Never Give a Crisis Your Respect

I learned a long time ago that if you give a crisis your respect you'll become a slave to it. That crisis will control everything including you!

"Your immediate reaction to circumstances will make a big in determining the outcome."  

Bad news always makes a play for your emotions and attempts to knock the wind out of you. Whether those emotions be sadness, anger, disappointment, or anxiety, all of it has the potential to take the wind out of your sails and knock you off course.

So what do I mean by not giving a crisis your respect? Simply put - don't respect it with your response! Your best defense against a crisis is to not allow your emotions to go haywire.  Not always easy granted, it takes a steel core on the inside, but remember that as a believer, circumstances don't have the last word, you have do. 

I can either agree with the how it looks/sounds and resign myself to that outcome or I can hold myself in a place of trust in God and His Word that I have hid in my heart feed what my response will be. Why is this so important?  Because when you speak the Word of God and hold yourself in a place of faith, it releases the power of His Word to go to work for you!

"When you speak the Word of God and hold yourself in a place of faith it releases the power of His Word to go to work for you." 

Let your response to crisis be a wise response. Yes, bad news may present itself abruptly but it has no more authority over you than the authority you relinquish to it.  This is why the Word says, ".... and let the peace of God rule your heart and mind."  Col 3:15. Let the peace of God call the shots in your life.

I could tell you countless stories in my own life where this principle has brought nothing short of miraculous results in the face of certain devastation. I chose instead to take God at His Word and spoke it in faith and that Word went to work for me. 

We all remember the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  They were standing in the kings court and he gave them an ultimatum with life or death consequences....   Daniel 3:15 (NIV) 

"If you are ready to fall down and worship the image I made, very good. But if you do not worship it, you will be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Then what god will be able to rescue you from my hand?"

These men replied exactly the way I am talking to you about. Their answer was one of confidence and faith that God would without a doubt bring them out of their trouble.

Verse 16 - 18 says... 

"O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.  "If it be so..."  wait lets stop right there! If what be so?  Well, they are answering the king's ultimatum of, 'if you do not worship you will be thrown in the fiery furnace', so  obviously they are replying to his threat of throwing them in that fire. 

"If it be so, ( if you do throw us in that fire) our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, ( even if you don't throw us in that fire) be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up."

You see obviously it makes no sense to tell someone, "if you throw me in a fiery furnace I am STILL not going to bow to your idol" ... Well duh... you'd be dead!  

No, they were saying of a surety they knew God would deliver them, but if the king chose not to throw them in that furnace, be it known to you o king,  we are still not going to bow and worship that idol! Their faith in God was rock-solid. These men knew their God. They knew He was faithful and He always came through and they were not giving that crisis, not even a blazing fiery furnace, their respect. They were giving God and His track record their respect instead.

So, next time you are up against a wall, remember this is not your time to play the martyr.  You rise up and react from peace and come through with grace and with courage, knowing that God has your back and He is a pro at crisis-management!

I call you blessed, 

                - Jen