We have such trouble when unexpected circumstances interrupt our lives and make us feel forced to do things we hadn't planned to do. It is very hard for us to be instant in season and out of season (2 Timothy 4:2), because we need to feel a sense of control over the unfolding of our own lives. We feel unwarranted shock and are prone to struggles with bitterness when our circumstances don't work out in the way we thought they would.
Here's a quote from 100 Days to Freedom: Finding Rest in the Love of God: "We can't keep anything for ourselves, not even our own physical bodies, which are destined to die. But when we release all to God, His power is unleashed so that the mystery of resurrection--life from what has been crucified--brings new life and new hope. 'For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his' (Romans 6:5)."
The comfort that is given us as Christians is that when our physical bodies die, we will be instantly in the presence of Christ, and that we will have what we need and it will be better than we ever thought it would be. This comfort also applies to the call to "die to self" while we are still on Earth. When we surrender our schedules, our time, and the way we thought things would be to the Lord, we are instantly closer to Christ and we will have what we need, and it will be better than we ever thought it would be. We begin to receive the blessings of dying in Christ while we are still in the land of the living.
Revelation 12:11 tells us how Michael and his angels defeated the enemy: "And they overcame him by the Blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death" KJV
In other words, as they testified to the victory of Jesus Christ at the Cross and didn't let the possibility of death keep them from entering into the battle, Satan was vanquished.
Our small, earthly, lives can mirror the magnificence of mighty angelic beings as we surrender our lives to Christ in service and in love.
We can learn three things from Revelation 12:11:
1. The authority of the Name of Jesus.
2. Our testimony via Scripture promises, praise, and avoiding negative thoughts and words is powerful.
3. Dying to self through surrender of our plans, time, and service to the Lord leads to resurrection of new life that will be better than anything we could have planned for ourselves, even prior to our physical deaths and Heaven.
This isn't a list of things to do, it's instruction for the state of our minds which flows from the state of our hearts. Trust in Jesus, speak that trust, and believe that He is in everything that we find ourselves having to do, even and especially the things that weren't our idea and that we would rather not do.
