Stay the Course

Have you ever been faced with a test that you felt was too hard to go through? Being transparent, recently, I went through a test that I have never experienced before. This test was quite different from any other test. I felt like I was being tested on everything I knew about the Word of God. During this time, I felt different emotions. There were moments when things were fine, and I thought I had put the situation and the people involved in God’s hands and left them there. Then something would happen, and an influx of emotions would come back, and before I knew it, I found myself battling to keep my peace. For example, have you ever had a bruise or a wound, and you thought it was healing, but then you bump it, and the throbbing pain starts back up? That is how I was feeling. I was fine when no one said anything, but just as soon as something happened, my emotions on the inside of me went haywire. I struggled through this for some time. One night it clicked that this was a distraction for me. The situation weighed on my mind, and it interfered with responsibilities that I was supposed to be completing. God spoke to me and said, Stay the Course.

When I looked up the meaning of this phrase, I found the following meaning “Hold or persevere to the end.” I also found this meaning “to continue with a process, effort, etc., even though it is difficult.” When I read this, it served as a reminder for me to give up. As Christians, when we experience disappointments, tests, or trials, we have to remember that the Bible tells us Father God will make all things work together for the good of those that love Him and are called according to His purpose. Does it feel good when you are going through? Absolutely not. The more mature you are in Christ, the more intense the test becomes. We must remember that a test is just that, a test. It’s a test to see if you will do what you know to be right or what your flesh wants to do. It’s a test on the Word that you have on the inside of you. Are you going to speak life or death? It’s a test of your character. Will you display integrity, or will you be the person that people can’t trust?

To stay the course means that you are moving towards the goal despite what is going on around you. The goal can be anything from healing, financial freedom, starting a new business, promotion, or it could be salvation or deliverance for a loved one. The overall goal of all believers is to spend eternity with Father God. Whatever you are working towards, don’t allow people or situations to become a distraction and take you off course. The truth of the matter is, we need the test and trials in our lives. The test and trials are necessary to grow our faith, and they are essential to get us to our next level in God. Think about when you were in school, learning different school subjects. At the end of the school year, you take a test. If you pass the test, you move to the next grade level. If you do not pass the test, you had to take it over. It is the same in the spirit. As a Christian, when you go through a situation, you have already studied ahead of time. When the trial comes, the standard, which is the Word of God, is supposed to be raised, not your emotions. We are human, and we live in our fleshy bodies, so it is fair to say that any human being will feel a natural emotion when something happens, but it is what you do with the emotions and feelings that matter.

I work in a field where people are not pleased to see me come to their doors. There have been times that I have been called every name except my government name. There were times that I became upset, and I wanted to react to the way they were acting, but I didn’t. When I took the job, I realized that it would be challenging, and I knew that I could not take things personally, but as I mentioned earlier, we are all human, so there were times where it was hard to remain professional. The test and trials of our lives are to us what the wind is to a ship. The ship uses the wind to help steer it to its destination; we must allow our trials and test to move us to our next place in God and our next natural level. Our emotions are continually changing, and we cannot rely on them or allow them to guide us. Listening to your feelings can land you in severe trouble or get you caught up in situations that would take a miracle to get you out of.

When I talk about not allowing your emotions to get the best of you, I am not only speaking of when someone does something that makes you upset. A person can grow tired of waiting on the right mate and begin to compromise. They are happy with their decision to settle for less when God has more for them. What about being satisfied and content with where you are in life because you are too afraid to step out in faith and open the new business that you have always dreamed of? Know that God has more for you, and He wants to see you prosper. We must remain faithful to the Word that we know. When you and I face trials, we must cast down the thought of wanting to settle, tell people off, curse people out, sabotage, or get revenge on people. If we give in to those feelings, it can affect the timing we reach our goal or prevent us from reaching our goal altogether. We must stand on the Word, allow it to bring peace to our hearts and minds, and let the Word order our steps. We must stay the course!