Staying Strong

Philippians 4:13 I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS ME!

Some days it is simply harder to get up in the morning and get moving like I need and want to do. This morning I feel like my blood has turned to sludge and is having a hard time coursing through my veins and fueling the muscles in my body. My clay vessel has cracks and weaknesses and I feel every one of them. Still - I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!

Are you tired or troubled? Turn your heart toward God in prayer. Are you weak or worried? Take the time—or, more accurately, make the time—to delve deeply into God’s Holy Word. Are you spiritually depleted? Call upon fellow believers to support you, and call upon Christ to renew your spirit and your life. When you do, you’ll discover that the Creator of the universe stands always ready and always able to create a new sense of wonderment and joy in you. You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you!

Endurance means taking that next step when you think you simply cannot because you know from where your help is coming. Endurance for a Christian is not a matter of mind over matter but trusting in the One who matters and knowing it is only because of Jesus that you can do anything at all. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us! 

Wisdom in caring for ourselves physically, mentally and emotionally is important. God gave us our clay vessels and we need to care for them. Physical strength to do what we need to do is important, too. Knowing all of that comes from the One on High and placing our trust in Him, not on our puny, pathetic selves is the key.

Philippians 4:13 I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS ME!

Hope

Romans 5:5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

You would think the best way to find hope is to have a trouble-free life. No, the best way to find hope is through the crises of life. In Romans 5:3–5 we read, “But we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

There it is in bold red print: tribulation produces perseverance…perseverance (produces) character…character (produces) hope. God has made provision for us to be a bunch of hopeful, character-filled folks persevering through tribulation! That's a lot to be thankful for in my book. Consider the alternative…**shudder**…a despondent, fearful, weak soul falling with every wave of tribulation. NO, THANKS! I’ll take that Hope, Character & Perseverance every time, glory be to God above!

Hope is going to come through hardship. So when a Christian suffers and still glorifies God, it reassures the rest of us there never will be a valley so deep that God will not get us through it.

Spiritual Perseverance

Psalm 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God.

The scripture above is very short albeit powerful. Here’s the thing, while is says to Be still, it isn’t saying ‘do nothing’ but rather ‘don’t worry, don’t stress or freak out, don’t give up’. Be still may sound like we are being instructed to be passive but let me assure you, there is nothing passive about standing in spiritual perseverance!

Oswald Chambers said, “Perseverance is more than endurance. It is endurance combined with absolute assurance and certainty that what we are looking for is going to happen. Perseverance means more than just hanging on, which may be only exposing our fear of letting go and falling. Perseverance is our supreme effort of refusing to believe that our hero (the Lord) is going to be conquered.”

I must admit, when I read the line, ‘Perseverance means more than just hanging on, which may be only exposing our fear of letting go and falling’ I felt a tweak of conviction. I have said, “I’m hanging in there” more often that I care to recall when asked how I was getting through a difficult season of my life. Now THAT sounds passive! I believe with all I have in me that God is in control and if you have ever talked to me at all, you’ve heard me say that. I know I’ve written it over and over. I say it to myself every day, not because I need to be reminded but because it is an absolute in my beliefs. Yet, here I am guilty of saying, ‘I’m holding on’ as if my fingertips were wrapped around a pole somewhere above my head and I am dangling in the void. I will make a point not to say that anymore!

and know that I am God that part of the scripture is the key. There is the call to spiritual perseverance. A call not to hang on and do nothing, but to work deliberately, knowing with certainty that God will never be defeated.

The only reason we can stand in spiritual perseverance is because we KNOW our Lord is GOD. If our hopes seem to be experiencing disappointment right now, it simply means that they are being purified. Every hope or dream of the human mind will be fulfilled if it is noble and of God.

One of the greatest stresses in life is the stress of waiting! God’s word brings a promise to those who wait on Him with perseverance, “because you have kept My command to persevere . . .”

Revelation 3:10 'Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.  

I do not think it coincidence that this scripture comes in the last Book of the Bible.