To persevere means to continue in a course of action even in the face of difficulty or with little or no prospect of success.
There is no doubt we are facing times of trials and difficulties. If it were just one thing at a time, it would be more manageable. But when we face multiple trials and multiple difficulties at the same time, it is very difficult to keep going.
To make things worse, we live in a world that is divided, and becoming more so day by the day. This only adds fuel to the fire that is already burning in our homes, our schools and our workplaces.
All of this together makes those that are already weary, even more weary and lose the desire to want on.
If you thought we were battling flesh, you are mistaking.
This is a spiritual battle for our souls.
The enemy wants to distract you and me from our purpose and God’s plan for our lives.
Don’t fall for the enemy’s tactics. He has only come to steal, kill and destroy.
But Jesus has come to give us LIFE and that more abundantly.
I want to encourage you to continue, to persevere, and be steadfast.
“Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him” James 1:12 ESV
Our ultimate goal is to make it to heaven.
If ANYTHING is trying to derail that, get rid of it.
“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us” Hebrews 12:1
Warren Wiersbe once said, “Nothing paralyzes our lives like the attitude that things can never change. We need to remind ourselves that God can change things. Outlook determines outcome. If we see only the problems, we will be defeated; but if we see the possibilities in the problems, we can have victory.”
“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.”
For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
2 Corinthians 4:7-10; 16-18
If all we are doing is looking at the things that are seen, we will not preservere and we’ll be defeated.
It is the unseen, our FAITH, that allows us to push through the darkness of our trial.
The question is – Are you willing to persevere?
Whatever trial that God has allowed you to be in, give it your all.
In Jeremiah 29, we see Israel going away into captivity. Not a short trial, but 70 years. False prophets were trying to tell them it wouldn’t be for a long time. But this was God’s doing.
What is very interesting about this time of captivity and trial, God is telling them to LIVE life at its fullest. In other words, in the middle of your captivity, be willing to be steadfast and be willing to persevere.
“This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says to all the captives he has exiled to Babylon from Jerusalem: “Build homes, and plan to stay. Plant gardens, and eat the food they produce. Marry and have children. Then find spouses for them so that you may have many grandchildren. Multiply! Do not dwindle away!
And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare.” This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let your prophets and fortune-tellers who are with you in the land of Babylon trick you. Do not listen to their dreams, because they are telling you lies in my name. I have not sent them,” says the Lord.
This is what the Lord says: “You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again. For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you,” says the Lord. “I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home again to your own land.”
Jeremiah 29:4-14 NLT
Smith Wigglesworth said, “Great faith is a product of great fights. Great testimonies are the outcome of great tests. Great triumphs can only come out of great trials.”
