Perseverance

IBS 8  

Colossians 1:11

“strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy;”

  

Naturally I am an introvert. I cherish time alone with the Lord and times of reflection. Living on the property here in Antigua I am constantly surrounded by people; except for my time alone with the Lord in the mornings. There have been moments where I feel internally tired from all of the energy around me and I feel this desire to emotionally shut down. But the Lord is calling me to things bigger than myself. Long-suffering. This is a characteristic of the Lord that I have come to know more and more over the last few months of my life. We all know the “love” verses in the Bible; 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. Most people know the first part of verse 4 that says, “Love is Patient, love is kind.” But the New King James version reads: “Love suffers long and is kind…” I serve a God who waits. He waits for people to come to Him, He waits for those who have walked away from Him to come back; and He continues to pursue us in kindness even when we turn our backs on Him. This astounds me. The amount of suffering the Lord must go through as He watches me make mistakes that are avoidable. If only I would stop, be still to hear His voice and obey what He tries to tell me. He pursues me with patience and diligence in moments when I think I can handle things on my own. During my field time I know there will be times where I will be tempted to shut down, but I want to prepare now for success in those moments then. The strength the Lord gives me is from His power; preparing me for situations requiring patience, longsuffering and through this producing joy. I know I must face each day with long-suffering to serve the people around me rather than myself. Even in the Lords suffering, He is still kind to me. Thank you Lord that you never quit!

Application: When I feel tempted to shut down I will stop and remember 1 Corinthians 13:4. I will pray and ask the Lord for a fresh love for the people around me and for the strength He gives according to His power; getting my eyes off of myself and onto Him who loves me and asks me to love others in kindness.

Perseverance

IBS 7

Luke 21:19
 
“By your patience possesses your souls."

I have always heard people say “When you ask God for patience, He doesn’t just give it to you. Instead, He puts you into situations where you can practice patience.” Today my class hiked Agua. Agua is a dormant volcano that is 1200 feet above sea level. This hike took us a total of twelve hours to get up and back. I began the hike excited for the journey; joyful and ready to take it on. Nearly half way into the hike I started feeling the altitude change. My legs were getting sore, it became harder to breathe, my head started to hurt and I realized it wasn’t as easy as I thought it was going to be. I think often in our walks with Christ we step into new seasons with joy and excitement; only to realize trials and temptations will come our ways as we are in Gods will. It would have been easy to have been content with reaching at least half way up, but I wanted to see the view from the top. This hike up Agua was the single hardest thing I have ever done; but I feel so rewarded. The hike was not easy by any means, there were times when I wanted to quit, but looking forward to the top made me keep going. The Lord continued to show me that I didn’t have the strength to complete the task. My body is weak; but all I had to do was stick one foot in front of the other and keep going. God put me in a situation today that called for patience, which in turn produced perseverance. In my walk with the Lord I know I will and have faced trials and temptations which could easily cause me to not walk any forward in my relationship with Christ. But I want Him at His fullest. I count all things a loss that I might know Him.

Application: As my days feel long and my body becomes tired, I will press on and make sure all of my class work is done before going to bed at night. I will continue to wake up early to spend time with Jesus and honor others needs before my own.

Perseverance

IBS 6

Luke 8:11-15

“Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. Now the ones that fell among the thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.”

Reading this verse I think about this new season in my life. God has called me to leave everything and everyone I know and love so dearly; to step into the unknown territory of living on my own in Guatemala. In my first two weeks of being here I was tested in my own relationship with the Lord beyond what I thought I could bare. I arrived in Guatemala to many new faces, new voices and diverse personalities. My heart was overwhelmed at the fact that I was so far away from what I called, “home.” Every day I was faced with a new internal battle of dying to myself. My heart being in such a sensitive state, the devil took his opportunities to create chaos in my mind; telling me that I couldn’t  handle this next year, that I wasn’t strong enough, that people weren’t going to like me, I wasn’t worthy. One morning as I was reading my Bible and spending time with Jesus, the Lord gave me Isaiah 42:6: “I, the Lord, have called You in righteousness, And will hold Your hand; I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, As a light to the Gentiles.” The Lord confronted me with some very simple, yet loaded questions. Do you actually trust Me? Do you actually trust Me with the people you love? Do you trust Me with your heart? Do you truly believe I am who I say I am? Do you believe I will do what I say I will do? I had the opportunity to allow His word take root in my heart, or turn from His word and face my battles on my own; denying Him my trust. The work the Lord does in me isn’t always as fast as I want it to be, I don’t always see what He’s doing in and through me. That is why this verse in Luke says “…bear fruit with patience.” But I know I can rest in His promises; because it is not up to me to fulfill the promises He gives me. Psalm 1 says blessed is the man whose delight is in the law of the Lord and in His law he meditates day and night. The words “I trust the Lord” so easily flow out of my mouth; and now I have the choice to daily put my trust in Him or take matters into my own hands. The truth is I am weak; I am unworthy, I am not strong enough, I can’t handle the tasks God has set before me. But praise Him for He is faithful to complete that which He calls us to. It is He who completes the work, not me. Let His word take root. 

Application: When I am tempted to doubt the call of the Lord or the work of the Lord, I will read Isaiah 42:6. I will seek to delight myself in His word by running to my Bible to find my strength, my rest, my peace, in Him; allowing His word to take deeper root in my heart as I pursue Him. I will ask Kenadie to hold me accountable to this.

Wisdom

IBS 5

Ephesians 5:15-17

“See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”

This life is not my own. This is a truth the Lord is bringing to light in my life. I knew my life wasn’t my own before coming into Ignite, but it was more head knowledge than understanding and application. The more I understand that I was not made for me the more I long to die to myself the way Jesus died for me. Since being here in Antigua, the Lord has been peeling off layers of myself that I didn’t even know were affecting my walk with Him. I could read the words in this verse “redeeming the time” and franticly try to fill my time with acts of service. I could consciously go out of my way to do something nice for someone, which is not a bad thing. But God doesn’t want what I think I should do. God wants me to let Him lead me by the Holy Spirit and walk in obedience where He calls me. A faulty mindset the Lord revealed to me I had was the desire to work “for” Him, rather than “unto” Him. I have to wake up at 6:30 each morning. My first week here in Guatemala one of the mornings was harder to get up. I pulled my body up until I was sitting straight up and thought, “Okay Lord, I am going to make my bed for You with joy.” Again, this is not a bad mindset, but God doesn’t need me to make my bed for Him. He could make it if He wanted to. But God wants me to make it unto Him; in submission and with thanksgiving. The will of the Lord is not for me to work for Him. He doesn’t need me. But I get to serve Him with my life; even in the little things. The Lord has showed me that redeeming the time is not the work I do, but the time I spend with Him and then pouring into others. God wants me to be a servant; wherever I am, whoever I am with, whatever I am doing.

My Application: I can redeem my time by spending more quality time with the Lord; then pouring out myself because He filled me. I will read my Bible before I go to bed each night and continually ask the Lord to change this mindset of working for Him into a service unto Him.

Wisdom

IBS 4  

2 Corinthians 1:12

“For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience that we conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God, and more abundantly toward you.”

In 2 Corinthians Paul is praising the church in Corinthians for their change of behavior. He is boasting in the work Jesus has done in and through him and Timothy in encouragement. In verse 8 Paul writes, “For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even life.” Now in verse 12 Paul is writing from the victory stand point declaring that the Lord delivered them from this suffering. I am thankful for the example Paul is. Paul allowed himself to suffer for the sake of the gospel, even not knowing the outcomes. I know in my life I am going to suffer, at times beyond what I think I can bear, but I am always promised a way out. Paul writes multiples times that we should count it our joy when going through struggles. Our struggles reveal our problems which allow for us to submit to the Lord and let Him do a work in us.

Application: When faced with struggles, or suffering, I will boast in the name of Jesus. That no suffering I experience on this earth will ever replace the suffering He underwent on the cross for me.