Endurance - The Heart of Walking with God
Today’s verse of the day is Romans 5:3-4, which reads “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.”
These verses are perfectly in sync with what I believe God is really teaching me right now, so I decided to read on. Verse 5 confirms the very thing I think we often fear losing when we have to wait on God longer than we’d like to: hope. It is written, “And this hope will NOT lead us to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love.”
Wow. When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we know that we receive the Holy Spirit, who is the same spirit who raised Christ from the dead. Holy Spirit is now our symbol of hope that God’s love for us is so great that apparently, He wants it to be living within us 24/7. Isn’t that truly amazing? Yet, so often we struggle to accept, acknowledge, and/or believe this everlasting life we have complete access to. When trials ramp up, we tend to just focus on how difficult our lives are. If we’re not careful, we will complain and look for ways to relieve ourselves from the very trials the Lord could be using to pull us into the greatest blessings of our lives. In other words, trying to walk away from the testing will not lead to blessing; that is an escape from the Lord’s refining process required of us as overcomers in Christ. We see this theme all throughout Scripture from Joseph, to King David, to Daniel in the lion’s den: being elevated by Christ requires endurance through testing.
This is why Romans 5:3-5 serves as such a fantastic reminder of why we ought to set our minds to stay afloat whenever we are facing trials. Our hope lives on! We can be certain God loves us because of the Holy Spirit living and working in us, remember? We are never without life, and life to the full, at that! Yes, the kind of life that raises people from the dead, that brings hope to the most hopeless of places. We can be confident, because of His great love, that the Lord uses our trials only to prosper us, not to harm us. To lead us into more intimate relationship with Him as we continue to lean on Him. Why, then, do we struggle to cling to the authority we have been given through the Holy Spirit to overcome when it is truly our greatest anchor in the midst of hardships, the very thing that will see us through?
The reality is, living for Jesus or not, you will face trials on this earth because it is a fallen world. I tell you what, though, I would way rather face trials with the Savior of this world, who is also my friend (and He is your friend, too, if you have given Him your heart).
Stay encouraged in the Word and in communion with Christ. Allow “endurance to do its complete work, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing” (James 1:4). Keep in mind, no matter where you are or what you are facing, you will always be filled with hope through the Holy Spirit as you endure. After all, this is the very purpose for which Christ has placed you here on earth: to KNOW Him and to grow in RELATIONSHIP with Him!
Lord, grant us the strength and the grace to endure through the power of the Holy Spirit. Make us more aware of Your presence around and within us.
Amen.
