Got a timely reminder the other day. It came by way of a devotional by Vance Havner and a great old hymn. The lyrics were "Stand up stand up for Jesus, The strife will not be long, This day the noise of battle, The next the victors song". Like me, you may find your self surrounded by strife and may be feeling a bit overwhelmed by it. We may even feel like strife has been around for a long time and intensifying by the day. So is the writer off the wall or does he know something we don't? We know it but we often forget it during the strife(especially when it's prolonged). The Bible says that with the Lord a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day so given that timeframe the strife aint been all that long. The key to surviving it is to get into His time frame, and lean on Him for endurance and strength, and persevereance. I don't want to downplay the significance or intensity of any strife but if God is soveriegn (and He is) and if His word is true (and it is) then 'HIS STRENGTH IS SUFFICIENT FOR US" so He knows what we’re goin' through and He can get us through it. What would life be without strife and what would we be like without it? Soft and meaningless at best!! If we look to anything or anyone for help and hope other than Jesus all we can get is what they can offer and the kind of strife were up against is too much for anything or anyone but Him. People are "standing up for " (or with) every thing but Jesus when only Jesus could stand up in the boat and still the sea and storm and only Jesus will stand for all eternity at the right hand of the Father (and is there interceding for you right now ). If you stand up for and with Jesus you can't lose, you will overcome. If you're standing on sinking sand, guess what. We will likely finish our study on Revelation this week with the assurrance of what we've just said and after that I hope to spend some time preaching on how to lick our wounds, but in the meantime and for eternity remember " To him who overcometh a crown of life shall be, He, with the King of Glory, will reign eternally." Keep Standing!!! Pastor Mark