Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.
– 1 Corinthians 16:13 (NIV)
I sat in the early morning light with my cup of coffee, open Bible, and mind still half asleep. It was the morning after a really hard day; one of those days when your anxiety dictates your emotions, your appetite, and your productivity. You know, a cry at work kinda day. And while I still felt a tinge of the weight from the day before, more than anything I felt the hope of a new day. I felt renewal from the possibility to grow stronger in my faith regardless of my circumstances, and the opportunity to experience the Lord’s new mercies.
I started thanking God for all the blessings He showed me in the past 24 hours, including the incredible friends and family who prayed for and encouraged me. And as I was wrapping up my prayer, I asked the Lord to help me show up in my faith, to glorify Him and to serve others. Right then, my watch buzzed and a notification popped up. “It’s time to stand.”
While this pop-up was meant as a helpful reminder to stand and stretch my legs every hour, I realized it’s also another reminder that God can use to keep us close as we go throughout our day.
- Stand in prayer for our people.
- Stand in worship for a graceful Savior who saved us from our sin.
- Stand in love and encouragement for those who are fighting battles they’re afraid they won’t win.
- Stand in joy and contentment for the abundance we’ve been blessed with.
- Stand in hopeful expectation of the miracles to come.
- Stand in awe of a Creator who is all-knowing, all-powerful, and always on time.
We are called to be constantly on guard, stand firm in our faith, live with courage (and vulnerability), and be strong. Had I been cognizant of this reminder to keep showing up and standing in faith just hours before, even when I felt too weak, I might have not wasted a full day filled with fear.
Because that’s the thing about fear; it makes you think you’re surrounded and that there’s no other way out than to just collapse and let it consume you. It tells you that what you’re currently feeling is what you’ll always feel and that pain and hardship are permanently taking up residence in your life. Fear hums such convincing lies that it’s hard not to just sit down and believe it will never pass.
But once more, we are not called to sit. No, sister, we are called to STAND. Even when the battle feels lost, the hope dwindles, and life knocks you down, keep showing up and keep standing.
Challenge: You don’t need a special watch to have this hourly reminder. Set an alarm on your phone, put it on your calendar, or tape a post-it note to your chair (it works, believe me.) Write 1 Corinthians 16:13 on an index card and tuck it in your mirror. And if you fall in fear, just keep getting back up and standing over and over again, remembering that you are equipped to be firm in your faith with courage and strength. Every hour and every minute, keep standing!
With you in the thick of it,
Jantzen
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Jantzen Jolly-Miller is a small business marketing professional and freelance faith writer who is on a mission to help women get real: real with themselves, with their business, and with their relationship with God and His church. In addition to being the lead content writer for Wheat and Honey Co., she blogs about personal takeaways from her life and faith walk to help women create positive change in their everyday routines at JantzenJollyMiller.com