Whatever God has promised gets stamped with the Yes of Jesus. In Him, this is what we preach and pray, the great Amen, God’s Yes and our Yes together, gloriously evident. God affirms us, making us a sure thing in Christ, putting His Yes within us. By His Spirit He has stamped us with His eternal pledge—a sure beginning of what He is destined to complete.
2 Corinthians 1:20 MSG
I recently received a phone call from a friend I met a few months ago. Her voice trembled as she shared how she felt she was hitting a brick wall with God—desperate to hear from Him. As she poured out her heart, I felt the weight of her struggles. She felt alone, frustrated, and like God was distant. It would have been so easy to sink into the same despair with her, the pull of hopelessness when life feels too hard, messy, and overwhelming. In those moments when everything feels out of control, you may wonder where God is in the chaos.
Maybe you’ve had those days, too. Days when it feels like you’re juggling a hundred things. The moments when life hits hard and you’re standing at a crossroads: Do you give in to fear, or do you trust God and fight back with faith? As women, we often carry so much—responsibilities no one sees, unspoken worries, and the silent burdens we bear for our family. When we’re trying to keep everything together, it just takes one thing to knock you over the edge. We’re pulled in so many directions that it’s easy to lose sight of God’s voice in the mayhem. When a crisis strikes, our response determines our emotional and spiritual health and influences the world around us.
Fighting in an Emergency
God has given us a weapon to fight the battles we face—His Word. But here’s the truth: in emergency situations, you need to have something already chambered in your heart when the enemy tries to steal your peace. You can’t wait until the storm is raging, and the enemy is breathing down your neck to reach for your Bible and start thumbing through the pages for help. Instead, feed your spirit every day. Write specific scriptures to meditate and memorize. Post them on your bathroom mirror, your kitchen cabinets, on the hood of the stove, or in your car. Let His Word remind you, again and again, that you are not fighting alone and that you can trust Him.
For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart.
Hebrews 4:12 AMPC
God’s Word isn’t just words on a page. It’s a living, breathing truth that can cut through the fog of doubt and fear. Find a verse you can use to fight with, because complacency isn’t a choice you can live with. I am not talking about “cherry-picking” scripture—finding a verse that you can twist to fit your situation while going against God’s character and the truth of the Word as a whole or ignoring other passages that also apply. Instead, consider the situation and research what God really has to say about it! When God is backing you up, trust that you can’t lose!
Using the Weapon of the Word
When we respond to situations using His Word as our weapon, we come into agreement with what He already says about it. We trust God’s faithfulness to back His Word. When my new friend called, she wasn’t looking for me to solve her problems. She needed to remember the God who never breaks His promises. She needed to be reminded of what she already knew, but in her struggle, had forgotten. And sometimes, we need that reminder, too. We need someone to come alongside us and say, “God is still with you. He’s still faithful.”
Trust that God is still with you. He’s still faithful.
2 Corinthians 1:20 says, “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through Him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God” (NIV). When you look up the word amen in the Greek, it means faithful; so be it, may it be fulfilled.[1] When we come into agreement with what God says by saying “amen” to it, we are actually saying “God, You are faithful to Your Word. Let your Word be fulfilled in me.” When we stand on His promises, we partner with God in a powerful way.
Matthew Henry’s commentary explains this passage by saying, “the promises of the gospel covenant, which they preach, stand firm and inviolable. Bad men are false; good men are fickle; but God is true, neither fickle nor false.”[2] God will not violate His Word, and His Word is truth. That He is faithful, even when we are not, takes the pressure off our shoulders. I don’t have to come up with the answers, I just have to trust His.
You can Trust Because of Jesus
The Living Bible paraphrases 2 Corinthians 1:20 by saying, “He (Jesus) carries out and fulfills all of God’s promises, no matter how many of them there are; and we have told everyone how faithful He is, giving glory to His name.” Chuck Smith’s commentary goes into depth, explaining the passage this way:
Jesus is the assurance to us that God’s promises are all true. And all of God’s promises to you are wrapped up in Christ. God has promised to give you life, that life that is in Jesus. This is the record God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in the Son. God has promised to give you peace, but that peace is in Jesus. God has promised mercies to you, but those mercies are coming to you in Jesus. All of the promises in Him are yes, or are fulfilled in Him to us, and the fact that God sent His Son is the assurance to us that God is going to keep all of His Word and all of His promises that He has made to us of that eternal kingdom and the glory that we shall share with Him, world without end. Jesus is the affirmation to you that God has meant what He said and that He will keep all of the promises that He has made of the coming kingdom and the glory of that kingdom that shall be yours when you live with Him in His kingdom forever.[3]
He sums it up simply, “All of the promises of God to us have been fulfilled in Jesus.”[4] Jamieson, Fausset & Brown’s commentary says, “‘Amen’ is His oath, which makes our assurance of the fulfilment doubly sure. Compare ‘two immutable things (namely, His Word and His oath) in which it was impossible for God to lie’ (Hebrews 6:18, Revelation 3:14).”[5] Over and over, we have the confirmation that we can trust God’s promises and come into agreement with Him for them to bear fruit in our life. You just have to know what those promises are.
Before Google . . .
When I was in high school, one of my teachers gave me a book of Scripture grouped by alphabetized categories. Google wasn’t a thing then, and that book got a lot of use. When I needed peace, I flipped over to the section on page 131 and began reading on that topic. Years later, when my brother headed overseas to defend our country, I sent that book with him. Today, you can do a quick search on any topic and get all the ammunition you need to fight physical or mental attacks.
The Word is a powerful weapon, and God made sure His children had all the weapons needed to combat the enemy. When we use it the way God intends, it helps us control the thoughts that try to imprison us by taking those thoughts captive instead! 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 (AMPC) says:
For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds, [inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).
I know how hard it can be to trust God and stand on His promises when life is pressing in. I’ve had moments when I’ve had to fight for peace, too. Recently, a family member had undergone a procedure that made the doctors scratch their heads as they stepped back to determine the next best steps. My mind raced with all the unrealized dreams of the future I’d been counting on and felt slipping away.
How to Trust When Facing Insurmountable Odds
When you are facing what feels like insurmountable odds, or there is so much to do that you don’t know where to start, don’t fall prey to the schemes of the enemy to discourage you. He will falsely tell you that things are beyond your control, you are a helpless victim, and things will never get better. Frankly, he will keep lying until he finds the lie that works—that incapacitates you, because if he can stop your victory, he can stop the domino effect that follows it!
I could feel the enemy trying to drag me into grief over something that hadn’t even happened. I got choked up as my mind spiraled down the path in which the enemy delighted. But amid that chaos, God’s Word rose in me. “Healing is the children’s bread.” It was a truth based on a story of a woman who refused to give up on her miracle, and it brought me back from the edge of despair.
Healing is the Children’s Bread
The story found in Matthew 15 tells of a woman who came to Jesus because she wanted Him to heal her daughter. She wasn’t Jewish, and Jesus responded that He “was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (vs. 24, AMPC). Verse 25 says, “But she came and, kneeling, worshiped Him and kept praying, Lord help me!” When Jesus seemed to be unchanging in His decision, her persistence in faith moved Him. Verse 28 (AMPC) says, “Then Jesus answered her, O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you wish. And her daughter was cured from that moment.”
It was remembering a simple phrase I’ve meditated for years. Based on a scriptural principle, it was the key which unlocked the door of the mental prison the enemy tried to keep shut. And once I tasted that bit of freedom, other passages quickly came to mind. I also remembered the many, many times God had faithfully been true to His Word or healed previously. Revelation 12:11 tells us we overcome the enemy by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony—saying what God has done for us before. If He did it once, I could trust Him to do it again!
Taking my thoughts captive didn’t change what the doctors saw. Taking my thoughts captive and focusing on the Word changed what I saw. It gave me the strength to keep trusting. I had the power to hold on to the promises Jesus purchased for me. Then I asked others to join me in prayer.
Taking my thoughts captive didn’t change what the doctors saw.
Taking my thoughts captive and focusing on the Word changed what I saw.
That’s what trust in God’s Word does—it shifts our focus from the storm to the One who calms the storm. And that is exactly what my friend needed, too. She needed a reminder that God was still working, even when she couldn’t see it for herself. Her faith and assurance in God’s Word just needed a little jump-start. She needed someone not in the middle of the situation to remind her of what God said about the problems she was facing and to encourage her she could fight the overwhelming feelings of discouragement with the Word of God.
Trust God’s Faithfulness
If you are facing something that seems insurmountable right now, remember this: God has been faithful before, and you can trust that He will be faithful again. When was the last time He came through for you or for someone you love? Think about that. Find the promises in the Word that apply to your situation. Make a list. Meditate on them. Say them aloud. Write them everywhere you’ll see them until His Word is louder than the lies in your head.
And as you hold on to His promises, listen for that still, small voice whispering to your spirit, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you wish.” You are not alone in this battle—God is with you, and His Word is your greatest weapon. Keep fighting, keep trusting, and watch Him come through for you again.
Ever feel like you’re just not enough? Check out the post, “Disqualified by Doubts and Fears? Discover How to Still Answer God’s Call.“
If you want to trust God to be faithful to His Word in the area of healing, please grab a copy of my book, Believing for a Miracle. God is still doing impossible things today and you can trust that His Word is true!
[1] G281 – amēn – Strong’s Greek Lexicon (kjv).” Blue Letter Bible. Accessed 24 Oct, 2024. https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g281/kjv/tr/0-1/
[2] Henry, M. “Commentary on 2 Corinthians 1 by Matthew Henry.” Blue Letter Bible. Last Modified 1 Mar, 1996. https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/mhc/2Cr/2Cr_001.cfm
[3] Smith, C. “Verse by Verse Study on 2 Corinthians 1-2 (C2000) by Chuck Smith.” Blue Letter Bible. Last Modified 1 Jun, 2005. https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/smith_chuck/c2000_2Cr/2Cr_001.cfm
[4] Ibid.
[5] Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, . “Commentary on 2 Corinthians 1 by Jamieson, Fausset & Brown.” Blue Letter Bible. Last Modified 19 Feb, 2000. https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/jfb/2Cr/2Cr_001.cfm