Endurance

By your endurance you will gain your lives.

                                                            Luke 21:19

    In this passage Jesus is foretelling the sufferings and destruction of the church. How wicked the world will become and how the Christians will be persecuted for their beliefs. And He says as we make a witness to not worry about what to say or how to say it because He will speak through us the words we should say. And the last verse in the section says “by your endurance you will gain your lives.” Jesus says this as encouragement for the church. To persevere to the end. To endure something is to give it your all until the finish, take in all that you can bear. And Jesus says if we do that we will gain our lives. To walk a life in relationship with Jesus is not easy. We must make the decision each and every day to surrender our lives to Him and die to our self, giving up what we desire, what we feel we need, where we want our life to go, and giving it to Him and letting Him rule and reign in our lives. It is a very difficult thing to do, but He has given us everything we need to do that! And He will daily give us strength and wisdom if we just ask it of Him. So Jesus says if we do this we will gain our lives. For when we lose our lives, in Him, then we will find it. We may not have the best physical earthly life, the best house, the fastest car, the perfect family, but God promises us that we will gain our lives. So what kind of life will we gain? We will gain eternal life in Him! And a life of joy found in Him! For a life given over to serving Him and loving Him is the best life one can live. Knowing that we have nothing good in and of ourselves, but that He has given us ALL things that pertain to a life of godliness. Asking God to break you and bring you to a place of humility, and with humility enduring throughout the difficult times.

     Honestly I’ll tell you that this morning I was at a spot where I was getting tired and weary of continuing to struggle with some of the same things. Struggling with keeping my focus on Him from the second I awake and struggles to give God even the little things I worry about. And trying not to listen to the lies the enemy throws at me. But as I read this morning in Ephesians 6, I need to put on the full armor of God and put up the shield of faith that by the grace of God I may deflect those fiery darts he throws at me. And while doing that, enduring through the hard times of doubt and being sure in who my God is.

     With all that being said my application for this verse is to with all my heart persevere and endure through these next two and half months. Knowing that when I seek Him with all my heart, He will prove Himself faithful and show Himself to me.