your attitude be inside those situations? Your attitude should be confidence, confidence that comes from the consciousness that God is your very present help in times of trouble. Let's read Psalm 46, verse 1 to 5. The Bible says there God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear. Though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof, there is a river. The streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved. God shall help her and that right early. Friends, God is our refuge and strength. He is a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear. Notice that the confidence in verse 2 comes from the revelation in verse 1. Because God is our refuge, our strength, and our very present help, we will not fear, even though the earth is removed, even though the mountains are carried into the midst of the sea, even though the waters roar and are troubled, no matter how tumultuous the situation is, no matter how ectic it becomes, no matter how disordered things can look, no matter the level of disorder in that circumstance, the word of God says, Therefore, we will not fear. And that right early. Therefore, you shall not be moved. God shall help you. This is where the consciousness of his ever-present help comes from, knowing that God is in the midst of me. This is the source of the confidence. Maybe this should be your principal declaration today. God is in the midst of me. God is in the midst of me. God is in the midst of me. God is in the midst of me. I shall not be moved. God is in the midst of me and He helps me. Yes. Let's also look at Joshua chapter 1, verse 9. The Bible says, Have I not commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage. Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. The Lord is reminding you, Have I not commanded you? Be strong, be of good courage, do not be afraid, do not be dismayed. Why? Because the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. The presence of God in your life is not determined by geography. Maybe you are not in your home country. Maybe you are not in your home state. Maybe you are not in your regular position. Maybe everything seems to be battling you on every side. But the Lord says, I am with you wherever you go. Wherever you go. Wherever you go. That is why your attitude inside the challenge matters. First, you must recognize that there is an opportunity inside the challenge, but your ability to unravel it will depend on your attitude. And this morning, the Lord encourages you and me to let our attitude be one of confidence. Why? Because the consciousness of his ever-present help. Yes, because of the consciousness of his ever-present help. One thing that often makes us uncomfortable in the challenge is the thought, what will I do now? But I want to remind you that your God is a specialist in solving those kinds of problems. This is why Jesus said in Luke 21:15, For I will give you a mouth and a wisdom. That means He will give you a coordination of expression that your adversaries will not be able to gainsay or resist. You may be afraid because the response will have to come instantly. You may be worried because you do not have all the time to prepare. But God is saying that the instantaneous nature of your response can also become a disadvantage to those who oppose you. Why? Because they have not had it before. And because they have not had it before, they do not have a prepared argument against it. So instead of being afraid or troubled about how instant your response will be, God is saying, Do not be afraid. What looks like a disadvantage to you is not a disadvantage, it is an advantage for you against your adversaries. They have not seen that kind of coordination before. They have not had that kind of wisdom before. That is why the Lord says, Do not go there with premeditated answers, do not rely only on what you plant in your mind. Do not make your own preparation, your ultimate confidence. Remain open to what God wants to release in the moment. He says, I will give you a mouth and wisdom, I will give you coordination, I will give you synthesis, I will give you the expression and the strategy, and your adversaries will not be able to gain say or resist it. So this morning, let this be your prayer. Lord, open my mouth. Yes, Lord, I open myself to what you want to do through me. I open myself to what you want to do in me. I declare that I am not afraid of any challenge. I remain open. I remain yielded. I remain available to however you want to help me in that situation. I will not allow fear to define my attitude. I will not allow pressure to determine my posture. I will not allow opposition to silence my confidence. God is in the midst of me. The Lord is with me wherever I go. He is my refuge. He is my strength. He is my very present help in trouble. Therefore, I will not fear. I receive the mouth and the wisdom that only God can give. I receive divine coordination. I receive the right words. I receive the right strategy. I receive the right posture. I receive the grace to see the opportunity inside the challenge in the name of Jesus. Yes. Do not forget this, friends. Your attitude inside the challenge matters. The challenge may be real, but God is present. The pressure may be strong, but God is your refuge. The opposition may be loud, but God can give you a mouth and a wisdom that cannot be resisted. So today, settle it in your heart. God is in the midst of you. You shall not be moved. God shall help you, and that challenge can still turn out for your testimony. So in closing, my friends, take a moment today. Declare over your current challenge. God is in the midst of me. I shall not be moved. The Lord gives me the mouth, the wisdom, and the right attitude to see the opportunity inside this challenge. I wish you this morning an amazing day ahead. God bless you.