Perseverance

We all face trials, and they are hard and heavy for us, and we need perseverance to make it through. We need a strong pace to keep going. The Bible is a place where we can go and see different ways God has helped persevere those who are His followers.

Job

The most popular story of perseverance that comes to mind, is the epic story of Job. His example was one of extreme pain and sorrow. Yet through it all, Job stayed true to God and his faith.

Job was a faithful man. He served God and was a diligent follower. Satan wanted to prove a point to God, that he could break man’s will. So, he asked if he could torture Job and God allowed it. God knowing Job and his character allowed it and the only restriction God placed on Satan was he could not take Job’s life.

In one day...in ONE day ALL was taken from him, and he became very ill. Yet he persevered and praised God. In his grieving and illness, Job’s friends came and sat with him. Despite the terrible advice they offered him, Job still praised God. But soon his praises turned to questions, bitterness, and anger.

If it were me I may have turned a little sooner than Job did....so he is already showing me something about patients and perseverance.

God did end up helping Job and showed him that he needed to be brave. Job was overcome by the power of God and saw God’s true character and accepted his own faults and constraints as a human. God knows better than we do and see's our faults and corrects us and shows us how to overcome our weakness.

On top of it all Job also intervened for his friends who were not good at giving advice and God had mercy on them.

God then restored all Job lost and healed him. God blessed Job double what he had before.

Jeremiah

Jeremiah was blessed by God and tasked with preaching God’s word to his people. He is an example of perseverance by continually preaching and teaching God’s word, despite all that was done to him.

His faithfulness to share God’s revelations to an unfaithful nation is our ultimate example to persevere in preaching, teaching, and sharing the Gospel. We must always endure to share the good news of Jesus with our lost world.

Jeremiah faced threats, prison and much more to share his faith and God’s word. Will we?

We must be diligent to share the Gospel when God asks us.

Jeremiah is a perfect example of this kind of perseverance in the Bible and we should follow his example, proclaiming Christ to those who would hear.

Apostle Paul

Paul is the ultimate example of perseverance in the New Testament.

No one has a better conversion story, going from killing Christians to becoming one, than Paul. Yet after his conversion, he became so on fire for the Lord that he faced many trials and persecutions.

No one details this better than Paul himself. In 2 Corinthians 11:23-33, Paul tells of all he has had to go through, and he lists some of the trials he faced.

Just a short list of what he went through:

Imprisoned repeatedly

Flogged

Exposed to death

Received 39 lashes - five different times

Beaten with rods - three different times

Pelted with stones

Shipwrecked three times

In 2 Corinthians 11:30 … He writes, If I must boast, I would rather boast about the things that show how weak I am.

Paul is an amazing example of what it means to persevere in faith.

These 3 men showed that through faith we can persevere even the darkest time. God gives us these examples to go by so that we can better understand the love and guidance He has for us.