Category: perseverance

“In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of His appearing and His kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.” (II Timothy 4:1-5)

By birth, Prabhu Das was a dalit, which literally means broken or oppressed. Indian society labels these millions the untouchables, as they are in the caste lower than any other. Growing up poor, Prabhu did not realize anything was wrong until he went to school and found that no one would play with him, sit with him, or talk to him. “Why?” he asked his parents. Then he learned of his unfortunate position in life – a position with no hope or future.

Rather than just accept his lot, when Prabhu was a teenager, he left home and connected to a criminal organization. As he successfully fulfilled his assigned crimes of theft and violence, he built quite a reputation for himself as one to be feared.

Then he encountered Jesus. A bold believer planted the truth of the Gospel; then the Good Shepherd made Himself so evident that Prabhu repented of his sins, gave his life to Christ, and turned himself into authorities asking for mercy for his crimes.

Prabhu found mercy… from God and from man. Now married with two children, he lives in Hydrabad and is a regional director for Mission India. Prabhu has been saved and has been given a ministry to reach the lost. His passion now is to bring the Muslims of his nation to Christ. Prabhu works relentlessly with the ‘joy of the Lord’ as his strength.

One of Mission India’s effective works involves daily Bible Clubs that help children with their schoolwork while also teaching them about Jesus. Hundreds of thousands of parents have found Christ because their children have come home from Bible Clubs talking about the One who gave His life for us. When parents see positive change in their children, and then learn that Jesus is the reason, they often want to know more. This past year, Mission India has counted over 4000 churches that have been planted because of people coming to Christ through Bible Clubs.

Susan and I watched a video of a young man eagerly sharing of his ‘privilege’ to serve the Lord by teaching and loving children. After finishing work at 5:30, he drives over an hour through city congestion to reach the Bible Club’s 50-60 waiting children. For an hour and a half, he works with the children, encourages them in their education, sings Christian songs, plays games, and tells everyone about Jesus. He then drives an hour to his apartment and gets the rest he needs for an early rise for the next day’s work. The amazing part of this young man’s ministry is that he gladly follows this schedule five days a week, fifty-two weeks of the year.

Currently Mission India has over 105,000 Christians waiting to be trained to be a Bible Club Leader in their own village or community. It is as if a new believer says: “I have found true life in Jesus! There are 1.2 billion people in my country, most of whom have never heard the Gospel. Everyone needs to know the truth! Here I am, Lord; send me!!”

“Since we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others… So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old is gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself in Christ, not holding men’s sins against them. And He has committed to us the ministry of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. As God’s fellow workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For He says, ‘In the time of my favor I heard you, in the day of salvation I helped you.’ I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” (II Corinthians 5:11, 5:16-6:2)

From Luke 9: “Now it came to pass, when the time had come for him to be received up, that he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem…” (v 51 – NKJV)

Jesus knew his purpose would be fulfilled in Jerusalem, so he went steadfastly. There were many things that happened in his life before passion week, but Jesus stayed focused on the will of the Father. Whether there were victories or losses on the road, nothing would distract him from his purpose.

Oh to have this focus! But how often do I look more like Martha? From Luke 10: “As Jesus and his disciples were on the way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, ‘Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!’ ‘Martha, Martha,’ the Lord answered, ‘you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.’” (vv 38-42 – NIV)

For Jesus, the ‘one thing’ was surely his Father, and he depended on the Holy Spirit to lead him daily until his purpose was complete. Is not Jesus the ‘one thing’ we need? Will I choose ‘what is better’ or will I let all the worries and distractions of life knock me off course?

“Father, let me follow your Spirit in focused living. Let me choose the ‘one thing’ every day on this earth. Thank you that Jesus shows the way. Amen.”

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 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. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Hebrews 12:1-3

I have a friend in the Army Reserves who regularly trains on weekends. Recently several of his soldiers sarcastically thanked him for volunteering them for a competition a few weeks ago. It was an extremely hard competition against active Army soldiers and active duty Marines in bitterly cold weather with shooting, ruck marches, and a lot of physical training. The team leader said it was one of the most difficult things he had ever done. His team excelled and finished second in the standings, and later the guys genuinely thanked him for putting them through something extremely difficult. The sergeant said, “That was the worst thing I have ever endured in the Army.” Then with a smile he added, “So ‘thank you’ because I will never forget it.”

This week we had a little reunion of our Young Life trip this past summer. Karlyn is in for spring break and Hunter and Yousef are visiting from Israel. These three and Alysia, Nate, Susan, and I had breakfast together and caught up. Hunter, who now lives in Nazareth, reminisced: “When I see you guys, I think of us all being stranded out in the desert trying to find a way into the West Bank.” He reminded us of the hardest day of our week when we were denied entry at an Israeli checkpoint while Yousef and his family waited on the other side of the wall. We waited for hours in the hot sun taking turns standing under one lonely tree for a little shade. We joked that Hagar put Ishmael under that same tree while wondering if we were ever going to meet up with our Palestinian friends.  Our day of adventure eventually ended happily, but it was very difficult… and we will never forget it.

Why is it important to go through hard things? James gives us one reason: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:2-4)

The hardest thing anyone has ever done in all of history was also completely necessary for us to be united with God. The Son, “who learned obedience from what He suffered,” ran his race with perseverance and endured the Cross while carrying our sins. What a Savior! And He chose to do this hard thing for me and for you. “Lord, teach us to walk in your steps.”

“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me — just as the Father knows me and I know the Father — and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life — only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.” John 10:14-18

“Who is the fastest and strongest guy in the class?” I asked. “Dre’,” everyone responded. “Who works at it more than anyone else?” “Dre’,” the students repeated. Lavondre’ is going to college on a football scholarship even though he is only about 5’6″. He is an outstanding athlete and a fine young man. “Through his high school career, Lavondre’ has maximized his physical genetic potential; no one outworks him,” his strength training coach said.

This discussion arose as we noticed the boldness of Christians in lands where persecution is common. My students were amazed at the determination, courage, and perseverance of men and women who risk their lives to proclaim their faith. One girl named Grace has been arrested, beaten,  and endured several years in jail. Instead of being silenced, Grace has led her fellow prisoners to Christ. The more she is persecuted, the more her faith seems to increase. As the one who exercises his muscles gets physically stronger, so the one who exercises her faith gets spiritually stronger.

We may hesitate to make such statements for fear of proclaiming a ‘works salvation,’ but this is not about the gift of salvation. God provides the means of salvation through his obedient Son. Jesus accomplished the work through which we are saved. But what do we do with what we’ve been given? God does not intend for his children to remain immature and ineffective… He wants us to grow and to be fruitful. We grow as we abide in Christ and Jesus promised that his Father, the Gardener, will produce good fruit. “I am the Vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (Jn 15:5)

Peter prayed that we would grow in the knowledge of God. So how does this happen? Grace put her faith in Jesus at age twelve, but never had access to a Bible until she was sixteen. Overjoyed, she read intently then copied down as much of the Bible as she could. She then began spreading the Word to others. Reading and studying is important, but Lavondre’ would not be as strong as he is today by simply reading magazines about weight lifting. Growth in Christ comes as we put his teachings into practice. “Do not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” (James 1:22) “If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.” (John 15:10) We have been given everything we need; how then shall we live?

“Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self control; and to self control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” II Peter 1:2-8

After lunch on the third day of this year’s Passion Conference in Atlanta, about forty-five thousand people stood praising God for an hour before Louie Giglio stepped to the microphone to make an appeal. “You know it is our habit to stand while we worship in song and sit while we hear God’s lessons, but this afternoon I want to ask you to stand for the teaching of God’s Word. Of course you don’t have to do this, but I want to encourage you to remain standing and listen carefully to a message straight from God.”

I first thought to myself, “Oh man… I’m already tired. How am I going to stand through a whole sermon?” (The sermons at Passion are usually not short.) But then a little competitiveness rose up in me as I thought, “If these college kids are going to stand the whole time, I’m surely not going to sit down.” Five others joined Louie on the stage and they took turns reading Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. After each chapter the reader would pause and say, “Now we will have a moment of silence and ask Christ to speak to our hearts.”

Without an exact count, I would guess three-fourths of the audience remained standing the entire time the six chapters were read. My seat was on the row behind my eighteen-year-old daughter, Karlyn, and I smiled as she stood. The day after the conference I tried to describe my experience to Karlyn. “I was so tired the first three chapters, but sometime during the reading of chapter four or five, something changed. It was really strange, but I started getting strength in my body. I was much stronger at the end of the reading than I was at the beginning.”  Karlyn replied, “The same thing happened to me, Dad. I did not sit down, because if I did, I knew I would fall asleep. I was so tired, but as we reached the second half of the Scripture I got stronger and stronger. If I didn’t get that strength, I don’t think I would have finished.”

During the pause between chapter four and chapter five, after the reader said, “Now let us be silent and listen to what the Holy Spirit says,” God spoke this to my heart: “There is strength in my Word.” This truth was accompanied by an unusual strength in my body. I can’t know whether every person in the Georgia Dome experienced the same thing, but my daughter and I did. Of course we all know there is strength in God’s Word, but what does this mean practically? Am I always to stand when the Bible is read? Am I to read out loud? Am I to read a certain length of time or use a certain translation? God is far more concerned with relationship than form or ritual. He wants us to know him and He clearly reveals himself through his Word. I think He wanted to remind me of his incredible gift. “My Word is living and active and I can speak to any situation in your life. Have you noticed how my Son used Scripture as He walked the earth? He defeated the devil in the wilderness with ‘It is written’ and I have given you access to the same wisdom and power. What are you doing with my Word? Is it the lamp to your feet and the light for your path? Will you believe what I say? Don’t be deceived by this world; let my Word bring you strength.”

“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired and weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:28-31