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Grace takes you from where you are to where God wants you to be. It happens as you grow in the knowledge of how and what it can do in your life. The beginning of it all is the revelation knowledge that you are no longer a slave. You are a child of God. And since you are His child, the Father Himself will exalt you, even as He exalted His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Until then your attitude needs to be one of humility in God’s sight. Humble yourselves under the mighty Hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time. [1 Peter 5:5]
a) It is being in agreement and obedient to God’s word. It is also –
b) Displaying perseverance – exhibiting patience in dealing with people, and also in difficult circumstances, for God is perfecting what is precious in you.
Therefore consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds. Because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish it’s work, that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing. [James 1:2-4] Christian walk is not a quick sprint but a long run requiring endurance and stamina to finish well, and say with the apostle Paul, ‘I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have kept the faith’. [2 Timothy 4:7]
The three key elements that need to come together for this to happen are –
a) Spiritual stamina
b) Spiritual maturity, and
c) Inner peace in the midst of troubles
You need spiritual stamina to persevere without giving up and carry through to completion what God has called you to do. Also, it is with spiritual maturity that you will know how exactly to go about it especially when it involves dealing with people. And inner peace is the confidence in you as you trust and rest in the Lord through it all, however challenging your circumstance maybe. Even if there is any restlessness in you, you can move to a position of rest by developing and growing in your trust in God. For ‘Come to Me. Take my yoke and learn from Me and you will find rest for your souls’, the Lord invites. [Matthew 11:28]
Meeting your need, whatever it may be, is not at all difficult for the Almighty God. But even as He does it, He desires to bring perfection in your inner being, that you may come to a place of resting in Him, knowing that He has done it all for you.
How does perseverance do it’s work in you ?
a) Spiritual maturity, which is a key component of perseverance, teaches you to see the value in people even as you deal with them. For, God lifting you up and enlarging your area of influence, will see more people interacting with you. The world may use people and value material possessions, but in the kingdom of God it is the very opposite.
b) Perseverance is patient endurance that develops in you. It is the attitude that persists without giving up on doing the will of God even though challenges and hindrances arise to trouble you.
Where does it all start ?
The greatest blessing here on earth is to be conformed more and more to the image of Jesus Christ. For those He foreknew, He fore ordained to be conformed to the image of His Son. And perseverance is the character, the image of God. So perseverance in you starts from this fundamental truth.
The word of God beautifully captures the extent of it – He will not grow faint or be discouraged Till He has established justice in this earth, And the coastlands wait for His law. [Isaiah 42:4] This is the persevering, loving character of God. He never falters or gives up till He accomplishes His task. And in the process His compassion is displayed.
A bruised reed He will not break, A flickering candle He will not snuff out Till He faithfully brings forth justice. [Isaiah 42:2]
The Lord is close to the broken hearted. You may be broken in your life, in your situation today, your hope hanging by a slender thread thinking all is lost. But the Lord will not break it off. He never thinks of cutting off something that is already broken, in order to start something afresh. Rather, He will persevere to mend and heal every life that is broken, bring every broken dream alive once again. He sends forth His word to bring healing and hope.
You may be like a dimly burning wick with barely enough light and life to get on, on the verge of collapsing into utter darkness. You may be thinking your situation is hopeless. But the Lord will not throw in the towel and snuff out a flickering candle. Instead the Father will persevere in your life, in your situation, to make you a brightly burning torch. He will do it in your life’s seeming failures. It is the nature of God’s perseverance. And it can be translated within you as you allow perseverance to finish it’s work in you. It is why you can count it all joy when you pass through various trials.
The third chapter of the book of Genesis describes something inglorious and sad. It is the fall of Adam, who in willful disobedience was overcome by the evil one’s temptation. It was the entrance of sin, impacting and corrupting not just him, but the generations to come after him.
In man’s blatant failure God persevered, not giving up on Adam or His plan for humanity. Neither did He turn away, ignoring Adam’s plight, leaving him to sort out the problem that was of his own making. He would have remained a perfectly righteous God even then, for it was man who willfully abused his God given free will.
When man fails, God still remains faithful. And in the garden of Eden, God did not give up on Adam, but persevered and spoke the prophecy of redemption over him and all of mankind – He shall crush your head’. [Genesis 3:15] It was God’s proclamation of the defeat of the enemy on the Cross of Calvary through His Son, Jesus Christ. God is faithful – full of faith. So, in the midst of what you think is failure, or the unfaithfulness of people fix your eyes on Him who remains faithful even when man is faithless. And He demonstrates it by persevering in you and in your life’s troubling circumstances. Your prayers therefore can be with thanksgiving and joy.
There is a place for travailing with tears in prayer. But when you are living in the power of the new covenant, prayer need not always be tearful. It can be like the apostle Paul’s because of what Christ has already accomplished on the Cross. I thank God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy. [Philippians 1:3,4] You can pray with a joyful attitude for you do not need to beg or arm twist God. You can ask and receive because He has promised it in His word. You can approach His throne with boldness and confidence, for you are now His heir and co-heir with Christ, no longer a slave to sin and satan.
Paul explains with clarity the reason for his joyfully confident prayer – And I am sure of this that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. [Philippians 1:6] ‘He who began’ – This is the foundational truth that will change your prayer tone. The first and the last move in your life, including your salvation is from God, and all through it He remains faithful. Therefore, never give up even in the midst of apparent failure or lack of success. God did not give up with Adam. He will persevere in your life too. He says to you, ‘How can I give you up, O Ephraim’. [Hosea 11:8] A broken reed He will not break. It is the character of God. And as you behold Him, His character will become yours too and you can overcome in His power.
In your brokenness, start with God and work from God towards yourself. In the beginning was the word and today in your life, He sends His word to heal you. Your song need no longer be a lament, for He puts a new song, a song of salvation in your mouth. Whatever has happened in your life, in all your hindrances and strife, just start with God, for the Breaker goes ahead. You are the sheep of His hand who can hear His voice and follow Him to overcome.
And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due time we will reap, if we do not give up. [Galatians 6:9] It is not when you are going along with the flow following the ways of the world that weariness comes. Discouragement sets in very often only when you are swimming against the tide. It is when you are doing what is good, pursuing the call of God upon your life, that you can become weary, physically and emotionally. It is then that God bids you to persevere and not give up. And whatever He calls you to do, He will also empower. It is a process, as you consider it pure joy when you face trials, and let perseverance finish it’s work in you, that you may be perfect and complete.
Elijah, as the bible truthfully describes, was an ordinary man just like you and I, not immune to the highs and lows of emotional turmoil. He was not a superman. But he was a man of God, and today God is with you too. He will intervene in your low times as he did in Elijah’s, working in you rightly that you may grow in patient endurance, and be divinely enabled to overcome your circumstance.
And he asked that he might die, saying, ‘It is enough now O Lord; take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers’. [1 kings 19:4] It was a cry of desperation from Elijah, giving up on life itself, but belied by the fact that he was fleeing Jezebel’s death threat in order to save his life! In his heart he wanted to live, and it was sheer weariness of body and soul that had brought him to this very low point. Tracing his path it’s easy to understand why. His victory on Mount Carmel as he called down fire from heaven, defeating the prophets of Baal, and later persevering in prayer for rain, he then ran ahead of Ahab’s chariot as he saw a small sign of the coming abundance of rain. All this had taken it’s toll in his body and soul, making him want to give up on life.
God knew, as he knows with you too, that sometimes you need to rest to regain your strength. And the Lord gave him restful sleep and food, a miraculous provision from an angel. ‘Wise is the man who knows how to rest’ the saying goes. God dealt with him in simple logic – rest and food.
It was after giving him rest and restoration that the Lord spoke to the prophet who had said ‘It is enough’, saying ‘You have much more to go’. And the man who wanted to die finally ended up not seeing death at all, for he was taken up to heaven in a chariot and horses of fire. In your life also God has planned something far higher and better than what you have planned for yourself.
Even as the early Christians, discouraged by persecution were tempted to give up and return to Judaism, you may be on the verge of giving up in your circumstance. And the words spoken to them by the writer of Hebrews, is God’s word to you, relevant even today, encouraging you not to give up. Therefore, do not throw away your confidence which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. [Hebrews 10:36,37]
You have come this far in your circumstance that threatened to overwhelm you. And in a little while God will intervene and grant you what He has already prepared. As you persevere without giving up, when you have done the will of God, He will fulfill His promise to you. Let perseverance, patient endurance do it’s perfect work in you, for at the proper time God has a way of exalting you. In humility submit to Him and His ways saying, ‘Be it unto me Lord according to your word’.
Hold on to your reward by holding on to your confidence. In a little while God will fulfill every promise that He has given you. He will mend and heal every broken reed, make every dimly burning wick aflame for His glory. And you will overcome all that has been overcoming you thus far. Let Christ in you be the hope of glory Amen.
