A Desire to Go Deeper: It's Time to Go Deeper

Power to Endure

You might be wondering how you can endure and resist the enemy in times like these that we are living in today. “The Lord will not suffer your foot to be moved” our help comes from the Lord, which made heaven and earth (Psalms 121:3 KJV). The Bible declares “He will not suffer thy foot to be moved; He that keepeth thee will not slumber” (Psalm 121: 3 KJV). Through the road of life gets tough and dangerous with so many difficulties, we still must stand fast and hold on to our faith. The road might get slippery, but the Lord promises not to leave us alone.

The Word of God tells Christians to endure hardness (2 Timothy 4:5 KJV). Enduring hardness means to extend yourself. Extending yourself until you can no longer give of yourself. It could be your time, in your giving, and going to the limit even though they may not be worth it. To endure means also to put up with demanding situations that makes you feel like it is almost unbearable. But God will give you power to endure if you ask Him. He knows and sees the burdens that you bear. In 2 Timothy 2:4 … Paul tells Christians “Therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (see 2 Timothy 2: 3-4 KJV) When you enlist into God’s army, you are signing up for hardship in some aspect of your life. When those attacks from the enemy come you will have to be like a soldier on the battlefield. A soldier is dressed and equipped for battle because he knows that the enemy is equipped as well. Right at this time in our world we are going through hardship fighting with some unknown enemy called COVID-19. Every person that I know has been affected one way or another. But Paul is saying to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:6 KJV … you should keep a level head in all situations. That is what Christians should be doing; keep your head up and trust God in all things during this uncertain time that we are going through. Paul is saying, as I would say also, “I know it's hard brothers and sisters, but “discharge all duties of your ministry in the hands of the Lord.”

Keep preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, keep teaching the Word of God and make full use of what God called you to do. Remember that “The race is not given to the swift, nor the battle to the strong” (see Ecclesiastes 9:11 KJV). “But by time and chance it happens to all.” No one is exempt from going through trials and hardship of some kind. But we must continue in our Christian commitment when facing difficulty. We find that Christians are not super-humans and sometimes we may fail Him when we are tried just like Peter did (see John 18: 10-11 KJV). Sometimes we do suffer dire consequences when we fail our trials, but there is restoration. Because of the serious nature or renunciation in the early church their faith was tied to the fullest. True commitment means endurance and believing. Inadequate believing withdraws in times of confusion (see John 6:66 KJV), but true commitment endures by looking to Christ for resources of life (see John 6:68 KJV). It is a lifelong effort; we must finish by keeping the faith offers to the ones who endures the anticipation of a reward that symbolized in a “crown of righteousness” (see 2 Timothy 4: 1-8 KJV).

The reason Apostle Paul could give that advice to Timothy is because of all the sufferings that He endured for the Lord Jesus Christ. He suffered many things for the cause of Christ, including being stoned, beaten, shipwrecked twice, hungry, cold, and destitute (2 Corinthians 11: 23-26 KJV). But he kept the faith and had a strong finish (see 2 Timothy 4:7 KJV). We cannot put hardship in one category because it comes in many forms. It could be temptations, illnesses, unemployment, broken relationships, and persecution and all likes. Jesus also warned us that “we will have trouble in this world” (John 16:33 KJV). Jesus also assured us that we can take heart because He has already “overcome the world” (John 16:33 NIV) that we can endure hardness by His grace. Admitting defeat will not help us to endure. It is a trial that we must go through as a Christian and we lose nothing if we keep our faith in God. He will give us the power to endure. Paul was a strong example of what it is to go through hardship. He identified with Jesus Christ every time he experienced being beaten, chained, or hungry. Jesus suffered things just because He was Holy, and evil people did not believe Him or what He stood for. Christ was our notable example of enduring hardness. He endured even to the Cross (Hebrews 12:2 KJV).

Even though we love God we still feel sad, betrayed, or even angry sometimes at unfair treatment. We are not supposed to let anger get a hold on us. The Bible says to us “Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry; for anger lies in the bosom of fools” (Ecclesiastes 7:9 KJV). These are human emotions that take place in the flesh when someone comes up against us wrongly. But Solomon also spoke that we should not be quick in our spirits to get angry in that same verse. He wanted us to know that when we are too quick to get upset anger can settle in our hearts and we become fools. Anger is normal among society in these times because when we look at all the violence, fighting, killing and evil that taking place in the world today; we think every person in the world is angry. Anger is a warning sign that something is wrong in the heart. But everyone from time to time will respond to injustice or abuse. We should turn to God for Justice, and He is faithful to help us undergo every trial and temptation (see 1 Corinthians 10: 13 KJV).