Monday, October 1, 2018

October 1, 2018

"For this very reason make every effort to add to your faith goodness, to goodness, knowledge, to knowledge, self-control, to self-control PERSEVERANCE" II Peters 1:5-6

Three helpful keys to perseverance:

The Attitude of Perseverance - It's About His Purpose, Not Your Pain

The Awareness of Perseverance - It's About His Power, Not Your Pain

The Action of Perseverance - It's About His Promise, Not Your Pain

In the last post we took a look at the attitude of perseverance. Today we focus on the awareness of perseverance - it's about his power - not your pain.

There once was an oyster whose story I tell,
Who found that sand had got under his shell;
Just one little grain, but it gave him much pain,
For oysters have feelings although they’re so plain.
Now, did he berate the working of Fate
Which had led him to such a deplorable state?
Did he curse out the Government, call for an election?
No; as he lay on the shelf, he said to himself,
"If I cannot remove it, I’ll try to improve it."
So the years rolled by as the years always do,
And he came to his ultimate destiny -- stew.
And this small grain of sand which had bothered him so,
Was a beautiful pearl, all richly aglow.  
Now this tale has a moral -- for isn’t it grand
What an oyster can do with a morsel of sand;
What couldn’t we do if we’d only begin
With all of the things that get under our skin.
Oysters are built to turn pain into pearls – it’s what they do!

SO ARE YOU! GOD HAS GIVEN YOU “EVERYTHING YOU NEED” FOR GODLINESS!

Do you believe that?

Jesus believed it when He was climbing Calvary's hill.

Job believed it when he had lost everything and was scraping puss from his boils.

Paul discovered that God's power was made perfect in his weakness.

Each of them knew about God's power before their pain, and held onto it in the midst of  their pain, but they REALLY came to know it when it helped them endure their suffering!

Will you trust His power to help you  endure your pain?