SUNDAY SERMON -There is nowhere else where the gist of our topic is captured better than in a quotation from James 1:2-4 "Dear brothers, is your life full of difficulties and temptations?

Then be happy, for when the way is rough, your patience has a chance to grow, and don’t try to squirm out of your problems.

For when your patience is finally in full bloom, then you will be ready for anything, strong in character, full and complete.”

The above statement confirms the saying that if you have to get to the Promised Land, you will have to navigate your way through the wilderness. All of us encounter obstacles, problems, and challenges across our paths, but the most important thing is how we decide to respond to them.

We can choose to see the positive part of the challenges or, we can choose to let our world collapse. A choice either way will determine whether we write ourselves off, or whether we want to stand up and try again. As Christians this is of paramount importance.

A person with twenty challenges is twice as alive as a person with ten. The best thing to do when you discover you have no challenges is to go on your knees and ask "Lord, you do not trust me any more?”

Why? Because when challenges come your way and you consistently emerge victorious, then it means you are on your stairway to success.

The challenges that come on your way shows that you are equal to the task ahead of you, otherwise, another person would have been chosen to do your work.

You can always measure a person by the amount of opposition it takes to discourage him or her. You should refuse to be discouraged by temporary setbacks.

The truth is, if you find a path with no obstacles, it is most likely that the path doesn’t lead anywhere important. Adversity is the mother of invention, and man’s adversity is always God’s opportunity, because difficulties give birth to opportunities.

Jesus says in John 16:33 "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” What is the difference between an obstacle and an opportunity?

The answer is, our attitude towards it. Every opportunity has a difficulty, and every difficulty has an opportunity. Many people start with very good intentions, but when some difficulty comes their way, they simply collapse.

Every problem that we encounter has the seeds of its own solution. If you do not have the problem, then you won’t get the seeds. I have discovered that there are people who look at life the wrong way, and that has been the cause of their problems.

Take for example, a 5,000 francs note. It may look so big if you were to take it to church, but the same note looks so small when you enter a clothes boutique.

What you see depends mainly on what you look for. Some people complain because roses have thorns, but others are so grateful that thorns have roses.

Do not pray for rain if you are going to complain about the mud. One of the greatest and most comforting truths is that when one door closes, another one opens, but often we spend so much time looking at the closed door, that we do not see the open door.

When we get into a tight place and everything goes against you, until it seems as though you could not hold a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the time and place that the tide will turn.

The road to success runs uphill, so do not anticipate a sprint. The power to hold on in spite of everything, to endure – that is the winner’s quality.

My prayer is that we develop the right outlook in life so that we are positioned right. You will find opportunities dropping on your laps if you have your laps where opportunities drop.

We need to move on from present difficulties by developing the right attitudes and not giving up at the first knock of a difficulty. Let us become the most optimistic people in this country.
 
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