Q4. Perseverance

[Jonathan Edwards]

Having perservering graces are so important.   Many people need to implore God for perservering graces; we are weak people without the assistance of the Holy Spirit.  It is sad fact, that many people don't even perservere in a regular job or paying their mortgages or rents.   By observation, one can tell if someone is walking on the road of Holiness just by looking at a person's daily life.   A true Bible believer will perservere even during very troubling times.   Just day by day doing the the same routine chores says quite a lot!

Backsliding!   A tragedy beyond words!  Many people during the prophetic ministry of Ezekiel gave up.  Isaiah and Jeremiah saw how people gave up their faith in God. Apostle Paul must have heard how some in the Thessalonian church did not heed to his letters. Being so far from the Macedonian church, all he could do was to continue to pray and send Timothy to confirm the Thessalonians in the holy faith.  Perservering in holy joy is so crucial for the believer.  The joy of blessed assurance will be the nuclear energy for the believer.

We carry each other's burdens.  During the dark nite of the soul when things don't make sense; we need a comforting word.  We also have to comfort others as well when they are going through tough situations.  The Body of Christ doctrine underscores the importance of our role to help others to perservere.   

The Eastern church fathers wrote eloquently about "theosis".  We go from glory to glory.    We have responsibility to have faith in God and perservere on a daily basis.  We are to have "niptike theoria"....watchfull mindness.  This means a disciplined Christian prayer schedule and lifestyle.   There is no magic involved; it is all part of taking up our Cross and following Christ.

God will renew us in the Holy Spirit as we follow a "regula"....daily Bible and discipleship, evangelistic outreach and partaking in the Sacraments of the Church of God.   Apostle Paul had a "regula"; he was diligent in his daily prayers and evangelistic endeavors as well as making a living.

 

[Krissi]

 

Why is perseverance so important as we see wickedness increasing?  The most horrible of circumstances are those which never seem to get better. Then, patience over the long term is needed. That's how I think of perseverance, as patience stretched over many years, over circumstances that are emotionally crushing.

What happens if we stop believing and being patient? When we impatiently do stupid things to get rid of the pain and change the circumstances, our circumstances actually get worse.

How can we help one another persevere? Only those who trust us can be encouraged. Most of the time the sort of circumstances that require perseverance are too horrible to discuss. Ultimately, perseverance is an individual character trait that has to be grown by the Spirit -- it's less of an issue in our salvation than in our subsequent sanctification.

What part does God’s redemption and grace have in our salvation? God initiates and completes our salvation. I'm not smart enough to understand our and His respective roles. Somehow we respond to what He puts into our hearts -- a need to know Him. Is our response preordained? Again, I don't know and probably will never know!