THEY CAN AND MUST BE OVERCOME — Part 3

The View From Above: Thoughts To Help With Everyday Life

October 28, 2026

Pastor Paul Stephens

OBSTACLES, THERE THEY ARE, RIGHT IN FRONT OF US, AND THEY CAN AND MUST BE OVERCOME — Part 3

The presence of obstacles is a test of our faith, resolve, and our RESILIENCE.

Sometimes you act in faith with resolve and obedience, and it doesn’t work out…what you need then is resilience.

Sometimes when we are doing right and trying and doing our best, we experience setbacks.

We can fall down; the question is, do you have the resilience to get back up?

Resilience is the ability to bounce back, recover quickly from difficulty.

It’s flexibility…The ability to adapt to a changing landscape and not lose your goal, vision, and perspective.

It involves mental, emotional, and behavioral adjustments to internal and external demands.

It’s the ability to function after a disruptive crisis.

Proverbs 24:16

“For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again…”

Yes, it’s true, righteous people fall and sometimes fall hard, and it’s not so easy to get up…but when faith, resolve, and resilience are in place, you find a way to rise again.

Not all of our efforts, enacted with the best of motives, work out.

We don’t get the outcome we hoped for.

Sometimes our expectations aren’t realized, and we’re trying our best to act in faith.

The Bible is filled with examples of resilience, without which individuals would not have achieved the greatness that God had for them.

Job: He lost his wealth, his family, and his physical health in a single wave of tragedies, yet he maintained his trust and declared:

Job 12:15

“Though He (The Lord) slay me, yet will I hope in Him.”

No loss of faith and confidence in God.

That is what resilience looks like.

Joseph: Sold into slavery by his brothers and later falsely accused and imprisoned.

Setback after setback, yet he remained faithful to God over many years until he rose to power and saved his family and nation from famine.

He never allowed bitterness or anger to set in.

He had the ability to bounce back after all the setbacks and keep his heart right before God.

The Apostle Paul: He had a divine, supernatural calling (Acts 9), and he stayed true to it despite many obstacles along the way.

He was knocked down many times, but never failed to get up and keep going.

2 Corinthians 4:8–9

“We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed…”

No hardship can defeat a man or woman who has FAITH, RESOLVE, and RESILIENCE!

Your challenge at this juncture of your life is to make sure all three of these are in place.

You may feel like you’re down and out, but you’re not, you never are, not ever when you are in possession of the faith, resolve, and resilience to continue.

Sometimes it’s hard to get up, I know, I’ve been there many times…but get up you must and you can.

Isaiah 43:1–3

“But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel:

‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.

When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you.

For I am the LORD your God…’”