Persevere

The thought keeps coming into my mind to sit down and write again, then regularly, on this blog.  I have not been faithful to do what I feel has been the leading of the Holy Spirit and have sought God's forgiveness for not doing what He's asked me to do.  On April 18th I sat down to write and all I came up with was a title..."Persevere".  It's from that thought (now almost three months later!) that I sit down to write a word of encouragement (through the encouragement of a close friend and sister-in-Christ).

The definition of Persevere that I found on dictionary.com is: "to persist in anything undertaken; maintain a purpose in spite of difficulty, obstacles, or discouragement; continue steadfastly".  God's Word has so many positive promises of what perseverance can produce in a Christian's life.  And the Holy Spirit working in us gives us the ability and strength to do the things that allow God to work through us.  Consider these verses:

"All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right." (2Tim 3:16 NLT)

"By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence." (2Pet 1:3 NLT)

God has a plan for our lives and will help us to work it out for His glory.  He chose long ago to give us His perfect wisdom for us to live a life that is pleasing to Him and that reaches others with His perfect Love.  I pray that I will, through God's grace, not only read and hear His words, but also do what He says.  I encourage you, also, to hear and persevere in your spiritual growth.

"But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who acts—this person will be blessed in what he does." (James 1:25 HCSB)