Perseverence
"37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8: 37-39 (ESV)
I found this definition of perseverance - "The persistence is doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success". It is true that the real test of whether or not someone can stick to a task or have persistence is when things get tough. When success seems far off and you feel like you'll never reach your goal, gratification is delayed, it seems like the world is against your, or failure comes, we have a choice to make - Do I push on? Do I keep running the race? Do I believe the lies the world is telling me? Do I get back up and try again? If we have perseverance, then the answer to all of the questions is yes.
Persevering through hardship makes us stronger. The Bible says in Romans 5, "3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." It is a wonderful thing, a comfort, to know that when hard times come we can have hope. These trials make us who we are.
Even though this is true, and I believe it with all my heart, life can be tough. For me daily trials of parenting, relationships, decisions that need to be made, work/teaching are common. I often feel guilt over letting my emotions get the better of me, be forgetful, making poor choices, impatience, anger, to just name a few. Guilt can rob me of my joy, my hope. So, the verse from Romans 8 is so encouraging. Nothing I do, nothing that I come up against, nothing in this world, NOTHING can separate me from God's love. What an amazing truth. In fact, the struggles of this life can bring us closer to Him if we let them. If we persevere through them, joy (our hope) can come in the morning.
God, help me today to push through the things you have put in my path. Let the things of today draw me nearer to you. Give me a desire and a yearning to know you more and to be a little more like you each day, that I might be your image-bearer and show your light unto the world.
I found this definition of perseverance - "The persistence is doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success". It is true that the real test of whether or not someone can stick to a task or have persistence is when things get tough. When success seems far off and you feel like you'll never reach your goal, gratification is delayed, it seems like the world is against your, or failure comes, we have a choice to make - Do I push on? Do I keep running the race? Do I believe the lies the world is telling me? Do I get back up and try again? If we have perseverance, then the answer to all of the questions is yes.
Persevering through hardship makes us stronger. The Bible says in Romans 5, "3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." It is a wonderful thing, a comfort, to know that when hard times come we can have hope. These trials make us who we are.
Even though this is true, and I believe it with all my heart, life can be tough. For me daily trials of parenting, relationships, decisions that need to be made, work/teaching are common. I often feel guilt over letting my emotions get the better of me, be forgetful, making poor choices, impatience, anger, to just name a few. Guilt can rob me of my joy, my hope. So, the verse from Romans 8 is so encouraging. Nothing I do, nothing that I come up against, nothing in this world, NOTHING can separate me from God's love. What an amazing truth. In fact, the struggles of this life can bring us closer to Him if we let them. If we persevere through them, joy (our hope) can come in the morning.
God, help me today to push through the things you have put in my path. Let the things of today draw me nearer to you. Give me a desire and a yearning to know you more and to be a little more like you each day, that I might be your image-bearer and show your light unto the world.
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