INHERITED ENDURANCE
We pray that you may be invigorated and strengthened with all power according to the might of His glory, to exercise every kind endurance and patience perseverance and forbearance with joy. Giving thanks to the Father, Who has qualified and made us fit to share in the portion which is the inheritance of the saints, God's holy people, in the Light. (Colossians 1:11-12 Amplified Bible)
Well there it is; we may just have to endure some things in our walk with God. As much as we would like to have everything be perfect all the time, the truth is that only God is perfect. So if we remain in Him endurance does not need to be unbearable.
Paul prays that we would be invigorated and strengthened by just the idea of enduring with joy. Well maybe that is just my take on it, but I think it is a reasonable interpretation.
We can be honest and recognize that dying to self takes some endurance. When Paul said, “I die daily,” he was serious! Don’t you have things that come up on a regular basis that require you to decrease in order for the Lord to increase in you? Of course you do. We all do! We may skip the opportunity from time to time, but once we take the opportunity it requires endurance and patience.
Even the most patient person has their point of impatience. That is where the fruit of the Holy Spirit provides what we need. What a joy it is each time we experience Christ living in us.
Early this morning I found myself in a dream where I found a key that I needed, but then I did not remember what I needed it for. I could not find where it went. When I prayed, the anxiety left. I still did not know the answer I needed, but I rejoiced and was confident it would work out.
The point is that we all have things that require endurance and we all think that our thing is a big thing. It is a big thing! It is important to us and it is really important to God. Knowing that our things are import to Him is key in enduring and persevering. If we really expect everything to run smoothly automatically all the time, we are going deal with a lot of disappointment.
There was a movie and I do not remember the name of right now but the story was about an inheritance that a young man received. Collecting it required jumping through a lot of hoops without really knowing what he would actually receive. He learned a step at a time what it required to keep moving forward. Our life lessons go that way too.
We fortunately know our ultimate inheritance and we have hope for things along the way. God is good. Still, we need to understand that there will be things that stand in our way. The good news is that we have inherited all that we need for victory. Rejoice!