Faith and endurance

Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised. “For in just a little while, the Coming One will come and not delay. And my righteous ones will live by faith. But I will take no pleasure in anyone who turns away.” But we are not like those who turn away from God to their own destruction. We are the faithful ones, whose souls will be saved. Hebrews 10:35-39 NLT

It is faith and patient endurance that will sustain Christians to obtain victory in times of difficulties. We are not just saved from sin so we can be guaranteed of having a great future. We have been saved so that while here on this earth awaiting for that day of His return, we will endure. This patient endurance is already a blessing and a reward. We know that on our own we cannot remain steadfast in the midst of difficulties and persecutions. Yet God through the presence of the Holy Spirit within provides us what we need so we can remain strong and steadfast. “By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence” (2 Peter 1:3). We are saved by faith and we must live by faith. Those who will persevere by faith will grow into maturity. “Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God” (Hebrews 6:1). God develops our character traits through the trials we are dealing. We learn how to trust and be dependent upon Him during those times of difficulties. When we are growing in our faith, we learn to understand that God’s answer will come in His own time. God will keep His Word and that He will come through to deliver His children. God admonishes those who will turn away from Him and waste their lives because they will not submit to His will. God will not shrink back in withholding the consequences when we turn our backs to Him. When we walk by faith it means that we obey His Word and submit ourselves to His will. We learn that losing our lives for the sake of following Him will be rewarded. “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 16:25). Let us ask God to give us wisdom and to have the stamina to follow even when we do not understand what is happening. The knowledge that one day we will give an account as to how we have lived the life He gave us should prompt us to live by faith.

Blessings,