Perseverance

Luke 21:19 By your endurance you will gain your lives.

God wants me to remain steadfast in Him throughout my trials and tribulations, to not let my faith be shaken by circumstance. I should not only endure my fiery furnace but endure it with joy, because in those fires, in those circumstances, Jesus is with me. He is with me every day of my life. I must face these things with all the more joy because He is doing a work in me.  I’ve been through the fire, now God has to hammer me. I must become as clay, obedient, molding and conforming into the shape He would have me as. As I go through a trial, or a dry season, or even a fruitful or good one, I can always endure it and persevere through it in faith knowing that He who has begun a good work in me will finish it. This brings to mind a parallel verse in Matthew 24:13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved. 

When I endure, when I press on, and press deeper, I will gain my life, my soul will be completely surrendered to Christ and I will no longer be a slave to this world, to sin, to my flesh, but find my freedom and life in Jesus. Walking with God isn’t just through the trials, it’s every day. In fact sometimes it’s even harder when things are going good because it makes me feel as though I don’t need Him. I don’t pray as much when I’m in a good place. I don’t feel the need to seek God because I don’t feel as though I need Him.  But seeking after Him everyday and knowing that I need God in every season of my life, is a lesson that took a long time for me to learn.

Application: I will seek more time with the Lord and His word tomorrow and spend more time in my devotions in the morning and seek time with Him at night as well, to find my rest and peace in the Lord.