Be of Good Cheer

The Solution

I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]
John 16:33 AMP

Be of Good Cheer in the Face of Calamity

Being of good cheer is hardly ever (actually never) my response to calamity. I’m tempted to respond to a loveless world by retreating and withdrawing my love. Sure, my first reaction is sadness and then anger, but following that is self-preservation. It’s like I want to retreat and refuse to love again. But saving myself is never, ever a profitable response. Self-saving is a recipe for destruction. The Word says you will lose your life if you attempt to save it, and this includes resisting the call to BE love (Matthew 16:25).

As I’ve shown in my last post, in the end times, people’s love will grow cold. Lawlessness will increase because self-satisfaction will become the rule of life. The masses will love self to the exclusion of all others, like a horde of narcissists inflicting the world with demonized self-worship. We aren’t talking about, “I have worked all day and am tired…can’t you take out the trash?” No, this is an exaltation of self as a god. “I want it, IT MUST BE!” This lawlessness is self-rule above the lordship of the One True God!

Looking for a Solution

So I’ve looked for the Solution. I have sought for Hope in a wave of despairing circumstances.  I’ve asked for Light in this darkness. “Jesus, please give me something to hold on to!”  How do we stand in the face of such blatant disregard for decency? What do we do when the standards of rule are thrown aside? How do we endure when lawlessness rules while believing it’s absolutely right?

Jesus told the disciples and Paul told Timothy, you must remain faithful and true to the words you’ve heard. To be perfectly honest, I was looking for a snuggly word of encouragement. One like, “Come over here I’ll make it all better.” But Christ says, “The one who stands firm to the end will be saved” (Matthew 24:13). And Paul charges Timothy, “Remain faithful to the things I have taught you. Preach the Word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching” (2 Timothy 3:14, 4:2).

In the end of days, we have to go to work. I have to let Christ BE in me and not retreat. It is a serious time and the temptation is to give up and withdraw. But the Lord says that this is when we’re to shine. Christ also said that these times will be cut short for the sake of the elect, for if He didn’t, no one would survive (Matthew 24:22).

Be of Good Cheer in Our Times

The reality of the times is that they’re treacherous! We will be persecuted, slandered, hated and murdered. People’s actions will seem like utter madness and chaos. But in it, we’re called to remain so completely dependent on the Lord. Actually, the times are set up to push us into greater and greater dependence on Him. Because of our dependence, we let Him be Lord. This isn’t a simpering, cowed retreating into a defeated stance, but a counterassault of the living under His ruling, when the world is casting off all restraints. The reason I can be of good cheer is that this battle is won. I’m not left aimless, abandoned and without hope. I can be of good cheer because I’m about to witness the miraculous expression of His Living in, on and through me in the face of devastating darkness.

The signs are before us, we’re spiraling downward. But among this entropy is The Reality. In the face of Egypt’s tyranny, Yahweh arose using Moses to free His children. During Nebuchadnezzar’s insane reign of terror and false worship, Jehovah rose in Daniel to overcome. At the height of Herod’s murderous power grab, Christ the Savior was born as King. And with every martyr and persecuted saint, Christ’s Light and Life shines.

Be Of Good Cheer in Overwhelming Circumstance

When faced with overwhelming circumstance, plagued with despair and disillusionment, be of good cheer. These moments are drawing you closer to your Reigning King, and your Redeemer is about to show Himself strong!

Always carrying about in the body the liability and exposure to the same putting to death that the Lord Jesus suffered, so that the [resurrection] life of Jesus also may be shown forth by and in our bodies. For we who live are constantly [experiencing] being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake, that the [resurrection] life of Jesus also may be evidenced through our flesh which is liable to death.
2 Corinthians 4:10-11 AMP