For many years as a young adult I struggled to find meaning. Life seemed to consist of an inevitable cycle of stages that couldn't be avoided. I remember sitting at a restaurant window looking out at the people downtown, rushing about with what appeared to be vacant looks in their eyes. Perhaps what I perceived in them was only a reflection of what was going on in my own heart. I was in my early twenties, in university. There was no lack in my life that I could detect, yet there was a void-a yearning that I did not quite understand.
I witnessed the conversion of my family. They became 'born-again' believers in Jesus Christ. It did not involve a change of church denominations but a change of heart.
Jesus tells Nicodemus, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." John 3:3
Nicodemus does not understand this and questions Jesus, to which Jesus replies,
"I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.'" John 3:5-8
No one prepared me for what would transpire when I asked Jesus into my heart and truly surrendered my life to Him. Even though I witnessed the most profound change in each one of my immediate family members' lives, I still was not ready for what came next!
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" 2 Corinthians 5:17
It happened one night in June of 1996. I experienced staggering loss in my family and, as death often does, it makes you question life. I felt the tug of God on my heart for so long but the comforts of the world seemed more enticing. When I finally decided to try Jesus, I simply knelt down and said the 'Sinner's Prayer' in the quiet of my bedroom. It went something like this,
"Dear Lord Jesus, I acknowledge that you died on the cross for my sins and rose again on the third day. I am sorry for all my sins. Please come into my heart as Lord and Saviour of my life. Dear Jesus, I do not know how to walk as a Christian, so please make my steps very clear. Amen."
The most amazing thing happened to me that night. As I lay in the throes of sleep, I heard two words whispered to me, 'PATIENCE and PERSEVERANCE.' I sat up, looking around for the voice. Then I heard it again, 'PATIENCE and PERSEVRANCE.' The next morning I awoke a completely new person. How could I explain it? I had the joy of the Lord. I was an avid party-goer and could not imagine life without it. Yet, that morning, not only had my appetite for partying left, but I had a vision of a fountain with water spouting upwards...it was my call to worship. That fountain was the joy of my praise to the One who had saved me. I became a different person from the inside out. What a phenomenon! The clothes I wore, the things I watched, the thoughts I had and the things I did all seemed to change. All of sudden, my life became Christ-centered. I cannot claim praise for the change, Christ's atoning sacrifice on the cross two thousand years ago did this for me, in 1996!
Today, my husband and I are still serving Jesus. We have endured trials that we never imagined possible. Yet, I remember these words, PATIENCE and PERSEVRANCE.'
Jesus warns us, "All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved." Matthew 10:22
Are you being persecuted for your the name of Christ? Do you refuse to live as the world does while others around you mock you for your difference? Do you ever feel alone in the work place as you try to live out your faith? Do you feel pressure to bow to society's ever changing norms and fickle 'moral compass'? Are you aspiring towards purity and holiness, while it seems that others are putting stumbling blocks in your way? Do the trials of life seem to test your faith?
We at BGO want to encourage you to persevere! Please share your testimony, thoughts and even struggles with us by clicking on the comments link below. It will bless and encourage others as they read! Let us aspire towards this call to persevere. I leave you with the words of the the apostle Paul;
"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day-and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for His appearing." 2 Timonthy 4:8
7 comments:
At times, during my Christian walk, I won't say that I loose faith, but I loose heart. I become overwhelmed by what seems to be my lonely battle against the trials of life, the nonchalance of some professed Christian, and what I sometimes think is my inability to be perfect as my Heavenly Father is perfect. In essence, I become disappointed when I myself disappoint God by surrendering to depression and a state of being utterly and completely fed-up. Yet, it is during these time that God gently chides me and says: "At the right time,I the Lord, will make it happen." (Isaiah 60:22 New Living Translation).
As Christians we know that we need to persevere in all things, yet sometimes we act as "doubting Thomases" and we question our abilities, or we become preoccupied with thoughts of the reaction that will be evoked by our behaviour and our opinions. It is at times like these that we need to let go and let God, for He says "Be still and know that I am God, I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth." (Psalm 46:10). Brothers and sisters in Christ, this journey of life may seem difficult at times, but we need to pray together for the Holy Spirit to take control of our lives so that we may persevere.
I had an interesting experience today... there is a homeless man who I often see on my way to work. Today, for some reason, as I saw him in the distance, I found myself searching through my purse to put together a few coins and a bible tract. I gave these to him and observed not only his shock, but his gratitude. I did not do this on my own strength. We need to let go and let God. By persevering, even when we stumble, He will direct our paths and cause us to lead others to Him
Be blessed and persevere!
Blessed, thanks for sharing. Thank God that you never lost your mustard seed of faith, even when you wanted to give up. He has promised us that even a mustard faith will be enough.
As Tash reminded us, Jesus does warn us that the road will often be lonely. And we have to shed disappointments with other believers, and sad or depressed feelings over what other people think... and seek to make pleasing God our highest aim ... not in our own strength, but by His grace and mercy.
In our call to persevere, I am learning that one of the most important things we can do is surrender to the events that the Lord is allowing into our lives ... and to wait. And while we wait, to do our best not to lean on our own understanding ... take analyzing thoughts captive.
It's summed up perfectly in Psalm 131 (TNIV):
My heart is not proud, LORD,
my eyes are not haughty;
I do not concern myself with great matters
or things too wonderful for me.
But I have calmed myself
and quieted my ambitions.
I am like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child I am content.
Israel,put your hope in the LORD,
both now and forevermore.
Amen.
Hello again my dear friends in Christ are you ready for another round of serious talk from our sponsor at BGO on how to endure patience, how to persevere, how to be patient and wait on God. Are you being persecuted for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ? Your testimonies, testing and trials are most appreciated. Thank you for caring and sharing.
Last Sunday morning this woman from my church brought her daughter to me who was raped by a stranger in her apartment. She said she was in the kitchen when she heard her front door open. She wasn’t worried, because she thought it might have been her neighbor’s boyfriend in the next apartment. She came out of the kitchen and saw a man’s head poked in through the front door. She simply asked “Can I help you?” He said, “Your dog has been hit by a car.” She believed him and started to walk towards the door, she was almost there when the dog came running in between his legs, obviously unhurt. She looked up from the dog to the man and he reached out suddenly and grabbed her hair and pushed her back into the house. She began to scream as the man shoved her to the floor. He let go of her hair and pulled out a gun, which he pointed directly into her eyes and raped her. He told her that if she screamed again he would kill her. He said, ‘I will kill you anyway because you can identify me.’ She confessed that she did not know Jesus and the only prayer she remembered was the Lord prayer that her parents had taught her as a child. She was so scared that she recited the prayer loudly without thinking. Then suddenly the gun was pulled back from her face and he ran out of the apartment and slammed the door behind him. When she came to me she was so emotionally distressed, humiliated, angry, confused and filled with guilt. What an experience! How do you counsel such a person? What can you say to ease the pain? In the midst of suffering, Job's three friends came to comfort him, but their real interest was an intellectual one. They wanted to use Job as a guinea pig to understand in their minds why all these troubles had come upon him. They turned his tragedies into riddles to be solved by reasoning and went to great lengths analyzing and speculating and theorizing about their causes.
The door of salvation is wide open to us all. What a confidence we have in Jesus! Because of the death of Jesus, we sinners have full and free access to enter the Most Holy Place and have fellowship with God our heavenly Father. Because of Jesus, we can call God “Abba, Father.” (Rom. 8:15) Little children are not afraid of drawing near to their daddy. Tearing the curtain in two was God’s open invitation for us to draw near. After we finish this earthly journey, someday we will literally enter through the curtain into God’s wonderful presence.
This woman I know at work came up to me a few days ago and said, "I have bad news I'm pregnant and I am going to have an abortion because I do not know who is the father of this baby." How do you persuade a woman not to have an abortion? In order to talk to anyone about why abortion is wrong we must first be ready to listen. As always, we must persuade her with love and we remind ourselves that love means to be willing to give until it hurts. She wanted to know if Jesus will forgive her if she got rid of the baby. You must understand that a woman considering abortion is often scared, confused, hurt and alone. She often thinks there is no other option for her and there is no one there for her. I shared my faith with her, and she listened with great interest. I also told her to deliberately take the life of an innocent baby is an act of murder and a violation of God Commandment (Exodus 20:13). I quoted a few more scriptures by reading Proverbs 6:16-17 which says that God HATES those who shed innocent blood! I told her that most women who decide to have an abortion spend the rest of their lives regretting it. I told her that if God allows a child to be conceived, then God obviously has a plan for that child. Mary, the mother of Jesus’ parents didn't know that she had given birth to the Savior of the world, but she did. God has a plan for unborn children (Jer. 1:5; Luke. 1:13-17; Gen. 4:25; Jud. 13:3-5), so to abort an unborn child is to stop a plan of God. I told her God loves her no matter what she is suffering. What else can you share with this young woman who evidently has made up her mind to abort this baby?
Regardless of what your situation is, whether health, financial struggles, problem in marriage, problems with children, etc. We must PERSEVERE. If the situation seems to be hopeless we must stand and reap the promises God has promised us. We must continue through trials and suffering to persevere. But just as God blessed Job after his trials, so He will bless those who keep his word and obey the gospel of Jesus Christ. If God made all trials and hardships just disappear from our lives before they hit, would we continue to rely on Him? Would we continue to pursue Him? Would we become lazy and complacent? These are questions we must ask ourselves.
Patience and perseverance encourages us to draw near to God because we have confidence in Christ and at the same time gives us a warning not to shrink back but to persevere under trials of many kinds. So let us persevere with confidence in obedience to Jesus Christ even when His way doesn't seem to make any sense or produce results. Can you imagine what Joshua and the people must have thought when God told them to march, shout and blow trumpets to bring the walls of Jericho down? {Joshua 6:1-20}. The key to perseverance for the believer is having a clear view of the goal of heaven and God promises to reward those who preserve to the end.
Our Father and Our God, when trials, testing and persecutions come to us, I pray that You will help us to persevere in patience with joy. Thank you for being faithful to us. Help us to live in a way that pleases You, that makes a powerful testimony to those around us that my God is alive and caring for us. Sanctify and help us to know You more in Jesus name, Amen!
Thanks Cynthia for the reminder that without trials we would not know how to rely on Jesus. I am going through the storms and all I can do is rely on Him.
Bless you
So true Anonymous. Bless your heart and may God bless you through those trials and storms whatever they may be God is there with you. Please feel free to contact me whatever the circumstances. Thank you for sharing.
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