A Crucified Life - - Endures Hardships

 

2 Corinthians 6:4,5

Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships, and calamities; in beatings, imprisonments, and riots; in labor, sleepless nights, and hunger.

*Strong's Ex. Conc. No. 5281

Endurance: a remaining behind, patient waiting for, steadfastness

From the Greek word ' hupomoné' (pronounced hoop-om-on-ay'): properly, remaining under, endurance; steadfastness, especially as God enables the believer to "remain (endure) under" the challenges He allots in life.

    When Paul says they (he and his companions) commend themselves, he is not doing so in a prideful way. He is not saying, 'Look what we've gone through'. He is reminding the church in Corinth that regardless of the difficulties we find ourselves in in our lifetime, God is with us; for He has allowed different situations and circumstances to happen that we may grow in Him. 

    The plantings of the Lord require strivings to push through and reach the sunshine and the fresh rain. It's a struggle to  break out of what we're used to (the shell around the seed) and push ourselves upward out of the mud (miry clay). But we do so knowing that the Lord has called us to do. And that He is ever near us: watching us, calling us, waiting for us to call Him.

    Endurance is a necessity in a Christian's life. It is the desire to be obedient and trusting on God to get us through each challenge we are given. Not necessarily to deliver us out of the hardship, but that God's purposes are fulfilled in us and in those we are ministering to in our hardships. 

    Someone is always watching. When Paul and Silas were in prison, they weren't alone. Other prisoners could hear them singing and praising God. The jailor was right outside the door and could hear them glorifying God while they were chained up. And what happened? The jailor and his family got saved and baptized with the Holy Spirit! [Acts 16:16-34].

    Who is watching us? Wherever we live and work and play, someone is always watching us to see if our testimony is true and faithful and believable. While some wait to see if we fail in our faith, some also wait to see if we are real, if our faith is real, if our words are words of hope and love and mercy and compassion and wisdom. We walk the walk while we talk the talk. 

    So we endure. We endure divorce. We endure miscarriages. We endure cancer. We endure the death of our loved ones, even if we feel that they've died too soon. We endure sickness and chronic pain. We endure tragedy, calamity and destruction; whether from a natural disaster or an unbelieving community. 

    We find ourselves displaced: no place to live, no house of worship to gather in, little to no food on our tables; having only the clothes on our backs and the shoes on our feet, if that. BUT GOD is still God in our lives. God we still praise for He is our GOD. He is our Shelter (our place to live), He is our Glory (our place to worship), He is our Sustainer (our bread and wine, milk and honey). 

    The Lord God is with us in that which we must endure in order that His will is revealed as we go through what each of us has been called (ordained) to go through. God will carry us when we believe that He is God and there is no other god. God will walk with us when we believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior. When we walk with the Lord, we never go through these hardships alone. Therefore, we are not afraid, for the Lord is with us.

    It is because God loves us that we Endure. And at the end of every endurance challenge, there is always a prize for the ones who endure. Every race has its own reward. But the endurance race in which the Christian is participating has a reward, too: the eternal presence of the Living God and Christ our Crown of Glory. 

    So, we patiently wait for His return, doing the work He has given us to do. Yes, we do long for His return, but there is still much work to be done. Not everyone is ready and we need to get and be ready, that we might rise with Him when the Father sends Him to bring us home.

ENDURING HARDSHIPS 16 Songs to Encourage and Uplift

Heart & Soul - - All That Is Within Me

 

Mark 12:20

And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.

*Strong's Ex. Conc. No. 3650

All: the whole, complete, entire

From the Greek word 'holos' (pronounced hol'-os): wholly, where all the parts are present and working as a whole – i.e. as the total, which is greater than the mere sum of the parts.

EVERYTHING THAT IS WITHIN ME

Deuteronomy 6:4, 5

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is One. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

    Abraham had God's promise that through the son he would have with Sarah, the son not yet conceived, would come many nations. The promise came before the test. Abraham had faith that God would restore life to his son. For he knew that God keeps His promises. (Genesis 17:1-18:15; 21:1-8; 22:1-15). Abraham fulfilled the first commandment.

    Hosea, under God's command, married a prostitute and had children with her. He was God's prophet and his actions may have seemed crazy to his contemporaries, yet God had placed a great love within Hosea's heart for her: a heart that forgave her whoredoms (fornications and adulteries) and loved her back into a right relationship. This great romance is not only a historical fact, but an allegorical relationship of God wooing His people back to Himself. Hosea fulfilled the first commandment.

    Jesus' mother, Mary, fulfilled the first commandment in a simple reply to the angel who spoke the prophecy to her: Luke 1:38 "“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it happen to me according to your word.” Then the angel left her." Fully surrendered to God, Mary submitted to the Word spoken over her. 

    The widow, who gave God everything she had, fulfilled the first commandment. (Mark 12:41-44; Luke 21:1-4). She placed all of her finances in the Lord's treasury: she gave all that she had. Though wealthier people had given some of their riches, she out of her necessity gave it all to God. 

    These people are but a few Biblical examples of giving everything within them to the Lord God. Because their hearts were filled with a desire to please God, they were able to serve Him in such a way as to glorify Him. Are we? We have current contemporary examples who show us how to love God first and foremost, by their outspoken faith: Brock Purdy. Tim Tebow. Joyce Meyers. Elisabeth Elliot.

    Worshiping God is more than singing, more than playing a musical instrument. God wants our everything, our all. And He wants it when He asks for it. To worship God is to obey God when He speaks. And He's still speaking today. 

    We hear Him speaking when we pray while we study out His Word for ourselves. Before the many comes the individual. Adam walked and talked with God before anyone else existed. He was intelligent and able to speak clearly. He could think for himself and make decisions on his own. He was no caveman as junk science would have us believe, but a man with whom God could converse, as friend to friend.

    We hear God speaking when we spend quality time with Him and Him only. In whatever space or room we have set aside for just being alone with Him, our prayer room or prayer closet: a smallish space that leaves no room for anything else. We make a decision to do so and stick by it, regardless of outside discord, which threatens our alone time with Him. 

    Have you asked yourself, "Why am I here? What is my purpose?" God knows. In fact, God is the only One Who knows exactly why He created you. But in order for us to fulfill our purpose in Him we need to seek Him out and ask Him what is our specific reason for existing? Besides the basics.

CREATED TO

>We are created to commune-listen to, hear from, speak with-with the God Who created us. 

>We are created to worship God and Him only. Deuteronomy 6:5.

>We are created to love God, to love Him above all other loves. Exodus 20:1-5.
>We are created to be God's hands and feet, carrying the gospel of salvation wherever He sends us. Mark 16:15. John 15:16.

>We are created to be productive. As He set Adam and Eve up in the Garden of Eden to take care of all that was in it, so we, too, are expected to work in God's kingdom. Everyone has a job to do. Genesis 1:26-31; 2:4-24. John 4:34-38. Acts 1:8. 

>We are created to love all other people in the same way in which God loves us: unconditionally (no strings attached, no quid pro quo, without measure or merit). Mark 12:31. John 13:34; 15:17.

>We are created to conquer, to overcome, to rise above every obstacle in our path. Psalm 18:32-35. Isaiah 40:31. Ephesians 6:10-20.

>We are created to endure, to outlast our enemy. Hebrews 12:1.

>We are created to persevere, to continue on, to move forward regardless of what tries to grab our attention and focus. Proverbs 4:27. 

    These are some of our most basic reasons for our existence. If we have not attained some of them, there's still time. Only three things can prevent us from accomplishing God's purpose for our lives:

1. Death. After we die, there are no more opportunities to love God and fulfill our purpose in Him.

2. Christ's Second Return. When the Father sends His Son back to this earth to collect His bride, all of the people who make up this bride (the church) will leave. After that you'll have seven years to make up your minds whether or not you will choose God to be your God. 

3. Unwillingness. Ignorance is not your friend, nor is it available to you after you have been reading these studies with me. You cannot say, 'I did not know'. Apathy is not your friend, either. To hear the Word of the Lord and not receive is to have an 'I don't care' attitude towards God's Word. It is to be unwilling to surrender your all to His all. 

    Can I say I have done my part up to this point in sharing the gospel, in testifying of God's amazing grace to me, to us? Yes. Can I do more? Always. The Holy Spirit takes me where God wants me to go. And right now, that's here. All that is within me desires all that He is. 

DESIRING GOD'S PRESENCE 

Today's Word -- Patience

 2 Corinthians 6:4 

But in all things let us exhibit ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in tribulation, in necessities, in distresses. 

2 Corinthians 4:8, 9

We are hard pressed on all sides, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.

Romans 8:35

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 

Strong's describes this word 'Patience' as (1) a remaining behind (2) a patient enduring (3) endurance (4) steadfastness. 

 5281 hypomonḗ (from 5259 /hypó, "under" and 3306 /ménō, "remain, endure") – properly, remaining under, endurance; steadfastness, especially as God enables the believer to "remain (endure) under" the challenges He allots in life. 

And because this patience is God-enable, we are made aware that it truly is one of the fruit of the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 "But the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love [unselfish concern for others], joy, [inner] peace, patience [not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting], kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law."

Patience is endurance. Romans 15:4 "For everything that was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures, we might have hope." Hebrews 12:1-3 (1) "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race set out for us. (2) Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (3) Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."

Patience is perseverance. Perseverance is constancy, remaining constant with one goal in mind. 1 Timothy 6:11, 12 "But you, O man of God, flee from these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made the good confession before many witnesses." Luke 8:15 "And that in the good soil, these are those who, having heard the word, keep it in a worthy and good heart and bring forth fruit by perseverance."

Patience is steadfastness. Steadfast is morally fixed, securely positioned, firm in purpose. 1 Corinthians 15:58 "And that in the good soil, these are those who, having heard the word, keep it in a worthy and good heart and bring forth fruit by perseverance." Colossians 1:22, 23 "But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy, unblemished, and blameless in His presence ----- if indeed you continue in the faith, established and firm, and not being moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, having been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, of which I Paul have become a minister."

Patience is also longsuffering. Colossians 3:12, 13 "So, as God’s own chosen people, who are holy [set apart, sanctified for His purpose] and well-beloved [by God Himself], put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience [which has the power to endure whatever injustice or unpleasantness comes, with good temper]; bearing graciously with one another, and willingly forgiving each other if one has a cause for complaint against another; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so should you forgive."

Patience like this only comes from God. We already have it when we become believers in the gospel of salvation through Christ and are filled with His precious Holy Spirit, the Comforter Whom God sends to all believers. Patience is a result, a fruit, of the Holy Spirit living in us, guiding us and revealing to us the meaning of God's Word when we read and study it for ourselves. Get you a Holy Bible, ask God to reveal Himself in His Word and get ready for the race of your life. 

Ephesians 4:1-7 

(1) So I, the prisoner for the Lord, appeal to you to live a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called [that is, to live a life that exhibits godly character, moral courage, personal integrity, and mature behavior--a life that expresses gratitude to God for your salvation], with all humility [forsaking self-righteousness], and gentleness [maintaining self-control], with patience (divinely regulated patience, longsuffering) , bearing with one another [a]in [unselfish] love. 

(2)  with all humility [forsaking self-righteousness], and gentleness [maintaining self-control], with patience, bearing with one another [a]in [unselfish] love.]

(3) Make every effort to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the bond of peace [each individual working together to make the whole successful].

(4) There is one body [of believers] and one Spirit--just as you were called to one hope when called [to salvation]--

(5) one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

(6) one God and Father of us all who is [sovereign] over all and [working] through all and [living] in all (who believe).

(7) Yet grace [God’s undeserved favor] was given to each one of us [not indiscriminately, but in different ways] in proportion to the measure of Christ’s [rich and abundant] gift.