Glorious Way Church
Glorious Way Church equips believers for the work of the ministry and stands for God’s truth in our culture. We serve as a regional center, where people from all backgrounds find refreshing worship and true communion of the saints.
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In Him, I Can Do Difficult Things | Selena Greiner
This episode encourages listeners to see life’s challenges as opportunities to grow stronger in faith and character. Through scripture and personal stories, it highlights the importance of leaning on God’s strength when facing difficult situations, guarding your heart from bitterness, speaking words of life, and holding on to peace even in chaos. The reminder is clear: with Christ, we can do difficult things and come out better, not bitter.
If you're taking notes tonight my title of my message is In Him I Can Do Difficult Things. In Him, I Can Do Difficult Things. You know we have this theme in Altitude currently in Philippians 4 at 13. It's a very familiar verse. It says I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And a lot of times we can forget what the second part of that verse. You know we're like I can do all things. I can do all things, but it's the through Christ who strengthens me. That's the key part in that verse. You know it's not just a I can do all things, no, it's the I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And so you know, life isn't always easy. We face challenges, we we can um face difficult things, whether it's in our home life, whether it's through our bodies, you know our health, whether it's mental, emotional, just different arenas in our workplace. You know we can face difficult situations and difficult things can come our way. But you know, when we're in Christ, just like that, philippians 4 says that we can do all things through him who strengthens us. And so we don't have to allow the pressures of life to crush us. They can grow us right.
Speaker 1:I always say life can either make you better or bitter. And so we have to make sure that life doesn't make us bitter. Right, we don't want to be sour. A lot of the teenagers we sell the candy in the back in the altitude and they like the sour Skittles and the sour, all the sour candy. I don't know what's all. I don't like the sour candy but they love it. They love all the sour stuff you know, and like you eat it and like you make this funny face like woo, it's sour. But hey, listen, life throws curve balls at us and so you don't want it, you don't want to become bitter in life. You want those challenges to make you a better person, want those challenges to make you a better person, to make you mature. If you allow those challenges to grow you for the better. Right, not to make you mean, not to make you bitter, not to make you grouchy. They make us better, amen. So in him I can do difficult things. Everybody say in him I can do difficult things.
Speaker 1:So I'll be reading out of Ephesians 6, a familiar passage, starting in verse 10. It says finally my brethren be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in this evil day, and having done all to stand Verse 14, stand, therefore, having girded your waist with the truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, praying always, I would say always, with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, being watchful to this end, with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.
Speaker 1:And so this word strong is taken from this word and dunamo, which is the compound Greek word of N and dunamis, and so dunamis, you guys know, means explosive strength, ability and power. The word dunamis is where we get the word dynamite, dynamite. And so those two words compounded together. The new word describes an empowering or an inner strengthening. It conveys the idea of being infused with an excessive dose of dynamic inner strength and ability. Right, and so we're specifically designed by God to be receptacles of his divine power, like we're conduits of his power. It's in us, his power, his strength, his ability. It is in you, and so we have to receive it. It's up to us to receive it, to say yes, I receive that strength, I receive that power. If your word says to be strong in the Lord and to put on the whole armor, I'm going to do it, I'm going to receive it. And so, in those verses, paul's not suggesting that he, that we, if you do study on that, it's not. He's not suggesting it, it's a command. It's a command Be strong in the Lord. And so a couple of things be infused with supernatural strength and ability to be empowered with the special touch of God's strength. And then three you must receive inner strengthening.
Speaker 1:And so Paul knew that we needed this power in order to fight these battles that we are facing. Paul knew that we needed this inner strength, that we need these, that these unseen forces. Right, we're not fighting against flesh and blood, it's not against your coworker, it's not against that family member, it's not against your boss, it's against principalities. They are unseen forces that want to take you down right, and so a lot of times we get caught up in the person, right? No, it's not the person, it's the unseen force, it's the principality that wants to take you down, that wants to shut your mouth, that wants to keep you confused, that wants to bring your mouth, that wants to keep you confused, that wants to bring those negative thoughts across your way that maybe blame yourself or things aren't going right. If I would have, could have, should have. No, we have to know where, who our enemy is and who we're fighting against. And so, and so Paul here is reminding us, telling us, hey, that that he knew you have to receive this power before you go into a fight, right Before you're strengthened, your, your innermost being is strengthened, and so that's what's going to produce a spiritual strength, right, not just a natural strength, not just I can do all things Yay, because I come to church. No, we have to be feeding on the word of God, we have to be praying much in the Holy Ghost, we have to be meditating in the word of God, and so we need especially nowadays, in 2025, we need supernatural strength for the things that are thrown our way, amen. So things are different than they were us growing up in the eighties, right, things are different now, and so, uh, we need, um, supernatural strength, but the good news is you got it, we got it, we got it, amen.
Speaker 1:Romans four 17, uh, says, as it is written I have made you a father of many nations, in the presence of whom he believed God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did. Who, contrary to hope and hope, believed, so that he became the father of many nations. Talking about Abraham, according to what was spoken, so shall your descendants be. And not being weak in faith. Everybody say not being weak in faith. He did not consider his own body already dead, since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith. He was strengthened in faith giving glory to who? To God, not to himself. Not, I did it, not by my work, not by my. I threw to God, giving glory to God and being fully convinced that what he had promised he was also able to perform and therefore it was accounted to him for righteousness. And so I love these verses.
Speaker 1:Abraham was not weak in faith.
Speaker 1:He was not.
Speaker 1:He was strengthened in faith.
Speaker 1:He lifted his hands. He gave all the glory to God. Contrary to what the circumstances look like, contrary to what his body, his body was talking to him. Right, his body was saying some things. It might've been feeling some things, some aches and pains. Right, snap, crackle pop. I know that's like in the morning, like, oh, my back used to not crack like that Getting up in the morning, thank you Jesus.
Speaker 1:But how many of y'all know Abraham? He was. He didn't consider that, he didn't consider his own body. He pushed through. He was strengthened in faith. He didn't waver, he didn't sway back and forth at the promise of God. Oh, like one day, it looks good, this next day, oh, I don't feel so good. Oh, you know.
Speaker 1:No, he was strengthened in faith. He was. He was fully convinced. Nobody was going to talk him out of it. Nobody was going to talk him out of his faith. Going to talk him out of it. Nobody was going to talk him out of his faith.
Speaker 1:Right, if God said it. Hey, god's like. Hey, look up at the sky, look at the stars. That's how many of your descendants will be Me. I can't even have a kid. What are you talking about?
Speaker 1:God, right, but God saw far beyond what Abraham could just see. God saw far beyond, and so God sees far beyond what Abraham could just see. God saw far beyond, and so God sees far beyond, sometimes, what we just look at right now. This is a situation it's so bad, it's so, man, I can't get past this. I can't get past this addiction, I can't get past this habit. No, no, no, you are strengthened in faith, right?
Speaker 1:Contrary to what it looks like, god looks far beyond and he has a purpose and a plan for your life, and so we have to get attached to that. That's where our inner strength comes from, not from looking at the circumstance, not from looking at the aches and pains, but hooking up with God and believing his word and being strengthened in faith, amen. Okay, so just to have a couple of points um, you know through, we all go through things, we all go through battles, and so there's a couple of things just to do through the battle, um, and number one battle to keep your heart right. Um, we all had, you know, situations where offense and hurt feelings and why is this happening? And I should have seen that and all of those things, but no number one the battle to keep our heart right.
Speaker 1:Proverbs 4.23 in the New Living says guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. So our heart reveals who we are right. So what things have you allowed in your heart lately? And sometimes you just have to have a quiet moment and just what have I really allowed? Is there offense in there? Is there hurt? You know why am I talking like that today? Why am I being a little negative, like we just have to? You know, our heart is where trouble takes place, and so we have to guard it. We can't allow the things of this world to get into our heart. So we got to keep our heart right. Through the battle, through the storms in life, whether you just came out of a storm, whether you're not in a storm or you're about to go through something, you have to keep your heart right, you have to guard it, and so it's so important.
Speaker 1:John 14, one in the new living says don't let your hearts be troubled, trust in God and trust also in me. So it's not about the circumstance, it's what's in our heart, right? So you are the only keeper of your heart, not your family member, not anybody else. You are not your spouse, not your kids. You are the only keeper of your heart. And so, but sometimes we're just, we weren't aware of certain things that are those arrows coming towards us. Um but, but we have to make sure that we guard it.
Speaker 1:Like what people say, what, even if, just like things we, the news or different things we can allow certain things to come into our heart. That God's like saying, hey, guard it, guard your heart, don't let it become troubled, right, because you're going to go through some things and you want to make sure that your heart's pure, you want to make sure that your heart is guarded. And so our heart is the first place where we turn away from God. Proverbs 7, 24 and 25 in the New Living. Proverbs 7, 24 and 25 says so listen to me, my sons, and pay attention to my words. Don't let your heart stray away toward her, don't wander down her wayward path. And so, again, our heart is the first place we turn away from God.
Speaker 1:And so we have to identify the stumbling block and the things. You know, what's keeping you from God's best, what's keeping you from, what's holding you back? Right, there's some things that may be holding you back, and so, but in him and through him, we can do difficult things. We can keep our heart right. We can do those difficult things where maybe we have to have difficult conversations, maybe we have to confront something and someone in our family in love, and we have to have those difficult conversations. Hey, but in God is working in us and through us. Amen. We just have to guard our heart, um, to make sure that that that, because that's part of our foundation Any kind of decision that we make is from our heart, and so if it's a play, if our heart is tainted or our heart is hurt or our heart is hardened, I wouldn't trust my decision, because my heart is, it's hardened, right, and so we have to make sure that it's teachable, that it's moldable.
Speaker 1:So, number two, the battle to keep your mouth shut. Oh, I know, I taught myself, yeah, now, when I wrote that I was, I also thought of like, ok, well, you know, when we don't, just like Mark Hankins says, you know, we lose by default by not saying anything. That's not what I like. We got to say the right thing. We got to. The words coming out of our mouth are so important, but there's oh, I misspelled battle. I put a T at the end, that's all right. Two Okay, that's all right.
Speaker 1:It should say the battle to keep your mouth shut, the battle to keep your mouth so, and really that's like all forms of communication. A lot of times people have this thing like oh, I didn't say it, I texted it, like anything. Any form of communication, right, texting, texting, email, facebook, twitter, instagram, right, all forms of communication. What are you communicating and how are you communicating? Right, sometimes you got to block, sometimes you got to delete. There are people that shouldn't be allowed in your life, that people allow in their lives, and they wonder why they're in a mess and why they're in turmoil. Right, and so communication is not just like, yes, it's saying something with our mouth, but it's all forms of communication, verbal and nonverbal, right, verbal and nonverbal and so.
Speaker 1:But our mouth gets, can get us in trouble, and so we, and the Bible has a lot to say about our mouth. Okay, proverbs 29. Um, no, it's actually Proverbs, let's see. Okay, 29, 11,. But then there's another one Proverbs 17, 28. Yeah, even fools are thought wise. When they keep silent, with their mouth shut, they seem intelligent. And then Proverbs 29, 11, fools vent their anger but the wise quietly hold it back. And so in him and through him, we can keep our mouth shut during tough times, right, maybe, when we want to say something and we're in the right and we but hey, listen. At the end the word of God is clear about our mouth.
Speaker 1:The word of God is clear about watching our words and what we say and making sure our words are sweet, that they're not cutting and they're not divisive and they're not evil. We have to make sure that we watch our words. It's so important. Again, you can do difficult in him and through him. You can do difficult things, but your words can hold you back from fulfilling the plan of God for your life. By the words. You create your world, by your words, and so you want to make sure, if you want a nice world, if you want a good, a good, the good life, that you speak good words, that you speak God words. And so it's so important what we say. Number three, the battle to hold on to your peace, and this is so important. You can have peace in chaos. The storm can be raging, the mouths can be talking, things can be, all kinds of stuff can be going on, but you can have peace and chaos.
Speaker 1:Isaiah I love Isaiah 32,. 17 says the word of righteousness will be peace and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever. Quietness and assurance forever. So in this passage, righteousness describes God's approval, his work in our life, his justice and our response to his invitation for salvation. And I like it in the, I really like it.
Speaker 1:In the Amplified it says the effect of righteousness will be peace, internal and external, and the result of righteousness will be quietness and confident trust forever, and so I like that translation. So the word effect is defined as the power to produce results. Therefore, we could translate the scripture righteousness has the power to produce, has the power to produce results, or, better yet, our acceptance and understanding of God's approval, justice and work in our life has the power to produce results. Right, and then the second half of the script quietness and assurance forever through difficult situations. And so peace is the direct result of your faith in God. Right, and I didn't write this scripture down, I wrote it after I did my notes, but let me read it to you.
Speaker 1:Philippians 4, 7 in the Amplify, says God promises peace that passes, understanding that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot, of whatever sort it is. That peace, which transcends all understanding, shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. That's a big promise, right? A lot of times people just pray I need peace. I need peace, but it needs to line up with your righteousness, with your righteousness has the power to produce results. But your understanding, your acceptance and understanding of righteousness which means God's approval, right standing with God, so you're on which goes back to really understand belt of truth, understanding the word of God, right, you're understanding in your revelation of who you are and what Christ has done for you, right, you're in right standing. But not with this, this rollercoaster effect where you know I'm sinning and then I get it right, and then and no, you don't understand righteousness and your right standing with God.
Speaker 1:So peace isn't accidental, it's not just going to fall upon you, it's the result of our faith and the result of our sowing. And so James 3.18, which leads me to my next verse in the New Living says and those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness. And so that entire chapter I'm not going to read it all is dedicated to understanding the power of our tongue, james 3. I would encourage you to read that. And so he ends that statement with planting seeds of peace and reaping a harvest of righteousness. In other words, when life gets chaotic, when we go through storms, when we go through trouble, you have been given the ability to say or to sow words of faith and reap an immediate harvest on your words, because that's what the word says, right and so.
Speaker 1:So if we plant so going back to, I kind of wanted to tie it in together to with Isaiah 32. So if we plant seeds of peace by refusing to give in the pressures and we intentionally keep our words aligned with peace, the result is a harvest of righteousness. Or we could say Isaiah 32,. Going back to Isaiah 32, the result will be a harvest of quietness and assurance, both internally and externally Right. And so all of that flows together Um your understanding and your acceptance of God's approval, of God's justice, his work in our life, salvation and what all that entails. When you are right, standing with God, when you know who you are and whose you are, there's no, nothing can get you off base, nothing can get you off track. Peace comes from that. It's an external and an internal peace. That that's not like hey when, when I get that money, then I'll have peace. No, when that situation, when that storms over and done with, then I'm going to have peace. No, that's not what the word says. Right Isaiah says that the result will be a harvest of quietness and assurance, both internally and externally.
Speaker 1:So by planting seeds of peace, by refusing to give in to the pressure right, when you refuse to give in to the pressure, you are planting seeds of peace. I ain't taking that on. You can take seeds of peace. I ain't taking that on, you can take that on. But I ain't taking that on Right, right. So a lot of times we don't. Sometimes we just go through life and we don't see that we can plant seeds of peace and so refuse to give in to that pressure, refuse to give in to that thought, refuse to give in to that bad habit, refuse to do it.
Speaker 1:By refusing, I'll say it again by refusing to do that, you are planting seeds of peace. You will never have peace, internally and externally, when you are out of the will of God, when you are not operating in righteousness and right, standing with God, with salvation once upon a time when you got saved and what all that means. Upon a time when you got saved and what all that means. And so you want to make sure you plant seeds of peace by not allowing those pressures to come upon you and not taking those on, and sometimes we oh, if I just take those on, I feel more holy no, like it is not for you to carry and to burden yourself with right. God does not want you on the struggle bus, he wants you on the peace, but the bus of peace and tranquility, and so I just want to encourage you with that. You know, in him you can do difficult things. Their life happens. We go through difficult things. I've been through difficult things, you've been through difficult things, Um, you know.
Speaker 1:But we can have this piece, a funny story that I just told in youth, not too long ago, you know, when I was eight. So my brother and I are eight years apart. I'm the oldest, was like a little mama to him, but so my dad worked long hours, worked graveyard A lot of times. He wasn't at home at night and so my mom was pregnant with my brother and I was awakened to my mom. I won't share all of it, but basically I thought my brother was coming that night. Nobody was home. I'm eight years old, there was blood on the bed and she tells me to call 911. So she doesn't speak English, I, she just speaks Spanish. And so, as an eight year old, of course, yes, I'll call you know, it's kind of it's like a, it's like a.
Speaker 1:You're put into these difficult situation. I was scared. I was like, oh my gosh, I can't deliver a baby. I'm eight years old, I'm a child myself. And so I called 911 and the ambulance came and took my mom and I had to spend the night with my neighbor. I didn't like that. It was fine, but as a kid that was a difficult situation not knowing, not having both of your parents there and one is. Is it's emergency situation? What do I do, you know? And so I did the right thing. I obeyed my mom and I went to my neighbor's house, spent the night, and I had all these thoughts as a little kid who's going to take me to school. When is my mom, when's my dad coming home? You know I'm at this, these people's house. I won't be here. This ain't my home. This is my neighbor, you know. And so, like we all go through difficult things, we, and so it was all fine. My brother did not come that night, thank you, jesus. He's stayed in a little while longer.
Speaker 1:You know, difficult things happen to all of us, and so we have to make sure that we have the word of God in us. And at that I was saved. At that, as an eight-year-old girl, I was saved. And so during the night I remember being at my neighbor's house, like and just praying for my mom, and, and just you know, there was a peace. There was a peace inside of me, even with those questions like what you know, where's my mom? You know when, just you know there was a peace. There was a peace inside of me, even with those questions like what you know, where's my mom? You know, when's my dad going to get home? Is my dad going to get to the hospital? How are they going to know? This is before cell phones, right, it's just the landline. And so in those, in those moments where you're just questioning and all of these things.
Speaker 1:You know you can have an internal peace. When you know, when you stay close to Jesus, when you stay in the word of God, when you don't allow the temptations and the troubles and all of those things to come upon you, you can have peace on the inside. It is guaranteed, it is promised, it is. It's a promise for us, right. We just read about it. These aren't even all the scriptures in the Bible. It's a promise for us, like, through the chaos, through those difficult times, you can have peace, right. You can calm the storm in the chaos. You can calm the storm. There can be an external peace around you. You just draw the bloodline, the blood of Jesus, around you, right, and then you can have also an external and internal peace.
Speaker 1:So I just want to encourage you in those difficult times, don't give up, don't become weary A lot. The enemy wants you to throw in the towel, like oh, it's not worth it, oh, it's not why. I mean, you know I've already been, you know I've, I'm a weak worm of the dust. No, no, no, like eat, no matter it. There is no situation too far off, too far gone. No, maybe you're watching live stream and you think, hey, like I'm, I have this habit, or I can't stop drinking, or I can. Hey, there is. There is no situation that is too far from God's mercy and his love and his compassion. He can pull you out of that, just like this.
Speaker 1:And so you, I just want to encourage you to stick with the word, stick with praying much in the Holy Spirit, very much in the Holy Spirit. Don't allow, cut off any associations or things from the past that keep dragging you into that. You have to make sure that you're surrounded with godly people, a good community that's going to uplift you, that's going to be there with you and pray with you through the storm, and so it also matters who's in the boat with you. That's going to be there with you and pray with you through the storm, and so it also matters who's in the boat with you. That's a whole nother message, right. And so, like, sometimes it it, it, it does, it matters.
Speaker 1:So who you, what voices you're allowing to to speak into your life, and so I just want to encourage you through the difficult times, you can do all things through Christ, who strengthens you. In him, you can do difficult things. You're stronger than you think you are. You're stronger than you think you are. A lot of times we do, we may, we just we go through these things and we're and, and we just don't give ourselves credit. Not that you need credit, I'm just saying you're stronger than you think you are.
Speaker 1:Through the difficult times, you can say the right word at the right time to the right person. Give a godly word. Maybe you have a coworker, maybe you have a family member that needs a word, and sometimes we can be timid. Oh well, I don't know if they really I don't know how they're going to respond to that. No, be bold, be courageous. Know that the greater one lives on the inside of you and you have something to deposit to somebody else. You have something to give to somebody else and your battle, like your testimony, what you go through.
Speaker 1:Other people need to hear that. Other people need to hear that the devil wants to shut your mouth and be like oh, don't say that People are going to judge you, don't, that's a lie from the pit of hell. Like you need to proclaim the word of God. You need to declare your, give your testimony to those around you because they are going through things you don't even know it. They are going through difficult situations and they need to hear your word, god's word in your mouth, coming out of your mouth, is so strong and so just it'll change somebody's life. It'll, it'll produce, it's a Zoe life John 10 10. The enemy comes to still kill, destroy, but Jesus came that we may have a life and life more abundantly, amen. So I just want to encourage you.
Speaker 1:With that in him, you can do difficult things. Um, god didn't leave us alone. He gave us the Holy spirit. Uh, you, um are equipped, you have dunamis, you are dynamite, you are explosive. When you speak God's, it's like dynamite coming out of your mouth, right, boom, just like I used to watch Bugs Bunny and the Roadrunner all the dynamite, you know. I thought that was so funny. It's always getting tricked. You know, just like that dynamite, it's explosive. And every time you proclaim the word of God to that storm, that situation, that those family members, those coworkers, the word, the word of God, never returns void. It accomplishes what it is sent to do, and so always remember that, that it accomplishes what it is sent to do, Amen.