Perseverance

“As You prepare, I will persevere.”

As believers, our walk with The Lord will often have us receive promises of healing and restoration in the lives of our families and communities. I have realized that a promise from God inevitably ushers in a process that when embraced with a child-like trust, will see us changed from the inside out. Since ours is a purely relational journey, I feel that the biggest benefit of this is that God gives us the opportunity to allow Him to build relationship with Him through The Holy Spirit.

As unexpected situations arise, I believe He delights in seeing us run towards Him, and not away from. He waits patiently for us to be still in His Presence in order to hear what it is that He is thinking about the situation/circumstance that we find ourselves in. Sometimes, the revelations are astounding as The Holy Spirit begins to reveal what it is that The Father’s intended outcome for the situation is, thereby putting us in a position to depend on Him to help develop the patience, endurance and perseverance required in order for us to see His Word come to pass.

I made a mention of “child-like trust” in the beginning because when God goes to work, He puts us in seemingly impossible situations where perhaps the only bankable thing we can depend on is His Infallible Promise. He can change our situation in a heartbeat, but I think He is far more interested in changing us. The process of change requires trust in His Faithfulness, Goodness and Love. One of the most affirming verses we can turn to at such times is this,

“He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all–how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32, NIV)

If He has spoken, the outcome is guaranteed, and we can put the timing of it in His Hands. Our responsibility then becomes to seek Him in order that He may reveal what it is that He is preparing and cultivating on the inside of us which will make us more and more like Jesus – the very reason He gave up His Son in the first place.

The process of seeing the Promise come to pass will, of all things, require one thing of us: perseverance. The path towards the culmination of what we are contending for will perhaps be laced with times of difficulty and turbulence. How we navigate these rough waters is what will make all the difference because the best way to navigate them is in and through a relationship with Our Father. Assured of His Love, we can lean into His Bosom and ask Him to help us in our time of need: with the wisdom, tenacity, love and faith that we need to not just overcome, but be changed by it.

My recent walk with The Lord has embedded a verse in my heart,

“Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.” (James 1:12, NIV)

Let us unpack this a bit. Yes, as surely as The Lord is asking us to persevere, He is also releasing a corresponding promise, that having stood the test, we will receive the crown of life. This personally took me back to the life of Our King, Jesus who for the joy that was set before Him endured The Cross. It made me think that if Jesus needed to tap into the joy of reward, then am I above my Master?

This revelation gave me the faith to believe in The Law of The Spirit in Christ Jesus. He is not a man that He should lie. He is Faithful to transform, prepare and when the time is right, deliver. If we sow, we will reap. If we surrender, we will receive. If we yield, we will transform. If we trust, He will never let us down.

Friends, I don’t know where this post has met you and what it is that The Lord has you believing Him for. But it is my hope and prayer that no matter what it is, we will be wise enough to fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen; for as surely as we are persevering, He is preparing.

Selah.