I once read that the only creature that loves a storm is the eagle. The reason is they have learned that if you approach a storm at the right angle it will carry them higher. In aviation “angle” can also be a term for “attitude.” This is what we must do in the stormy times—approach the storms with the right attitude and they will carry us higher.
Continuing with Peter’s exhortations about how we face trials, remembering that the Lord gave him the “keys of the kingdom,” we now look at I Peter 4:1-2:
“Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,
“so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.”
How do we arm ourselves to suffer in the flesh? There is a way, and it works better than I ever dreamed. In 2020 I went through the two biggest trials I think I have ever had physically, but in even the most intense times during them I was amazed at how great it was. I would not lie about something like this, or anything else I hope, but these are now considered two of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had. I would not share something like this to boast either, but I do so because I know it can help others to go through trials, big or small.
The first of these trials was with Covid-19. For the last few years I’ve had a personal focus on obeying the exhortation in Ephesians 5:20: “always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father.” There are two absolutes in this verse: “always,” and “all things.”That’s about as inclusive as it gets.
It is written that “We enter His gates with thanksgiving” (see Psalm 100:4), and that “In His presence is fulness of joy” (see Psalm 16:11). For the last seven years I have been especially focused on giving the Lord thanks in all things. Each year since I began this the “joy barometer” in my life has risen steadily. In some ways 2020 was possibly my most difficult year, but it was by far the best as well, and certainly the most joyful.
When I realized I had Covid I got excited about it. I realize how strange that may seem, and I don’t like sickness, and I really don’t like pain. I just went into it with a lot of faith that something really good would come from the experience because Romans 8:29 says “all things work together for good” and Covid certainly comes under the category of “all things.”
I do believe that all sickness comes from the devil, and that we can open ourselves to it by disobedience. Some of the things the Lord said to the afflicted affirm this. I caught Covid because I had been hypocritical in telling people how important it was for people to wash their hands, and after a time I became careless about this myself. I repented, and knew the Lord had forgiven me, but I also knew that I had to go through what I had opened myself up to with my hypocrisy and disobedience.
For me Covid was like a bad flu for about a week, and then it became like the worst flu I had ever experienced, plus Ebola! I never knew you could feel that bad, but at the same time I was feeling indescribably great because the Lord was so close. There is no joy that we can ever experience greater than being in His presence. Even while I was feeling so bad physically, I was thinking how worth it this was. I thought that this might have been a taste of what Stephen had experienced when he was being stoned to death, but was enraptured in the Lord so that it seemed he hardly paid attention to the stones that were killing him.
We are going to go through trials anyway, so I don’t want to add to mine by being disobedient. Regardless of why a trial has come upon us, why not enjoy them as much as we can? Isn’t that what James wrote? We can do this by resolving to thank the Lord “always” for “all things.”
© 2021 Rick Joyner. All Rights Reserved.
