Category Archives: Perseverance

Walking Upon Impossibilities

These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world. John 16:33

Greetings in the name of our precious LORD.

I don’t know about you, but my get-up-and-go seems to have gotten up and gone, and for the last few weeks I haven’t been able to find it. Pesky little medical conditions tend to do that to a person, but I am not the least bit discouraged. For now, I am resting my body, and more importantly, I am resting in the promises of my precious LORD. I do plan to dust my keyboard off very soon, but for today, I want to share one of my  older “Rays of Light” blogs that I feel quite applicable to my situation. Hopefully, it will bless you as well, as you face life’s challenges.

Walking Upon Impossibilities

“Permanence, perseverance and persistence in spite of all obstacles, discouragements, and impossibilities: It is this that in all things distinguishes the strong soul from the weak.” Thomas Carlyle, Scottish Historian.

Sitting in a crowded waiting room this past week, I watched a very young girl make her way slowly across the room. Tears pooled in my eyes at the thought that this crippled child would have to use crutches for the rest of her life. But she wasn’t the least bit sad. From the sweet, careless smile which lit her innocent face, it was quite obvious that she didn’t give her legs a second thought.

I was reminded of William Pitt the Elder, a British Politician, who was an extremely influential figure during the French Revolution. What Pitt lacked in physical strength, he more than made up for in determination. The concept of limitation was a foreign one to him.

Though he rarely delegated duty, he had at some point during the war given a direct command to one of his officials. When the man balked at the impossibility of the task, Pitt reprimanded him by pointing to his crutches and confidently declared: “Sir, I walk upon impossibilities!”

There is no question that all of humanity is currently facing difficulty and hardship. The future holds many uncertainties and without God, I believe, little hope. With God, however, there is much hope because with God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26).

Whatever you are going through right now, dear reader, remember that we may all lose a few battles, but we will most assuredly win the war. Now is not the time to give in to discouragement; there is too much work to do. It may be difficult, but let us all rise to the challenge.

Marie Currie, French physicist and Nobel Peace Prize winner summarized this well. She said “Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that…. We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained.”

It is far too easy to allow circumstances to cripple us. And when they do, we can choose to accept them as insurmountable, henceforth hobbling on emotional crutches. Or we can look them squarely in the face and declare, as Mr. Pitt did, “I walk upon impossibilities!” Let me remind you again, with God nothing shall be impossible (Luke 1:37).

The Key to Peace

It wasn’t until the toilet was flushing that I realized my car keys had fallen in. Normally, something like that would have really frustrated me, but I managed to laugh at my mishap instead. Then again, I knew that I could call my husband, and he would bring a spare set; which he did.

I hated to inconvenience him after a long day’s work, but at the same time, I was quite thankful to have someone watching out for me –someone to come to my rescue when I need it. Actually, this is not the first time my husband has had to bring me keys –although, flushing them down the toilet was a first.

Later, the LORD brought the following Scripture to my mind, and reminded me of some very important keys: I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven (Matthew 16:19).

Simply put, God has given kingdom authority to those in His family. Are you in His family? If so, you have been given everything you need to live a victorious life.

True, you may run into some obstacles along the way. You may even encounter circumstances that will overwhelm you to the point you lose sight of the right kingdom key to unlock the answer. When this happens, dear reader, you need only call upon the LORD. He is always watching out for His children and He will always come to your rescue.

Although He may rescue you in a dynamic, miraculous way; chances are He will hand you a spare key instead, and let you go about your business. Why? Like any good parent, your Heavenly Father uses every situation to your advantage –to help you learn and mature. Knowing this, you need never feel frustrated when things don’t go your way. You simply need to trust the LORD –that is the key to peace.

Two Kinds of Christians

I’ve heard it said that there are two types of people in the world: those who are “saved” and those who are “lost.” To be honest, I believe that is true –either you will spend eternity with the LORD or you won’t, it’s as simple as that.

Usually, those who make this statement are referring to Christians as those who are saved. Having said that, I would like to break it down further; I believe there are two kinds of “Christians.”

The first category of “Christian” is the one who starts with their world view and then purposely interprets Scripture to make it fit. (only the LORD knows if these are really saved or not.)

The second is the Christian who starts with Scripture and insures that their world view conforms to the written Word of God no matter what. I trust, if you are a devoted Christian, that you belong to the second category. If so, you are quite likely to face persecution for your faith at some point. Just remember, Jesus said:

“Everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock”
(Matthew 7:24, 25 NASB).

Finish the Race

“I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me-the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace” (Acts 20:24).

Yesterday my husband tackled one of those organizing tasks that I have been putting off for longer than I care to admit. Although appreciative, I must admit that my gratitude was slightly hampered by a touch of guilt for not having done the job myself. Normally I try to keep up with such things, but life does have a way of getting away from me sometimes, so that all the “insignificant” stuff gets put-off until who knows when.

The truth is, in the long run, some things really aren’t all that important. I’m sure the Apostle Paul felt the same way quite often, as his primary focus was on the task given to him –and to all of us– to testify to the gospel of God’s grace.

Time is short; let’s all keep running the race and sharing God’s grace with new fervor. True, we might have to examine our lives and do a little organizing or re-prioritizing, but there is no better time than right now to do so. And remember, if we are going to run an endurace race, we need to be thouroghly prepared; no one can do this for us. May I encourage you, dear reader, if you don’t already do so, to begin daily Bible readings this year! Did you know that you can read through the whole Bible in one year by reading less than four chapters per day? I can’t think of a better way to start a new year!

God’s “To Do” List

Today I plan to start a new “to do” list. First order of business, find and compile all the other “to do” lists I have lying around, so that I can marvel at how many things I never seem to complete, and hopefully tackle some of them. Of course, the really important things get done, but I have a ton of worthwhile projects that, for one reason or another, got lost in the shuffle, never to be picked up again.

Aren’t you glad that God is not like that? I know I am. Can you just imagine Him starting something wonderful in your life, but stopping somewhere in the middle because He needed to go intervene in some crisis? Worse yet, imagine Him never completing the work?

That won’t happen, of course. Scripture says that He [the Holy Spirit] which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6). God is working in the lives of every person on this planet, whether they acknowledge  Him or not; and He will never stop until His glorious return.

I guess you could say that we are all on God’s “to do” list since He is never finished with any of us. We should ask ourselves, then, is God at the top of our list? Last night I was challenged by a preacher who admonished his listeners to develop a personal spiritual growth program and pursue it vigorously. He wasn’t insinuating that his audience was neglecting the things of God, only that we should all strive to give even more of our time and effort to the Lord and His word. If we would do that, he encouraged, we would certainly grow spiritually.

I don’t know about you, dear reader, but that sounds like an excellent idea. If God loves me enough to keep me on His daily “to do” list, I think it only right that He is at the very top of mine! On second thought, forget all the old lists, if those projects haven’t been finished by now, they probably aren’t that important after all. Yes, I still plan to start a new list, but the very first item on the list will be: Start a spiritual growth program, beginning with …

In fact, I’m going to go do that now so I’ll catch you all later.
God bless.

Per-Severe Through Per-secution

From a sermon by Robert J. Morgan

“We must never forget that the word perservere comes from the prefix per, meaning though, coupled with the word severe.  It means to keep pressing on, trusting God, looking up, doing our duty — even through severe circumstances.”¹

The apostle Paul wrote about our journey through  severe circumstances:

We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed (2Corinthians 4:8 & 9).

 Did you notice that Paul also used a few ‘per’ words –perplexed and persecuted?  I thought I would, therefore, continue in Pastor Morgan’s thought.

Perplexed
In Greek:      (aporew aporeo ap-or-eh’-o)   perplexed indicates having no way out.

In English:    The use of the term plex indicates a combining form meaning “having parts or units”

 Persecuted
In Greek:     (dioko dee-o’-ko)   being pursued (but the rest of the verse indicates that because we are never forsaken by God, we are not overcome when pursued).

In English:   (Se)cute –cute being a 1615 aphetic variant of acute, meaning sharp or severe in effect; intense or extremely great or serious; crucial; critical

Putting that all together, we may “pursued” by very acute trials, and it may seem there is no way out, but  we will only go through these trials  in parts – or perhaps a better term would be seasons.

 Again, the Apostle Paul speaks of trials and summarizes the previous thoughts well:

 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a SEASON, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:  (I Peter 1: 6, 7 – emphasis mine)

 Are you going through trials and temptations right now?  Keep pressing on!  God will never leave you nor forsake  you – Furthermore, those trials and temptations are only for a short season and the Lord  will walk right through that fiery furnace of affliction with you !

¹Morgan quote taken from Nelson’s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations & Quotes. Robert J. Morgan. Thomas Nelson Publishers. Nashville, Tn. 2000