Endurance and the Strength to Press On

Most of us who are truly striving to live our lives directed by God are soldiers. We know to stay on the lookout for the attacks of an enemy who would deter our progress in the things of God. We know that there are many whom we meet daily, who gladly denounce us, the God that we serve, and any proof of God's actuation and presence in our lives. We are use to these naysayers, and we often are prepared through praise, meditation and prayer, to keep moving forward in our faith in spite of them. Actually, their attempts to belittle our efforts can often propel us to love God even more deeply, serve him with even more loyality, and to strive even harder to be transformed by His Spirit residing in us.

We can usually handle to attack of the identified and expected adversary.

But what happens when the adversary is in our camp; our primary source of spiritual support? Or what about when the enemy is in our own mind? Sometimes it's difficult to distinguish between these two, and sometimes God clearly identifies one or the other. In both cases though, allowing situations to make you take your eyes off of God can paralyze you, humiliate your efforts to serve God and render you less effective at exercising your gifts as prophet, exhorter, apostle, teacher, or any of the other gifts God so graciously bestows upon us.

If you are trying to understand why those who proclaim to love you and have your best interest at heart can sometimes hurt you the most, STOP RIGHT NOW. If you keep wondering why it seems that those you trust to guide and direct you are slighting you or diminishing the spiritual gifts that God allows you to bring to the table, STOP RIGHT NOW.  If you are trying to understand if the arrows thrown at you are actually from those within your spiritual camp, or a plot by the enemy to divide and conquer, STOP RIGHT NOW.

It doesn't matter what the source of your frustration and emotional hurt is. It doesn't matter if a brother or sister in your supposedly tight knit, Christian group is treating you with anything less than the love they proclaim, while you daily serve them, pray for them and love on them. It doesn't even matter if your pastor seems out to humiliate you, purposely undermine you or even negate your work, despite your attempts to identify any relationship issues or prove how much you appreciate them. Ultimately, it also doesn't matter if the enemy is at fault and is distracting you so that you won't complete whatever task God has for you to complete.

The only thing that matters is God. If you are not sure what is going on and your emotional state makes it difficult to get clear guidance from God on when and how to respond, just stop.  You can't battle an unknown enemy now can you?

Stay focused. Stay humble. Stay in communication with Him.  Pray, Worship and Mediate on those things that are pleasing in His sight. Get out of bed each and every morning thanking God and asking Him for instructions for that day, and retire each night thanking Him for the grace that sustained you during the day. Don't get caught up expecting perfection from individuals who are not perfect. Don't worry about whether you can trust them or not because many times you can't. But you can trust the God in them. Most importantly though, you can trust God and if He sent you there and has not released you yet, trust that He can and is making perfect those things which concern you. Know that God allows all things, even the tricks of your adversaries, to work together for the good of those who are called to serve Him.


Serve Him. Serve Him. Serve Him. Don't get distracted by the junk. You only end up wasting tears and wasting precious time. Know what he whispers in your ear is true, despite everything and everybody, and walk in that power every day, every hour and every minute. God's promises to you are yours and no human being, no matter what position they hold within your life, can take that away.

God's word to me several days ago from a prophet and friend was Endurance. How timely and how fitting. We can all abide in that one word alone and I receive it for all of you. Amen.


Scriptures for Endurance and further study
Romans 5:3-4
Romans 8:28
Romans 12:12
James 1:12-18
James 1:14Hebrews 10:36

Colossians  1:11

Hebrews 12:1-3
John 16:33