You won’t succeed in anything in this life without what we’re going to look at now.
It is one of those things that runs throughout Scripture.
As a parent, as a husband or wife, as an employee or employer, as a leader of any kind – God will not be able to achieve all that He wants to through you unless you have this quality.

Joseph would not have been Prime Minister of Egypt, Moses would not have led the people out of slavery in Egypt, Joshua would not have taken them into the promised land, David would not have become king, Paul would not have taken the Gospel to the Gentiles of Europe, and so on.

Perseverance…….coming out of commitment.
The Lord’s commitment to me, and my response to Him.
Commitment to the Lord, recognising that my life is not my own, I belong to Him.
Not just as my Creator, but as my Redeemer. He has bought me back.
I once was a slave to sin, trapped by a cruel and evil master. But Jesus came to the slave market and bought me, and set me free. But I now chose to bind myself to serve Him, as a bond slave. And what a cost, what a price Jesus has paid for you and me……His own life.
I belong to Jesus, I am not my own, I was bought by His blood. Jesus gave everything for us.

Read 2 Corinthians 5:14,15.

Jesus’ Lordship is one of life’s bottom lines….a foundation. If your life is not built on Jesus Christ and following Him, you are building on a shaky foundation that will crumble when the going gets tough.
That’s a test of your faith. When life’s storms come…as they will to all of us…does your life start to crumble and fall apart.
What is your foundation ?

Putting it another way.
Who would you rather trust in ?…..Almighty God who is all powerful, loves you perfectly and totally, and is so faithful that He’ll never let you down…..or someone who is limited, weak, foolish, makes mistakes every day, and constantly will let you down….i.e. yourself ?

Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength, …blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him (Jeremiah 17).

Again, we must die to self. Not just the obvious sins of greed, lust, jealousy, and so on.
But also pride, and self reliance.
You can be a leader in your own strength, have natural leadership ability….but you’ll not be the leader God wants you to be, if you try to do things yourself - your way, and in your own strength. It’s not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord.

Gideon had to learn that didn’t he. He had to trust that God had called Him and wanted to use him. And after that struggle, he then had to trust that God would do it, not through 32,000 men, but through 300.
It’s God who does great things…..and yes He could do it without us…..but because He loves us He choose to use us, to include us in carrying out His purposes.
It’s really important that we fully believe these things before we look at perseverance, otherwise we’ll be tempted to think perseverance is all about us….and it’s not.
It is persistent, tenacious faith in an all powerful and loving God.

Matthew 24:12,13 ‘Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved’ Standing firm in love.

Luke 8:15 ‘The seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by perseverance produce a crop’
You may realise from John 15, that you need to remain in Jesus and let His word remain in you to produce God’s fruit in your life….but had you realised how strong that
word ‘remain’, is ?
‘By perseverance produce a crop’. In other words if you give up and don’t persevere, you won’t produce a crop.
We need to persevere, but look at what we need to persevere in….being in Christ and retaining the word of God in our hearts.
We so often associate perseverance with ‘doing’, being active, busy, striving.
We’ve looked briefly at three Scriptures of Jesus to do with perseverance…and what have they said to persevere in – love, being in Christ, retaining His Word in our hearts.

Let’s move on to another aspect of perseverance, ……to persevering under trial, in suffering, when persecuted.

In any sort of leadership, you will face struggles, resource issues, opposition – sometimes from outside sources, sometimes from within the church, family, or organisation.
Nehemiah is an example of someone who persevered even though the devil attacked him through all different means, ……but he hung on to God, and was obedient to what he had been called to do. God had called him out of exile to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
He was undermined from within, he was opposed, threatened, and slandered by enemies from outside his people. But he was determined to see it through, to see beyond present circumstances to the vision God had given him.
Jesus, who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, scorning it’s shame.
Look beyond – to Jesus and what He is doing.

Read Hebrews 10:22-25, 35-39.

Keep on going, and let’s encourage each other to keep on going. But what is the first in this list that the writer encourages us to keep on doing – draw near to God.
If there’s one thing to go away and persevere in today…..it’s to draw near to God, to seek Him with all that you are…..because everything else comes from that relationship with Him.

And don’t forget the race of life is a marathon, not a sprint. You have to keep going.

Read James 1:2-4,12.

Perseverance under trial is the route to maturity. If we co-operate with God, we grow through suffering and adversity. It’s not automatic though, we can become bitter or doubting. We still have the choice whether to trust God in our struggles or not.
But trials are opportunities to grow (repeat).

But there’s no quick route to Christian maturity, whether in general, in marriage and family life, in Church. Maturity comes through persevering in faith under trial, and that can take time. How much time largely depends on how much we’re prepared to submit to God in it and to trust Him.
To ‘trust and obey’ as the hymn says.

And here’s a key for Christian living. James says consider it pure joy when you suffer trials.
What is he, a masochist ? Well if he is, so is Paul. So perhaps there’s something important here.

Read Romans 5:1-5.

And Paul practised what he preached. In Acts 16, we have him and Silas, severely flogged, put in the stocks, locked in the inner prison cell…..praising God.
And don’t you dare think they were different to us…they were human beings like you and me with human weakness.
In others words God also calls you and me to rejoice in our sufferings, to have our hearts and minds set on Jesus and be praising Him….when it’s the last thing that our flesh feels like doing. Rejoice in the Lord always. Give thanks in ALL circumstances.
Hear this - This is a key that unlocks prison doors.

Read Acts 16:25-26.

Looking beyond your trials and suffering to Jesus. Having Him as your focus. Praising Him and rejoicing when your going through it, is powerful and brings release. It enables God to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine.
I’m sure Paul and Silas trusted God to get them out of the situation, and they showed that by their praise, …..but an earthquake, then all the doors coming open, all the chains coming loose, the jailer and his family all coming the Christ ?

Rejoicing and praising under trial, brings release.