Proverbs 24:10 ‘If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small’.
DAILY READING; • Revelation 10; Nehemiah 13; Psalm 104:24-35
The book, ‘Nerves of Steel’, is the captivating true story of Tammie Jo Shults. She is one of American Navy’s few female fighter pilots who later joined Southwest Airlines in the early 1990’s.
Besides her work as a pilot, Tammie Jo Shults is known for serving faithfully in her local Church, Texas Hill Country church. She is known among the congregation as a woman of faith and compassion, who often taught Sunday School for children and adults.
On April 17, 2018, something happened that put Tammy Jo on international News Headlines.
On that day, Captain Tammie Jo was flying a Boeing 737 on routine domestic flight from New York to Dallas. But twenty minutes into the flight, without warning, there was a catastrophic engine failure that almost caused the plane to crash.
But in that moment of crisis, Captain Tammie Jo displayed such great strength that amazed many people. But it was all as a result of her private devotion and faith in God Before that flight, as she normally does, she had read her Bible and prayed for her crew and passengers and committed the journey into God’s hand.
So when there was an explosion and the aircraft began to shudder violently and the cockpit was filled with smoke, her faith in God remained firm and unshakeable.
The explosion, had torn away sections of the plane, punctured a window, and sucked a woman out from the plane to her death, while injuring seven other people.
As the aircraft rolled over and began initiating a dive toward the ground, passengers screamed, cried and prayed. However, in the midst of this chaos, Tammy knew that God was right there with her. Though the plane had dropped 20,000 feet within six minutes, by God’s grace, Tammy Jo was able to regain control of the plane.
While the passengers thought all hope was lost, Tammie Jo made a bold cabin announcement, assuring them that the plane was not going to crash.
This statement of faith, made all the difference for the terrified passengers and gave them hope. With the plane badly damaged, Tammie Jo had just one shot at either landing it or crashing it. God helped her to make that right landing and saved the lives of 148 people on board. When they finally touched down safely at Philadelphia, Tammy Jo was overwhelmed with gratitude to God, for miraculously averting what would have been a devastating plane crash.
With the media coverage and celebration of her bravery, she continually told everyone that it was God that had landed the plane safely. She said her habit of spending daily time with God, was what had given her the faith and strength to overcome in that time of crisis.
The more time we spend daily with God, the more we know Him intimately and the more faith is built up in us for victory.
When we seek God daily we are making deposits of faith in our spiritual bank account that we can withdraw from in the day of trouble.
We are living in the last days, which are perilous times. It is a time when the world will be confronted by great trials and temptations. Sometimes the challenges will be so sudden that only those who have taken time to develop their faith will be able to overcome.
Therefore, we need to build up enough strength and power so as not to faint in the day of adversity.
Proverbs 24:10 says ‘If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small’.
When Peter was walking on the water to go to Jesus, he was suddenly confronted by boisterous winds that struck fear into him and he began to sink. Jesus immediately stretched out His hand and caught him, and said, ‘O thou of little faith, wherefore, didst thou doubt?’ (Matthew 14:27-31).
From this passage, we see that little faith and doubt was what made Peter to begin to sink.
It takes great faith to stand and not sink, when confronted with the boisterous winds of life.
Therefore we have to accept the responsibility of building up great faith which makes us unshakeable in any challenge of life.
The Bible tells us faith has the capacity to grow. 2Thessalonians 1:3 says: ‘We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly..’
Our faith will grow exceedingly, when we spend quality time daily in God’s Word.
With our foundation built upon the solid rock of the Word, though the storm, rain and winds may come, we will survive them all and still stand strong.
Truly, great faith in God is our greatest guarantee of victory because it is what will always overcome the world and its challenges.
The battles of life have no time table, they often come suddenly. This is why it is important to daily build up our faith and be ready to overcome whatever comes our way.
Therefore today, let us make a fresh commitment to maintain daily fellowship with God, so that in every situation, we will stand strong, immoveable and always giving glory to God.
PRAYER: Lord, Please enable me to accept the responsibility of building up strong faith. By Your grace I will surely be the victor in every confrontation and triumph always in Jesus Name.
QUOTE
There is so much more in your future, you cannot afford to look back at the past, not even for a moment. – WORDBITE 222.