Endurance

Endurance.  It is commanded and commended in the Bible.

It is not just something we might need, but rather something we are called to do.

It is perseverance. Patience. Waiting and not giving up. Keeping the faith despite opposition. Holding fast to Jesus when persecuted.  Lasting through trouble and hardship without giving up or falling away. Continuing to the end even through difficulties.

I thought of this especially in light of the current trend in universities for students to demand never to be offended or "hurt" by something someone might say or do that bothers them.  In contrast, the Bible says these things:

2Timothy 2:3 - "You therefore must endure hardship [share suffering] as a good soldier of Jesus Christ."

Matthew 24:13 - "But the one who endures to the end will be saved."

Revelation 13:7-10 - "Also [the beast] was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain. If anyone has an ear, let him hear: If anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes; if anyone is to be slain with the sword, with the sword must he be slain. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints."

Revelation 14:12 - "Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus."

Hebrews 12:1-3 - "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted."

Hebrews 6:15 - "And so, after [Abraham] had patiently endured [waited], he obtained the promise."

Hebrews 10:35-36 - "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."

Mark 4:17 - "And they [seed sown on rocky ground] have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away."

1 Corinthians 4:10,12-13 - "We are fools for Christ's sake ... we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things."

1 Corinthians 13:7, "Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

2 Timothy 2:10,12 - "Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. ... if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us..."

2 Timothy 4:5 - "As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry."

1 Peter 2:19-21 - "For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps."

Amazing hesed love!

Romans 8

It is astounding!

My God has bound himself to me, in hesed love - so much that he not only commits to die for me to save me from my sin, but he goes further and adopts me into his family! 

He knows me - before anything in me; he foreknows, he purposes (with purposes that shall not fail nor be thwarted), he justifies, he glorifies.

He chooses. He plans. He saves. He brings Home.

How can I not live in amazed joy, regardless of circumstances? "This God - his way is perfect..." And none of his purposes can be thwarted. No circumstance can man his love has been taken away from those whom he has committed himself to; rather, everything at every moment has to be subservient to His purpose: to make us like Jesus, and to bring us safely Home.

Who can be in a safer place, than one to whom the God of the Universe, the Lord of the Ages, has bound Himself?  Every event says to that person, "I love you, child, and this will synergize into joy for you!"

Worthy!

King of kings

Lord of ages

Lamb who was slain

Ruler of time

Almighty, all-seeing, all-knowing

You are worthy of all my moments

Worthy of all my praise

   all my thoughts

   all my words

   all that I am 

   all that I have

It all belongs to You who made me

You who rule over all of me

Who made me for Yourself

Who redeemed me for Yourself

That I might live

   no longer for myself

   but for You who lived and died and rose again for me

That I might display Your glory to the world

That I might proclaim the praises (excellencies) of Him

Who called me out of darkness 

   into His marvelous light!

(Revelation 4-5. 2Cor.5:15. 1Pet.1:9.)

The LORD is my helper

Out of my distress I called on the LORD;

   the LORD answered me and set me free.

The LORD is on my side; I will not fear.

   What can man do to me?

The LORD is on my side as my helper...

I was pushed hard, so that I was falling,
   but the LORD helped me.
The LORD is my strength and my song;
   he has become my salvation.

(Psalms 118:5-7, 13-14)

Rejoice in the LORD

Though the fig tree should not blossom,

   nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
   and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
   and there be no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

God, the Lord, is my strength;

he makes my feet like the deer's;
he makes me tread on my high places.

(Habakkuk 3:17-19)

hold on to Truth

We beg God for mercy when someone we love is going through pain. In our human short-sightedness, we cannot think of anything more loving than to take away their pain. When God does not answer, eyes lacking faith see Him as a cruel God, unloving, unmerciful. "If You are loving, why would You NOT relieve this terrible situation?"

We cannot imagine the "something better" that God is working for those He loves, by not taking away their pain. Yet faith must hold onto God's revelation of Himself as "merciful, gracious, abounding in lovingkindness and faithfulness", and as being all-wise and all-powerful - while at the same time it is enduring the pain that He chooses not to remove.

Faith reaches behind the veil to lay hold of what it cannot see, to trust what human sense cannot make sense of. It grasps for the eternal while the flesh can only see what is now and present. Faith must fasten its grip on the Word of God that never changes, never ceases to be true, never fails to be Truth from God. 

Truth says that God has a greater good for us than release from our trials:

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son... What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who [or what] can be against us?"

(Romans 8:28-29,31)

Truth says the trials of Christians are temporary:

"For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."

(2 Corinthians 4:17-18)

Truth says that the ultimate expression of God's love is in Jesus' death for us:

"...God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

(1 John 4:8-10)

Truth says God will provide all that we truly need to make it through trials:

"He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?"

(Romans 8:32)

Truth says that one day, God will take away all pain and sorrow:

"And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” "

(Revelation 21:3-5)

Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!

pray for Peter

Please pray for a solution to Peter's seizures. They can be violent and happen almost every day, multiple times. We have never had good seizure control from drugs, and we have tried many drugs. The neurologist has nothing to offer but to try more drugs, which we are doing.

There is a possibility of Peter being in a clinical trial for a different "drug" (a special oil, really). Pray that if this would be good for him, that they will approve him for it, and that he would get the real thing and not the placebo for the first 2 months.  (After that, all participants get the real thing.)

Two great blessings recently though:
1) Peter got approved for CAP/C, a program that gives us an aide in the home for him every morning. It also gives him medicaid to help pay for equipment and medical expenses!

2) We did finally get the aide, and she is awesome and even comes to our church.  It is an answer to many prayers!