The Prophetic Word - Day 59 thru 64: perseverance

The Prophetic Word

Day 59: We must not let go of Him.

In preparation for our discussion over the next five days, please carefully read and meditate on the following scriptures:

“So Jacob was left alone, and a Man [came and] wrestled with him until daybreak. When the Man saw that He had not prevailed against Jacob, He touched his hip joint; and Jacob’s hip was dislocated as he wrestled with Him. Then He said, “Let Me go, for day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let You go unless You declare a blessing on me.” So He asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” And He said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.””

Genesis 32:24-28 AMP

“Then he said, “Take the arrows,” and he took them. And Elisha said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground,” and he struck it three times and stopped. So the man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck down Aram until you had destroyed it. But now you shall strike Aram only three times.””

2 Kings 13:18-19 AMP

“Because lawlessness is increased, the love of most people will grow cold. But the one who endures and bears up [under suffering] to the end will be saved.”

Matthew 24:12-13 AMP

“Then the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says! And will not [our just] God defend and avenge His elect [His chosen ones] who cry out to Him day and night? Will He delay [in providing justice] on their behalf? I tell you that He will defend and avenge them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find [this kind of persistent] faith on the earth?””

Luke 18:6-8 AMP

We are living in the Last Days before the coming of Jesus Christ. As such, there is pressure all around to waver from our faith in Jesus Christ.

Now, make no mistake, this pressure will not relent; but—by the grace of God—neither will we!

What does the Bible have to say about the need to have persistent, enduring faith?

We will begin our investigation into this tomorrow.

Peace to you.

Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!

The Prophetic Word

Day 60: If it’s yours, don’t settle for less.

“So Jacob was left alone, and a Man [came and] wrestled with him until daybreak. When the Man saw that He had not prevailed against Jacob, He touched his hip joint; and Jacob’s hip was dislocated as he wrestled with Him. Then He said, “Let Me go, for day is breaking.” But Jacob said, “I will not let You go unless You declare a blessing on me.” So He asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” And He said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.””

Genesis 32:24-28 AMP

I remember my father telling a story about a time when he was greatly tested concerning a promise the Lord had given him.

At the time of this testing my father was a young man who was a traveling evangelist with a totally ragged out car. Of course, my father beseeched the Lord concerning his need and—in his spirit—saw a brand new car driving into his driveway (he would describe the car in detail in the telling of the story).

So, my father began to tell family and friends that he was going to be getting a brand new car.

At first, they met the news with great joy and encouragement. But, as the days turned into weeks with still no new car driving into his driveway, the people began to look at him “out from underneath their eyebrows.”

In the end, in not too many days, the Lord made it possible for him to get a brand new car, the car he had seen in the vision!

He never gave up on the promise. He had seen it and was not about to “unsee” it!

The psalmist—in recounting the adventures of Joseph—gives this commentary:

“He sent a man before them— Joseph—who was sold as a slave. They hurt his feet with fetters, He was laid in irons. Until the time that his word came to pass, The word of the Lord tested him.”

Psalms 105:17-19 NKJV

Now, what does it mean to say, “Until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the Lord tested him”?

You see, the time between the giving of a promise and the realizing of it is used by the Lord to see what is in us (the genuineness of our faith) as well as to strengthen our faith.

I realize that it may seem a conundrum to put those two dynamics together, but let me restate it this way: For those who let go of their steadfastness, their faith is shown for what it is: weak and unstable.

However, for those who won’t let go of the promise, continuing to believe and act on the promise, they will come out of the trial with even stronger faith!

In our opening scripture we see the story of Jacob wrestling with (Who turned out to be) the Lord.

You see, Jacob’s grandfather, Abraham, had received the original covenantal promise. Then, the promise was extended through Jacob’s father, Isaac. But now the time had come for Jacob to take hold of the promise for himself, making it his own. By refusing to let go, he became the rightful heir of the same promise.

We must not let go of God’s promises. Our part is to do what the Lord has asked of us, then to patiently wait until the same word that has been testing us, comes to pass.

“Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise: “For yet a little while, And He who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.””

Hebrews 10:35-38 NKJV

Peace to you.

Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!

The Prophetic Word

Day 61: We must be persistent to see complete victory.

“Then he said, “Take the arrows,” and he took them. And Elisha said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground,” and he struck it three times and stopped. So the man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck down Aram until you had destroyed it. But now you shall strike Aram only three times.””

2 Kings 13:18-19 AMP

You’ve probably heard of Job’s “comforters.” Now, Job was a righteous man who was severely tested by the devil in an attempt to prove that he would curse God.

What made his situation worse was that his so-called friends basically accused him of not being righteous, of being a sinner.

At one point in Job’s argument with his friends, he acknowledges his dire situation and also the fact that he knows that they are judging him as being unrighteous. Then he makes an assertion that is astonishing, considering the pressure he was under:

“God has made a mockery of me among the people; they spit in my face. My eyes are swollen with weeping, and I am but a shadow of my former self. The virtuous are horrified when they see me. The innocent rise up against the ungodly. The righteous keep moving forward, and those with clean hands become stronger and stronger.”

Job 17:6-9 NLT

Job indicates that even though he is being sorely tested, as well as being accused of not being righteous, he will continue to hold fast and continue to do what is right!

Even Job’s own wife told him to give up!

“Then his wife said to him, “Do you still cling to your integrity [and your faith and trust in God, without blaming Him]? Curse God and die!” But he said to her, “You speak as one of the [spiritually] foolish women speaks [ignorant and oblivious to God’s will]. Shall we indeed accept [only] good from God and not [also] accept adversity and disaster?” In [spite of] all this Job did not sin with [words from] his lips.”

Job 2:9-10 AMP

Because of Job’s persistent faith in God, he came out victorious, regaining all—and many times over—what had been lost.

Our opening scripture describes a scene that took place when the king of Israel, Joash, came to see Elisha just before the prophet died.

You see, Joash was concerned about what would happen to Israel in Elisha’s absence. So, Elisha gives Joash the object lesson of shooting the arrow out the window, after which he pronounced that they were to attack the Syrians at Aphek and destroy them. Our opening scripture takes up after shooting the arrow out of the window.

Because Joash didn’t show persistence in the beating of the arrows, the victory over the Syrians would only be a partial victory rather than a complete victory.

This beating the arrows test showed that Joash lacked the persistence that would be needed for a complete victory.

We are facing—and will continue to be faced with—many forces that could deter us from our persistent faith. However, we cannot relent until we partake in the total victory offered to us by Jesus Christ!

“Because you have kept the word of My endurance [My command to persevere], I will keep you [safe] from the hour of trial, that hour which is about to come on the whole [inhabited] world, to test those who live on the earth. I am coming quickly. Hold tight what you have, so that no one will take your crown [by leading you to renounce the faith].”

Revelation 3:10-11 AMP

Peace to you.

Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!

The Prophetic Word

Day 62: Ask and keep on asking.

“Then the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says! And will not [our just] God defend and avenge His elect [His chosen ones] who cry out to Him day and night? Will He delay [in providing justice] on their behalf? I tell you that He will defend and avenge them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find [this kind of persistent] faith on the earth?””

Luke 18:6-8 AMP

There are a couple of reasons why people don’t persist with their requests before the Lord, or for that matter, for not continuing to believe for what has been asked according to the will of God.

First, some people relent from their beseeching God, because their faith is weak or nonexistent. So, when they don’t see an immediate answer, they assume that either their prayer has gone nowhere or God doesn’t care to answer. The remedy for this type of individual—in terms of becoming persistent in prayer—has to do with faith development.

However, the second reason people may give up on their prayers, does not have to do with a lack of faith, but rather, a misunderstanding of how we should pray.

Given, the Lord makes it clear in Matthew 6:5-8 that prayers for show, or prayers which are just an abundance of meaningless words, are ineffective:

“When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get. “When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again.”

Matthew 6:5, 7 NLT

So you see, the Lord was not saying not to keep on asking; quite the opposite, and He makes that very clear a little later on:

““Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”

Matthew 7:7-8 NLT

Yes, if we know that what we are asking is consistent with God‘s will (measured by what we are told in His word), then we are not to give up on asking, not to give up on seeking, and not to give up on knocking!

In our opening scripture we see that the Lord is giving a parable in which a widow who had been wronged, continues to badger an unjust judge for justice. And, this judge—though he was not a righteous judge or a compassionate man—gave her justice because she would not give up asking:

“The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people, but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!’””

Luke 18:4-5 NLT

Indeed, God will answer those who continue to ask. He will be found of those who continue to seek. And, He will open the door to those who will not relent from their knocking!

Peace to you.

Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!

The Prophetic Word

Day 63: Persevering faith will be rewarded with exemption from the final test.

““Because you have obeyed my command to persevere, I will protect you from the great time of testing that will come upon the whole world to test those who belong to this world. I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take away your crown.”

Revelation 3:10-11 NLT

When I was in school I was in several classes where the teacher had a policy that if you had an A going into the final exam, you could opt out of it. This was a huge motivation to master the coursework as it was presented, so that I did not have to face a final exam covering all of the material.

Now, did you know that there is a final exam that’s going to come upon the whole earth? We reference that time as The Tribulation and The Great Tribulation.

Now of course we know (as was discussed last week) that because we are identified with Christ, we will face trials and troubles all the time.

“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.””

John 16:33 NLT

But, there is also going to come a time of testing over the whole earth.

“And by the same word, the present heavens and earth have been stored up for fire. They are being kept for the day of judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed. Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along. On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames. But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness. And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight.”

2 Peter 3:7, 11-14 NLT

Indeed, a time of trouble is coming such as has never been seen before and will never be seen again:

[Jesus speaking] “For there will be greater anguish than at any time since the world began. And it will never be so great again.”

Matthew 24:21 NLT

But, those who persevere in their faith and in looking for His coming, if this time of testing comes before their going to be with the Lord, the faithful will be saved from an event we reference as The Rapture.

“And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment, so also Christ was offered once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him.”

Hebrews 9:27-28 NLT

Given, not all Christians believe in a Rapture, and those who do, disagree as to when in the seven-year period of Tribulation it will happen. But, for our purposes here: We believe that Tribulation will come, and that the Lord has promised to save us out of it.

In our opening scripture we see the Lord promising to reward the persevering church with being exempted from the great time of testing coming upon the whole world.

Now, some Christians ignorantly think that if there is a Rapture, and they don’t go in it, they still have the ability to be saved through The Tribulation. But I’ll offer to them something the Lord said to the prophet Jeremiah:

““If racing against mere men makes you tired, how will you race against horses? If you stumble and fall on open ground, what will you do in the thickets near the Jordan?”

Jeremiah 12:5 NLT

If a person can’t persevere in their faith now, living a holy life in this evil world, I would not think they should take a chance on persevering in The Great Tribulation!

Let’s be faithful now; let’s persevere in our faith now; and we will be rewarded with a Great Escape!

Peace to you.

Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!

The Prophetic Word

Day 64: Perseverance is greatly rewarded in the Kingdom of Christ.

“He who overcomes [the world through believing that Jesus is the Son of God], I will grant to him [the privilege] to sit beside Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down beside My Father on His throne.”

Revelation 3:21 AMP

This week we have been discussing the importance of having persevering faith. We will conclude that discussion (for now) with the wonderful promises the Lord has made to those who will overcome or conquer.

Let us now look at seven excerpts from the Revelation of Jesus Christ where Jesus is making some extraordinary promises to the overcomer, to the conqueror.

First, we see that the one who persists in their faith will receive eternal life.

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.'”

Revelation 2:7 ESV

Second, we see that the one who persists in their faith will not suffer destruction in the second death.

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.'”

Revelation 2:11 ESV

Next, we see that the one who persists in their faith will be fed from Heaven, be counted guiltless, and be given a new personal name.

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.'”

Revelation 2:17 ESV

As well, the one who has persistent faith will be given unbreakable ruling authority and the morning star (Christ revealed in us).

“The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father. And I will give him the morning star.”

Revelation 2:26-28 ESV

Additionally, the one who persists in their faith will have their name permanently written in the Book of Life and Christ’s commendation before the Father.

“The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.”

Revelation 3:5 ESV

As well, the one who persists in their faith will dwell in the House of the Lord forever. And, we will be permanently branded as property of our God and of His Christ.

“The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.”

Revelation 3:12 ESV

In our opening scripture we see the most amazing promise that the Lord offers those who overcome, those who persist in their faith. Yes, those who are faithful to the end will sit on Christ’s throne!

Remember, the overcoming we are called to do, the conquering we are called to perform, is that of keeping our faith in Jesus Christ against anything the world, the flesh, and the devil throw at us.

Friend, let’s lay aside any thoughts of turning back. Let’s shake off the temptation to grow weary. Let’s cling to our Lord so tightly that nothing can dislodge us from our trust in Him, our faith in Him, or our obedience to Him.

Indeed, persistent faith has great reward!

Peace to you.

Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!