President John F. Kennedy gave a speech in Indianapolis on April 12, 1959. In the most memorable part of the speech, Kennedy said “The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word ‘crisis.’ One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity.” Many motivational speakers use this quote to encourage their listeners. However, Victor H. Mair, a professor of Chinese Language and Literature at the University of Pennsylvania, firmly corrects the American linguistic blunder that interprets the word “crisis” in Chinese as meaning both “danger” and “opportunity.”
While it’s not accurate that the Chinese word for crisis is made up of the words danger and opportunity, there is some element of truth in the linguistic blunder, because there is danger and opportunity in every crisis. How you handle that danger and opportunity determines the level of your success.
As a believer, you need to know that crisis is unavoidable. Nobody is immune from crisis. Unfortunately, at some point, all of us will face a crisis that will leave us broken, devastated, and desperately searching for answers.
When confronted by crisis, most people quit or turn back. However, those who see a crisis as an opportunity never quit, because it becomes an opportunity to do better, to start again, and to go to the next level. They understand that if they quit during a crisis, they will never succeed.
King Solomon says that if you fall apart in the crisis, there was not much to you anyway! In other words, a crisis proves your character; your faith is measured by the actions you take during the crisis.
“If you fall to pieces in a crisis,
there wasn’t much to you in the first place.”
Proverbs 24:10 (MSG)
Faithful believers never quit in the midst of a crisis; they don’t give up. As a matter of fact, their faith goes to another level during a crisis. Let me encourage you. Crisis is unavoidable, but if your faith is anchored in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit is dwelling inside of you, then the crisis should not stop you from your destiny.
The Holy Spirit living inside of you gives you the ability to overcome or survive any crisis. “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.“ Romans 8:11 (NASB)
One final encouragement: if you failed in a crisis, get back up and start over. Only this time when you face a crisis again, face it with the knowledge that you will overcome and get through because there is resurrection power living inside of you.
Be Blessed
Bishop Jemmott