Matthew 24:13 "But he who endures to the end shall be saved."
Acts 14:22b “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.”
II Timothy 2:12a "If we endure, We shall also reign with Him."
My Lord and my God,
Acts 14:22b “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.”
II Timothy 2:12a "If we endure, We shall also reign with Him."
My Lord and my God,
I enjoy watching the NCAA basketball tournament each March. Sixty-eight teams struggle to survive and advance in the tournament. Favorites are often upset. "Cinderellas" remarkably advance.
You call me to endure tribulation if I am to enter into Your eternal Kingdom. My Christian life is one of "survive and advance."
Tribulation meant pressure or crushing weight upon a person's body. I have felt the stress of burdens and the weight of responsibility that feels like a crushing weight upon my chest, a heaviness, a sorrow, a deep burden that can only be lifted through intercession with the Divine.
Patience is a steadfast endurance, the deliberate placing of one step in front of the other. Patience is not passive. Patience is assertive and faithful. It is courageous, persistent conquest even in the face of terrifying odds.
In the midst of tribulation and suffering, You call me to endure with an assertive patience that transforms adversity into Kingdom glory!
William Barclay wrote: "The way to the kingdom is the way of courage and endurance. No lover of ease and comfort, no craven and coward creature, no one flabby in body and in mind, ever achieved one of the great journeys of the world. The journey to the kingdom is the greatest journey of all, and it requires the greatest endurance of all" (In The Revelation of John, vol. 1,, 1964, p. 50).
"Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal" (II Corinthians 4:16-18).
My Lord, You are the model of endurance. You endured the cross. You endured the weight of the sins of the world. You endured to the end. You are able to strengthen me to endure pressure, adversity, or conflict with an assertive patience of faith and action that transforms tribulation into glory! You survived that You might be advanced!
"Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:9-11).
May Your Kingdom come and Your will be done in me.
"Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:9-11).
May Your Kingdom come and Your will be done in me.
Amen.
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