You’ve resolved to live a life pleasing to Christ and now circumstances have challenged your faith.  Has a co-worker or family opposed you?  Have some old habits or temptations appeared again?
In Ephesians 6 we’re told to “take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.

Scripture gives us examples of those who were able to stand no matter what they faced and one of the clearest examples is that of Stephen as he stood toe to toe with the religious elite who rejected Jesus.

When we are introduced to Stephen’s ministry in Acts 6 and 7, the writer describes him as “full of grace and power” and that those who challenge Stephen could not “withstand the spirit with which he was speaking”.  Finally, when the crowd was enraged at Stephen’s proclamation of Jesus as the Christ and they rushed to stone him, we read that Stephen was “full of the Holy Spirit.”

So how did he stand? Read Acts 6 and 7 and I think you’ll read of a man who was filled with the Spirit of God because he was totally committed to Christ.

Every day. Every hour.  It is about surrender.