Stand Firm

Do you remember when you were a child & someone would dare you to do something?  Maybe you would decline & they might decide to double-dare you.  Then you had to rethink things – maybe you’d stand firm or maybe you’d give in to the pressure.  Depending on your age, this could be something  rather silly or simple; or, it could be something that was blatantly wrong or even dangerous.

Then come the teenage years.  This is now a whole new ballgame.  At this age, everyone wants to feel accepted & liked by their peers regardless of whether or not you tend to be more shy or you are very outgoing.  At this point, peer pressure can really kick in and a person has to be strong in order to stand firm in their standards, morals & beliefs.  The reasoning process can say to you “everybody else is doing it so why shouldn’t I?”  Or, “I know there could be something bad happen as a result of my doing this, but…that won’t happen to me!”  (Teenagers can tend to feel indestructible.)

Okay, you survived childhood & your teen years – and now you’re a full blown responsible adult.  Right?  So all is good!  Yeah, let’s face it, adults aren’t any more immune to pressure as they strive to achieve their life goals than they were as children & teens.   Feeling like a success in your life is a good feeling & society at large can make it so easy to compromise your beliefs, standards & morals in order to get ahead.  But, what lengths are you willing to go to in order to feel successful?  A little lie here & there, inflating/deflating figures after the fact, changing the rules mid-stream, cheating on your taxes, etc.?  Are you going to give in to the pressures, or are you going to stand firm?     

Temptations are around us almost constantly.  In fact, I believe that the more determined we are to live our best moral life, the more temptations we likely face – because our enemy wants to destroy us.  He will pursue us wanting to get us off balance, leading us into shady areas to confuse us.  Meanwhile, those that give in to the temptations, living their free-wheeling lives, are the kind of people Satan loves – they make his job easy.    

If we are determined to stand firm against the temptations we face & come out the other side victorious, what are we to do?  Here’s what I believe are a few basic steps:

1. We need to know what our moral boundaries as Christians should be & the best way to educate ourselves about that is to read God’s Word.  Some people are excellent at memorizing many verses & have a great recall to quote them.  I’ve never been very good at memorizing things, but regardless of that, I believe that the more I study the Word, God can still bring to mind the things I need to know at the time I need it.  That’s why it’s been my practice for many years to read completely through the Bible every year.  (“‘When men bring you into the synagogues before the leaders and other important men, don’t worry about what you will say. The Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.’”  Luke 12:11-12 ERV)
2. We need to humble ourselves & ask for help – God’s help – through regular prayer.  I know that I can be a weak-willed person at times so I try to confess those weaknesses & ask for God’s help.  I also believe in asking for Him to strengthen me.  Each day when I pray I ask for help by praying His Word.  I ask that He “make me like a fortified wall of bronze so that no enemy can overcome me”  (Jeremiah 15:20 MEV)  I ask Him to “never let me forget that You are with me like a mighty warrior”  (Jeremiah 20:11 NIV)  I also remind Him that “I want to have the mind of Christ & all the Godly wisdom that offers to me.  I disavow my own wisdom & lean into God’s wisdom for all decisions I need to make today.”  (1 Corinthians 2:16 NIV) You should practice praying God’s Word – it’s a real faith builder as you claim His promises.   
3. We need to be on the alert for those we interact with that may try to tempt or pressure us into making poor choices.  Unfortunately, those people can be family, friends, even other Christians.  We don’t want to believe that, but it’s true.  The powers of darkness will use anyone & everyone that they can.  Check this out:  

“From that time on Jesus began to tell His followers that He had to go to Jerusalem and suffer many things. These hard things would come from the leaders and from the head religious leaders of the Jews and from the teachers of the Law. He told them He would be killed and three days later He would be raised from the dead. Peter took Jesus away from the others and spoke sharp words to Him. He said, Never, Lord! This must not happen to You!’  Then Jesus turned to Peter and said, ‘Get behind Me, Satan! You are standing in My way. You are not thinking how God thinks. You are thinking how man thinks.’”  (Matthew 16:21-23 NLV)

For the first time, Jesus speaking with His followers, was telling about His impending death.  I’m certain it was shocking for them to hear this, because like many others, they assumed that Jesus was going to be their King & they would surely be members of His ruling “cabinet.”  They didn’t grasp the fact that he was their spiritual Messiah – He was never meant to be an earthly political king.  

So in that above passage, you can see that Peter – one of the inner circle of apostles – that had been with Him teaching & performing miracles for a very long time, seemed to just blow past what Jesus said about how he would be raised from the dead.  He just barrelled forward & really put his foot in it.  Peter was being used by Satan to speak wrongly, trying to discourage Jesus from His mission.  (Quick sidenote here:  I will confess that Jesus seemingly calling Peter Satan has always been a bit confusing to me.   But a footnote in the ERV says this:  “Satan Name for the devil meaning ‘the enemy.’ Jesus means that Peter was talking like Satan.”) 

The bottom line is that when anyone (even those with good intentions – those closest to us – those we’d never expect to try to mislead us) tries to interfere in God’s will for us/God’s mission for us, we must not allow them to influence us.  Through our Bible study, our prayers & by staying constantly alert in our spirit, we can stand firm.     

“Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.  Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.”  Ephesians 6:11-13 ESV)

“Be alert, stand firm in the faith, be brave, be strong.”  (1 Corinthians 16:13 GNT)

“Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel.”  (Philippians 1:27 NIV)

Written by Karran Martin – November 2, 2024

[All bold emphasis is mine]