This article was originally published in the July 1992 edition of our magazine.

All of us face challenges in life. Many of us find our jobs demanding. Perhaps we are dealing with raising children, making ends meet on a restricted income, or pursuing further education. Nothing worthwhile comes easily, so we put forth some effort to meet the challenges that come our way.

There is one challenge, however, that is vastly more important than any other we will face. And that is the need to fit into God plan for man’s existence. We might ask ourselves, What is life all about? What is our purpose for being? The Bible tells us that all of creation was created for God’s pleasure. Revelation 4:11 says: “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” We are included in that phrase, “all things.”

The original challenge

We were created to honor God and bring pleasure to Him. When we set ourselves to do that, however, we’ll face spiritual obstacles. Some of them will come in the form of withstanding direct confrontation with the enemy of our souls. In Genesis we read of the first spiritual confrontation. God spoke the world into existence. He created Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, and breathed into them the breath of life. He gave them only one commandment: Take of all the fruit of the trees of the garden except of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And yet that one commandment was challenged by Satan.

Eve had a personal confrontation with Satan. We read in Genesis 3:1-4: “And he [Satan] said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die.”

Satan challenged what God said then, and he challenges what God says now. Would Eve believe or disbelieve God? Would she listen to the plain commandment that God had given or would she listen to the serpent?

One of Satan’s methods of challenging people is to turn things around. He tries to make the good look bad, and the bad look good. For example, he would like to make people think that Christianity is a way of boredom, unhappiness, and restrictions. Ask those who have lived a real Christian life through the years and they will say that it’s none of those things. But how the enemy would like to make people believe that lie!

Since that first encounter in the Garden of Eden, Satan has been out to destroy anything that would glorify God. The conflict isn’t over. But between that sad beginning and God’s ultimate victory, between this point and the moment when we enter into Glory, there’s something for us to do. And that is for us to personally accept the challenge of fitting into God’s plan for mankind.

Choose to serve God

The first step in accepting that challenge is to turn our lives over to God. We know that God’s love reaches out to all mankind. John 3:16 says, “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Jesus died to pay the penalty for our sins, that we might be freed from them—forgiven. But we must repent of all wrongdoing and accept the provision His love has made for us.

Satan may challenge our intent to give our lives over to God by saying, “You don’t want that. Think of what bondage you would be in!” Or, “You won’t have your prayer answered. You’re too unworthy.” But the Bible says that God is no respecter of persons. He calls all men everywhere to repent. When we reach out to God, confessing and forsaking our sins, He will give us a new life in Him, and it will be a blessing and a joy to us.

We read in 1 Kings 18:21 how Elijah challenged the people of his day to come to God. The Children of Israel were confused and backslidden, away from God, and entrenched in the worship of Baal. He said to them, “How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him.”

A simple statement, a simple challenge. Elijah told the prophets of Baal to build their altar and pray to their god. He would build his altar and pray to God. And the one who answered by fire would be acknowledged as the true God. The people agreed, the false prophets built their altar, and prayed for hours. They did everything they knew to cause their god to bring fire down, but nothing happened.

Elijah was not afraid. He knew God would answer him. When the Baal worshipers had tried and failed, Elijah made his altar. He placed the sacrifice on it, and had twelve barrels of water poured on top. Then he stood back and prayed, “Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.” Elijah had a desire for these people. He wanted them to fit into the plan God had for them. He wanted them to be a glory and a pleasure to God. And God answered Elijah’s prayer by sending fire from Heaven. God may not send fire from Heaven to persuade us to give our lives to Him, but He is vitally concerned that we choose to serve Him.

Choose to live carefully

Once we have been born again, we will face the challenge of learning to walk with Christ. We’re told to be careful what we learn. It makes a difference in our spiritual progress! Some look into one doctrine and then another, study one man’s philosophy and another man’s ideas. Be cautious! We are to believe the message only if it aligns exactly with God’s Word. Paul told Timothy to “continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them” (2 Timothy 3:14). Notice the little hint thrown in there: everything you hear may not be the right message. We must be careful what we hear and who we hear it from. As we walk in the light of God’s Word, the light grows brighter and brighter (see Proverbs 4:18). It becomes all the more clearly apparent to us how we ought to live, in spite of every enticement of Satan to confuse us or make us pull back.

Another challenge we face as Christians is to make the right spiritual decisions. God gave us the ability to make choices, and He gives us a free will. The challenge is to make decisions that will bring glory to God and be a spiritual benefit to us now, and for eternity.

We have many examples in the Bible of people who made decisions that brought positive results. In Acts 16 we read that Paul and Silas were in jail because they had healed a young woman possessed with an evil spirit. Did they complain and bemoan what had happened to them? No, they chose to pray and sing praises to God. They glorified Him in the blackness of that dungeon. They were doing what He ordained they should do. What was the result? God sent an earthquake, delivered them, and the jailer and his family were saved that night. The situation that faced them was a challenge, but they made the right decision.

No doubt Satan tried to tell Paul and Silas, “Look where you are. God obviously has forsaken you.” But they didn’t listen to that voice. We will have some trials to face. We don’t know exactly what the outcome will be, but we know the One who does know. If we accept the challenge to listen to the right voice—not the wrong one that tells us to feel sorry for ourselves, and give up—we will have victory.

There are people out there that tell us the Gospel isn’t real, that no one can be saved, or that we cannot be victorious over sin. But our challenge is to listen to the still, small Voice of God that says, “This is the way, walk ye in it.” Satan comes to tempt us and say, “You can’t do it. You shouldn’t do it. Go join the crowd.” But we can say, “I will do what is right.” If you do, you’ll find victory.

Choose to be an overcomer!

As heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, He will help us to successfully meet the spiritual challenges that come our way. We have a rightful heritage, an inheritance in Heaven that will not pass away. Think of it! Some people live in expectation of inheriting another person’s estate. They plan how they’ll handle it, what they’ll do with it. But we have something beyond all of that. We have an inheritance reserved for us for all eternity—if we let God have His way in our lives.

Doesn’t that make facing the challenges worthwhile?