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How Do I Grow in Christian Perseverance? (Christian Character Series Part VI)
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A
Think about the Bible like you never have before. You're listening to Christian Questions. Access more audio videos and Bible Study resources@christianquestions.com Our topic is how do I grow in Christian Perseverance? Here's Rick and Jonathan.
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Welcome everyone. I'm Rick. I'm joined by Jonathan, my co host for over 25 years. Jonathan, what's our theme scripture for this episode?
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C
Second Peter 1, 6, 7. And in your knowledge, self control. And in your self control, perseverance. And in your perseverance, godliness. And in your godliness, brotherly kindness. And in your brotherly kindness, love.
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B
The blueprint for Christian character development that the Apostle Peter gives us in Second Peter, Chapter one focuses us on a profound series of steps we need to take in order to be more Christlike. Based upon God's power and promises, Peter lays out for us the blueprint for a ladder of Christian character development. Peter has taught us that each rung of this ladder is very important to our success in climbing onto the next rung. Up the last four parts of this series, we've discussed one rung of this ladder at a time and worked on making the connections between what our foundation is and how each step makes us more like Jesus. In this episode, we focus on the fifth step. So, Jonathan, there were four important steps before this. We want to take a look at the first four rungs of the Apostle Peter's virtue ladder of Christian character. The first rung is the allegiance and that is the heart loyalty to God, the allegiance attribute of faith.
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This is the allegiance of our life's direction.
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B
The second rung is the allegiance attribute of moral excellence.
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This is the allegiance of our heart.
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Now, putting those two together, our faith in God's power and plan is just the beginning. Without a godly standard of moral excellence driven by that faith, they've gotta be connected. Everything else we can potentially build upon in our lives upon our faith, would crumble without that moral excellence. So you've gotta have one to go to the next one. Let's take a look at the next two rungs. The third rung is the allegiance attribute of knowledge.
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This is the allegiance of our intellect.
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And the fourth rung is the allegiance attribute of self control.
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This is the allegiance of our passions.
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Let's look at these. Now, moral excellence built on faith keeps our knowledge from being subject to the opinions, agendas and imaginations of our world. So you need to have that faith in moral excellence to have the knowledge of focus correctly. Knowing God is true knowledge. Now, this true knowledge teaches us what true Self control, Christian self control should look like so we can build a genuine Christ like character. So we've got faith, moral excellence, knowledge and self control. What's next? Let's look at second Peter 1:6. Just a piece of that verse and
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in your self control, perseverance, that's the
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next rung, so the fifth rung. The allegiance attribute of perseverance.
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This is the allegiance of our energy. And Rick, let's ask that all important question. Why is perseverance the next quality after self control?
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We need to absolutely recognize that these are not put here just arbitrarily, just kind of a list of oh Peter just thought of the next thing and the next thing he put put this list together for a very specific reason. There's a building process that happens. So we need to keep that question as to why perseverance is the next quality after self control. We need to keep that in mind and we will answer it as we go.
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C
The Greek word for perseverance means cheerful endurance or constancy. The other form of this same word means to stay under, bear trials and have fortitude. Based on the definition, this perseverance is not drudgery. It's positive.
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B
That's very, very very very important. It's positive. It is a strength in moving forward, carrying the load. It's not just barely making it. There's something very inspirational about perseverance and we want to lay that out according to scripture. So let's keep that in mind. It's that cheerful endurance, that moving forward even though the weight is incredibly heavy. Perseverance is the act of consciously staying the course and of faithfully bearing the weight of a burden. Consciously staying in the course and faithfully bearing the weight of a burden. It's the critical element needed to follow our spiritually established self control. That's what has to come after spiritually established self control, perseverance. This, this allegiance of our energy is crucial in the life of a Christian. Let's dig into the Scriptures and see how that works. Romans 5:1 5.
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C
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Let me pause here and emphasize a simple fact. Justification brings peace with God, continuing through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith in. Into this grace in which we stand and we exalt in hope of the glory of God. Let's stop again and look at another fact. God's peace brings his grace. These facts now enable our heart to engage Verse three. And not only this, but we also exalt in our tribulations Knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance or constancy and perseverance, proving character and proven character, hope. And hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit, which was given to us.
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B
So you can see the integrated role that perseverance plays because you've got justification, which brings peace with God, and God's peace brings his grace. And because of these things, when we have tribulation, we know that perseverance constantly, constancy, going through those trials is what God is looking for because his love has been poured out in our hearts. So there's a powerful process that we need to understand. When we look at perseverance based on self control within the Christian life, it is not just holding your breath and just hanging on. There's more to it than this. Let's go further. Perseverance is only achieved by deciding in our heads and hearts that we need to have it. It has to be a decision. It has to be a conscious decision. Now Jesus showed us how. And Jonathan, we're going to read Hebrews 12:1 3. And folks, when he's reading this verse, listen, because it shows you how he did it. It's a template. So let's go ahead. Hebrews 12:1 3.
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Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us. And let us run with endurance. Remember, that means constancy, the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him, endured the cross, what fortitude, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
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This is an awesome text. This is one of my favorite scriptures because it starts off by saying, you, you and I, we you and need endurance, constancy, perseverance for the race set before us. And then it says, and here's how you do it, fixing our eyes on Jesus for the joy set before him. He had that constancy, that joyful constancy of enduring the cross and making light of the shame, making little of the shame. And then it says, consider him who had this constancy, this perseverance in relation to such hostility, and have that inspire you so we won't grow weary. That's what perseverance looks like.
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So whenever we think we've reached our limit, what should we do? Well, here's the formula. Look at Jesus and all that he endured, which is so much more and beyond. Whatever we're going through in our lives. Keep on keeping on.
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B
And it's such an important factor for us to develop in our Christian walk. And that's why it follows self control. You can see how the apostle Peter is brilliant. Put knowledge in place and then self control and then perseverance. Know where you're going, know why you're going there, fixing your eyes on Jesus and having the self control to stay on that target. It's really amazing. We need personal, practical and principled perseverance in every area of our lives. Personal, practical and principled perseverance. So let's look at three ways of looking at this perseverance in a Christian life. First, let's just take a few minutes on trials and afflictions and we all have them. Overcoming requires practical perseverance, the allegiance of our energy, focusing our energy to overcome the difficulties before us. James, chapter 1, verses 2 to 4.
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Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let your endurance have its perfect result so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
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Yeah, consider it all joy. That's such a hard thing thing to do. But he talks about knowing. Knowing the testing of your faith produces this perseverance, this constancy, this cheerful endurance and let it develop in you so that you will be perfect and complete. And here's the thing Jonathan, this endurance testing of your faith produces endurance. This is not automatic, it's not like, okay, I have a trial, so let me flip the switch for endurance and I'll be in great shape. This is something we have to work at. Developing our trials, our difficulties and our traumas beg for endurance because that's what helps to keep us afloat. It's in these experiences that we must, we must as Christians realize the reality of our faith with a long term endurance based approach. We need to settle in that things just don't go away for a Christian we, we have to learn to work through them. And it requires constancy, perseverance, that cheerful endurance that holds on and can look up even when it hurts.
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C
Here are the results of those trials and afflictions. As long as we regularly persevere. James is describing it beautifully. James 1:12. Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial for once he has been approved and he will receive the crown of Life, which the Lord has promised to those who love him.
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Blessed is the man who perseveres. It's not just, okay, just figure it out and go be happy while you do it. It's you are blessed by persevering. So we have to ask ourselves a question. Do we carry the developmental weight of our trials until completed according to God's standard? Do we carry that weight till completed according to his standards?
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C
Rick, the other day you mentioned you saw my wife Jewel's recent experience as a practical example of persevering through trials and afflictions. Well, nine months ago, she severely ruptured a disc in her neck, and it was, you know, just a tremendous pain which affected her ability to sleep. She could only get about two, maybe three hours of sleep a night. And this went on for months. And you know how debilitating that is. Well, the pain made it difficult for her to work on the computer for long periods also. And this was the issue because weekly she has a role in helping to produce the CQ Rewind show notes for each podcast. Despite the difficulties, she has been determined to persevere through the pain and continue her work for the Lord. Well, thankfully, there are wonderful CQ Rewind partners who work together with her to help carry that load. So, Jules, a wonderful example to me of one to serve the Lord even through difficulty.
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It is a tremendous example because it certainly wasn't easy and it was painful. And there's no big smiles as she's dealing with this because she's bearing the load of the pain. But the blessing is in working through it and allowing the Lord to touch you. He's not going to make it go away. He's going to draw you through it. And that requires our perseverance. And it's also a beautiful example of how those other individuals working alongside of her did the extra work.
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That's right.
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Reached in, said, we got this, we got this, we got this. So you see, there's perseverance in all parts of that example. So trials and afflictions, that's a big way that we can apply the perseverance, and we're blessed by doing so. Let's look at a second way we can apply perseverance, and that's through persecution. To stand up under persecution requires principled perseverance, the allegiance of our energy. It needs to be principled. It needs to be based on something scripturally solid and clear. So let's expand on Jesus as our example. We talked about it in Hebrews 12, 2, 3. Let's look at another verse from John where Jesus is explaining a little bit about persecution. John 15:20.
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Remember the word that I said to you. A slave is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours also.
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There you have it. If they've persecuted me, don't expect anything less. So we need to be prepared and ready to manage those kinds of things. Now look, persecution can come in a lot of different ways. It can and often does come from those who are close to us, those whose influence is important in our lives. And Jesus talks about that as well. Luke chapter 21:1, verses 16 to 19.
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But you will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. And you will be hated by all because of my name. Yet not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance, you will gain your lives. You know, we may face physical death caused by those who hate us, but our eternal life can't be touched as long as we stay faithful.
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And that's the key point. What we are running for is beyond whatever anybody can do to us. And you know what they did to Jesus, but what he was running for was so far beyond it that he even died for them. So you can see the importance of walking in his footsteps. By your perseverance, your endurance, you will gain your lives. When persecuted by those who are close, this principled perseverance stands firm as it stands solely for the name of Jesus. That's what we have to stand on. This stand can be very challenging, especially in these kinds of circumstances.
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C
You know, it's sad, but we can be persecuted even by other Christians who have a disdain for those who don't believe as they do. You know, Rick, that reminds me of something that happened to us in our old radio days. Do you remember?
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Oh yeah. Well, in radio days when there were call ins and all of that, all kinds of things happened. But there was a listener who would email us regularly. He was not just unhappy with us, he was angry and he was a Christian. And he kept calling us a cult and kept accusing us of misquoting scriptures and so forth. And it was difficult because you'd have this secondary dialogue going on. And I will tell you that back then, every single email he sent with an accusation, I responded with reasoning. And you know, one example was he said, you guys are misquoting scripture about Jesus dying for all. It doesn't say all, it says many. And he said, that's what a Cult does. So I just wrote him back and said, here. Here's several scriptures. Read them. We didn't misquote them. We actually read them word for word. But Jonathan, it was sad because there was no ability to dialogue. You're just kind of like covering because there's nothing else you can do except say, but here's what the Bible says. Here's what the Bible says. There was no ability to move forward. And that became a very, very sad. You're right, a very sad end result. But it's a good example. Sometimes it happens. But we have to stand on the principles not only of what the Bible says, but how Jesus handled what the Bible says. That's where we need to stand. Persecution can become a potential breaking point as we may feel alone and targeted as well. Let's look at 2 Corinthians, chapter 4, verses 7 through 10.
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But we have this treasure in earthen vessels so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves. We're afflicted in every way, but not crushed. Perplexed, but not in despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Struck down, but not destroyed. Always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. You know, I love how Paul reminds us that it's God's power, his spirit working in us that gives us the ability to endure. We can't trust in our own strength. And once again, Paul focuses us on Jesus. Sacrifice, think on him, because he was
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the master of persevering through difficulties that he did nothing to deserve. But he persevered through them. So it's perseverance, not retaliation. That's the personal decision we need to truly fulfill our call to discipleship when faced with persecution. We need to decide, I will persevere and. And I will not retaliate. Jesus never did. Therefore, I shouldn't. And gotta say, I got a ways to go sometimes on that, okay? Just because that's a difficult thing. So we've looked at trials and afflictions and we've looked at the persecution aspect. One more aspect of perseverance we wanna look at is the testing of our loyalty. Now, look, it may sound a little bit more general, but standing in loyalty, in true loyalty to God and his purposes, requires perseverance. Again, that's the allegiance of our energy, of the pouring out of our being into accomplishing this. We are servants of God with our physical beings. That's who we are. That's what we need to do. That's what we need to focus on. Second Corinthians 6, verses 3 to 5,
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giving no cause for offense in anything, so that the ministry will not be discredited, but in everything. Commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance or strong constancy, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger.
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Man, you look at that and you recognize the amount of pressure that the Apostle Paul went through. And he said, I need to be careful so that I, as a representative of the word of God through Christ, who will not be offensive to anybody in any way, I am going to stand above things so the ministry is not discredited in everything. I commend myself as God's servant in all of these things, in beatings, imprisonments, tumults, labor, sleeplessness, hunger, whatever it is, I will stand above by the grace of God. And that's what perseverance looks like now. Look, I'm so glad we don't go through what the Apostle Paul went through. I couldn't do what what he did. I just couldn't do it. But his example is so inspiring. To raise up for me my own desires to work harder and be stronger in these ways. Loyalty requires deep and passionate perseverance in the hard physical experiences of life. Why? Because our objective is for God to be glorified in every single experience in our lives.
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This is a sobering statement, Rick. I have sometimes failed to glorify our Heavenly Father in my experiences. You know, the question for me is how do I maintain my goal of glorifying God in every situation? It begins with prayer. It begins with listening after praying, meditating and thinking, well, what would Jesus do in this moment so I can glorify my Father in heaven?
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That's such an important principle to always go to that prayerful attitude for me in some of my experiences, because sometimes things develop very rapidly and I start to go down the rabbit hole in my own head. There's one word that helps me to refocus, to kind of get to where you just said. And the word is or I can do what I can't stand what's happening, or I can back up, I can reset. I can rely on the strength of God through Christ and God's spirit and do something different. And that helps me to look at the circumstance differently. Reminds me of a quote. I gave a calendar, well, Trish and I gave a calendar to our 18 year old grandson for Christmas. Inspirational quotes every day and he's got one. And I kept one for myself because I looked at it and it's like, I gotta have one of these. Yesterday's quote fits this so well. The quote there and doesn't give a source, but the quote is, strength is not measured by muscle, but by the will to keep going. Strength is not measured by muscle, but by the will to keep going. It's measured by perseverance. That's what it is. Remember, we already talked about James 1, 2, 4, but remember that teaching on how it works. Let's just go back to that Scripture to reset as we begin to put all of these pieces together. James 1, 2, 4.
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C
Consider it all joy. My brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let your endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Having joy in trial is a challenge. I can't help but think of my dear friend Joanna, who recently passed away from cancer. She was a beautiful example to us, both of us, Rick, of this enduring with joy and a smile constantly on her face in all of her experiences. And I think that smile came from trusting God in everything. What's your take on Joanna?
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Absolutely. And you know, she died from cancer at an early age. She was only in her early 60s and her husband had died prematurely a few years before that. Here's a Christian woman who's been through a lot of things. You never saw her without a smile on her face because she had this wonderful ability to put things into a different perspective, to see them from above instead of from within. And that was a great example for everybody around her. And we truly loved and do continue to love her example. What a great thought about. The testing of your faith produces endurance. And that endurance can make us complete, lacking in nothing. That's what the apostle Peter is teaching us here. This perseverance under trials and afflictions is also a testing of our ultimate loyalty. That's what it's there for. Let's go back to James, but this time let's go to chapter 5. Let's read verses 7 through 8 and then verse 11.
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Therefore be patient for bearing brethren until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it until it gets the early and late rains. You too, be patient forbearing. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. We count those blessed who endured had fortitude. You have heard the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord's dealings. That the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful. So the question we need to ask ourselves is, do I regularly hold back my fleshly desires and persevere through whatever is set before me?
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That's a really hard question. And I'm sure folks, if you look back at your lives, you're going to see examples of that and some of the answers are going to be good, some may not be as good. I can tell you though, Jonathan, very, very briefly, many years ago, and we've talked about this on podcasts and did a radio program on it back in the day, you know, our daughter was, was raped when she was 15 years old. And that was. It took several years to put life back in order. It was not a happy several years, I will tell you that. It was not a clear several years. It was very foggy as to what was happening. And there are so many times I didn't know what was going to happen and I just personally had to search for what's the right thing to do, not what I want to do. What's the right, what's the best thing to do, what's the spiritually sound thing to do, what's the Christ like thing to do. And that kept me going, that kept me, kept me able to be able to put my family's needs in place. And it was a great example of learning perseverance. Not going to say we mastered perseverance in that because we certainly didn't. But we learned a whole lot about how to put things in order small step by small step, by seeking to glorify God. And I can tell you at this day that our daughter is a very strong, well adjusted woman who has taken that horrible experience and has turned it completely around and now she uses it to help others. So it's a beautiful, beautiful example of perseverance.
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C
And Rick, I remember you mentioning that having to focus on the podcast every week actually helped you with your family's terrible experience.
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Yeah, because the preparation didn't stop and the deadline didn't stop. And that's back in those radio days. It was a two hour radio program. I had to do the work and it did. It helped me to get out of myself to focus on other things. I also had a job, but it really, really kept me going. And you know the scripture, Matthew 6:33, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. I quoted that scripture to myself multiple times a day in that experience. So you're right, it was a very important perseverance piece to focus on the Lord God that helps us get through things.
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Well, let's go back to that all important question that we asked at the beginning. Why is perseverance the next quality after self control?
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Why? Well, self control is incredibly short lived. Without perseverance you can have great self control, but unless you apply it with diligence, it's short lived. Because imperfect human thinking and desires can easily derail self control. Perseverance. This allegiance of our energy is the regular restating and reapplying of our discipleship decision. The regular restating and reapplying of our discipleship decision.
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Rick we all fall down and the point of endurance is to keep getting up.
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It's very simple, isn't it?
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It is.
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And that's the big thing. And that's where perseverance comes into play. And if perseverance is built on self control, which is built on knowledge, which is built on moral excellence, which is built on faith, you've got a strong reason and capacity to be able to get up and move forward and keep going in the right direction. Let's look at Hebrews 10:35,36.
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Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which is a great reward for you have need of endurance so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. Don't let Satan take away your confidence in your Christian walk. Never, never, never give up.
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B
That's such a powerful way to look at this and I'm glad you said that. Don't let Satan take it away. Understand that as God's plan unfolds, Satan has a vested interest in keeping true Christianity from being true. And he will do whatever he can possibly do to attempt to affect our lives. What are we going to do? And what you said is so powerful here. Never, never, never give up. Put the first things first. And again, that perseverance is the allegiance, the loyalty to God of our energy that says, I will stand for what I know I need to stand for. So let's look at this, let's wrap this up. The allegiance attribute of perseverance.
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C
As we work towards our faith, fully supplying us with a moral excellent character, we see that character appropriately absorbing spiritual knowledge which can direct us towards Godly self control. While self control is the first step in preventing a thought from becoming an action, perseverance, the allegiance of our energy is profoundly required to keep all of what has already been developed in place and also allow our further spirituality to grow, mature and crystallize.
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B
So perseverance not only is about where we're going. But perseverance keeps what has happened and keeps that in place as well. It is such an important piece to build upon our self control. Just one final scripture as you wrap this up. And folks, you're probably familiar with this, but it's inspiring. Isaiah 40, verses 30 to 31 it says, though youths grow weary and tired and vigorous, young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run and not get tired. They will walk and not become weary. That's the perseverance we're looking for. It comes from above. It comes through God's spirit. It comes because of the sacrifice and example of Jesus. And it comes to us because we are attempting to walk in Jesus's footsteps. That's where we need to be. That's what perseverance is. Make it part of life. Think about it, folks. We love hearing from our listeners. We will welcome your feedback and questions on this episode and other episodes@christianquestions.com coming up in our next episode, how do I grow in godliness as a Christian?