Living in a Chaotic World, Facing the “Giant” in Your Life

In the Bible, King David, Apostle Paul, Peter, James, Matthew, Luke, Mark, John, Timothy, Barnabas …… are the cloud of witnesses who showed us how they face the “giants” in their lives.

Giants, let us think about that for a moment. Giant represents something colossal. It is what oftentimes appears to be so enormous in front of us that we could not move forward in our lives. How do we overcome it?

We live in a society that everything seems enormous nowadays. From dealing with the responsibilities within the circle in our families, our jobs, our neighbors, and even in our church community. We feel that all things around us are pulling us away from our own time. We never really have the chance to just sit down and watch it from the outside. It seems that we constantly find ourselves inside this ball of the day-to-day conundrum of life.

In our Life Group, we were asked this question “how do you live in a chaotic world as a child of God?” I had to pause on this question and evaluate how do I overcome and face these “giants” in my life?

During my younger years, it was a struggle to have that self-discipline in my nature. The level of my maturity could not handle the constant changes and revolving duties that life demands.

Through spiritual growth and maturity, I began to find my strength by practicing and staying mindful of these virtues:

Humility – accepting the circumstances in my life knowing that I cannot do everything on my own. That I will need to present my worries to God and trust Him (Matthew 19:26 “Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”) That I will need the support of my family and my church community to pray with me to overcome my struggle (Romans 12:5 “so in Christ we, though many, form one body and each member belongs to all the others.”).

Prayer – reviving my relationship with God through the power of the Holy Spirit in prayer (Ephesians 6:18 “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”). Setting a time to meet with God every day praising Him and thanking Him (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.). Lastly, praying for others for healing (James 5:16 “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”).

Forgiveness – I ask God to release me from the bondage of pain and bitterness that others inflicted upon me, I pray to forgive me from my iniquities, and to teach me to forgive myself and accept that I am not perfect. (Matthew 6:14-15 “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”)

Selfless Love – It is easy to think of what is good for us and satisfy ourselves with what we want but we find it difficult to open ourselves to others even to those who are in our inner circles because we normally set boundaries on how much time we want to extend ourselves to others caused by the busyness of our lives. But God’s Agape love is selfless. (1 John 4:16-21 “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world, we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.”)  

Finally, Patience – this is the most difficult to practice when you are short-tempered, always aiming for immediate results. and lack of understanding of the importance of waiting. There must be over 100 verses in the Bible that tell us to wait on the Lord. Why do you think there are so many? God is wise and He obviously, knows that our human heart always lacks the patience that He desires for us. Throughout the Bible, we see people creating their little gods because they could not wait, the sense of self-gratification is one of the sins of mankind. So, let me leave you with this simple and inspiring verse and know that God encourages us to endure and wait on Him (Psalm 27:14 “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”).

© fm1 6.16.21