A Heart Of Perseverance (Daily Devotional)

Greetings and welcome to Living Supernaturally. Thank you so much once again for giving us this opportunity to minister God's word, spend a few moments in prayer. This week, we've been talking about different heart attitudes that you and I as believers must develop even as we serve God. Today, we look at a heart of perseverance. James chapter 1, verses 2 to 4, ‘consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.’ A heart of perseverance is a quality that involves being determined and continuing to move forward despite the challenges and troubles we see ahead. It's a quality that can help us make progress and learn skills that can be useful for the future. When James writes that we should face trials with joy, he is talking about challenges to our faith that can help us learn and grow. He's talking about hardships that you and I may face as believers in Christ and how these hardships can strengthen our faith and help us discern God's will. For example, the first followers of Jesus were often persecuted. The apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit to preach the good news of Jesus and to heal people in Jesus's name and for this they were thrown in jail, persecuted by religious authorities who did not believe in Jesus and the resurrection. The apostles were put on trial and were asked where they got that authority but they did not back down. Filled with the Spirit, they said there is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved and we must obey God rather than human beings. Even though they were punished and brutally whipped for their faith and for their actions, they had the joy because they had counted it worthy to be a disgrace for the name of Christ. Christian perseverance is about giving your heart to heaven, giving your heart to eternal values that govern it no matter what is happening in our lives. It's not simply about struggling and overcoming difficulties but about measuring that difficulty against the reality of eternity. Perseverance is decimated by disappointment, failure and ongoing discouragement. It can also be compromised by flashy alternatives. You and I don't need to persevere if success is guaranteed on day one. As Paul writes to the Philippians, we can be confident that He who began a good work in us will bring it to completion. God does not fail; He has the worlds in His hands and He has engraved us in the palm of His hands. So, let us make a claim today to praise our God who has redeemed us and loved us that He will look after us. Let's pray, Father, we thank you for your word today, thank you for your promise that you are always with us, that you will never leave us nor forsake us. Even as we go through challenges and trials and difficulties that you are developing in us a heart of perseverance. Help us to persevere and to look at things from your heart. We thank you and we praise you, in Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

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Daily devotions to strengthen your faith each day. Daily Devotional for Spirit filled living. Each daily devotion is about five minutes in duration. These daily devotionals are centered around a weekly theme. So there are seven daily devotions that focus on the theme and bring you insight, understanding and revelation from the Bible. Each week’s theme is listed as a series. So you can listen to the current week’s devotions or go to any previous theme/series that speaks to your present need (https://apcwo.org/resources/daily-devotions ). Also available free sermons (https://apcwo.org/sermons), and free Christian books (https://apcwo.org/books) to nourish and strengthen your faith.