Baptist City Blog

Overcoming Your Circumstances

Acts 16:25

"And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them."

Life is filled with adverse circumstances, but your outcome from those circumstances is completely up to you. Paul and Silas faced some difficult circumstances, but they did not allow their circumstances to destroy their spirit. Because they chose to control their circumstances, they were able to see the miraculous conversion of the jailor. There were three keys to Paul and Silas overcoming their circumstances.

First, they looked inward instead of looking outward. Instead of looking at being in prison, they looked at something that nothing from the outside could take away; their salvation. Your disposition should never be determined by outside circumstances. You may face many adverse circumstances in your life, but you must not let them determine whether you are going to be on top side. In order to overcome circumstances, you must learn to dwell on the inside. Once you were saved, your salvation is yours forever. Therefore, because nothing can take your salvation away, you must learn to dwell on it while going through adverse circumstances. Sickness cannot take away your salvation. Disease cannot take away your salvation. Financial struggles cannot take away your salvation. Loss of job cannot take away your salvation. False accusation cannot take away your salvation. True accusations cannot take away your salvation. Parents being divorced cannot take away your salvation. Your spouse leaving you cannot take away your salvation. Put your situation at the front of these sentences and you can always say that it cannot take away your salvation. If you will dwell on your salvation and the Holy Spirit of God Who dwells within you, then you can stay on top of your circumstances.

Second, they prayed. When they decided to look inward, they knew that the next step was to pray for God's help through their circumstance. Likewise, when adverse circumstances come your way, you need to learn to pray. Griping and complaining about your circumstance is not going to change it, only God can change your circumstance. Too many Christians tend to gripe and complain about their circumstances for the purpose of getting pity from others. Your circumstances do not change when others have pity on you. This is why you need to stop looking for pity from others and talk to God, the One Who can change your situation.

Third, after praying they sang God's praises. Singing is a great way to help lift your spirit in times of adverse circumstances. Of course, you are not going to be able to sing until you have poured your burdens upon God. After you have prayed, then find some uplifting Christian songs to sing. Even though you may not feel like singing, you need to force yourself to sing. The reason is because singing directly affects your spirit. When you sing, it is like giving a vitamin B12 shot to your spirit. Singing uplifting songs will direct your spirit from looking outward at the circumstances to the inward of your salvation.

Notice the result of Paul and Silas following these three steps was that God intervened and others were helped. When you follow these three steps, you will also find that God will be inclined to help you, thus you will be able to help others. Stop letting your adverse circumstances dictate what your spirit is and follow these three steps so that you can overcome your circumstances and help others.