It seems like the entire world is spiraling out of control. Those of us in the U.S. have it pretty good—for now, compared to Christians who are giving up their lives in regions of the world (where being a Christian equates with sure torture and death).

When I think we have it bad, I just think of those Christians who are at risk every day. It is all relative though, isn’t it? We get upset when we see little Johnny getting in trouble at school for bringing his Bible or praying at lunch.

Yet I recall reading a news wire recently of a Christian family not faltering on their faith in a Muslim country—even after the rape of the mother and daughter in front of the husband/father  and  then the torture and death of the rest of family. None of them denounced Christ. I’m not dismissing our plight here in our country, but it begs the question: When will greater and greater repression start occurring here in the U.S?

Are we right to throw our hands up in anger and dismay when little Johnny can’t pray over his lunch in the cafeteria at school? Absolutely. If we don’t stand for these seemingly small or minor infractions against our faith, this will only snowball down the hill until we face unfathomable acts against—whether it means being locked up in jail for our faith or watching our loved ones get tortured to try to get us to denounce Jesus.

We can only hope and pray we are taken up in the Rapture before it gets back to the times of ancient empires of burning Christians at the stake as street lamps along roads. The slope of the demise of this world was very gradual and unnoticeable, but it has pretty much been on a steep downgrade for a few years now. And is just getting steeper and steeper as we approach the cliff.

Like a frog being put in a pot of cold water with the temperature slowly rising and unbeknownst to the frog, the next thing it knows is it is being boiled; we to are the frogs of this world. We only now know, as we look back over the last few years, how far down this world has gone and as Christians we are just now realizing we are about to be boiled in hot water by the world.

We don’t know the time of our deaths, nor do we know the time of the Rapture, but until one or the other happens, we must survive this world and find peace in the face of hypocrisy and repression in knowing Christ has already conquered death.

2 Thessalonians 3:16 – “Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means.  The Lord be with you all.”

In Strong’s Concordance (1515) one of the notes on “peace” means  to rest. This of course begs the question of what rest is.

Matthew 11:28-29 talks about rest in the Christ, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. The word “rest” in Christ in these two verses (Strong’s Concordance, 379) reference refreshment.

Therefore when we seek peace from the Jesus we are looking refreshment from Him. When we seek to survive this world, we can be assured that when we seek peace or rest in Christ, it is offered to us freely. I don’t know about you, but the world runs me down just about every day and I need peace from Christ.

Terrorism is rampant. Evil is growing and getting bolder. Abortion rights are a rally call to justify murder. Public expressions of our faith are attacked and holding fast to our beliefs, our following of the Bible, is chastised to a point of marginalizing us as bigoted, ignorant, and not progressive in terms of what society deems as okay and just.

Is it wearing on us? Yes, it is. Not only are we in a spiritual battle with evil (Ephesians 6:12), we also must face and battle unsaved men and women. Man opposed to Christ seeks to sway society and shove their evil agendas down our throat to either get us to turn our backs on Christ or to get us to shut up so Satan can continue to devour as many as He can (3 Peter 5-8) before his time is up. With the peace of Christ, we can survive this world and have peace.

1 Peter 3:1 – “Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it.” This verse is an example of seeking peace through God. In my search of versus, I couldn’t find any saying otherwise. I didn’t see any verse saying to conform to society, but to NOT conform to the world (Romans 12:2).

We are charged by the Bible, by God, to seek the will of Him so we can avoid being sucked into the vacuum of this world and the evil it holds itself too.  By no means should we let the world drag us down, but instead pursue the peace of God at all times. By doing this, our focus will stay on God, not mankind, and the things of God will be in our hearts and minds.

The world tries to keep us in check, to keep us down. In our own country, look at the freedoms and repression we have allowed the government to bestow on us in the name of security and progressive ideas. These two things work in tandem to continue to walk us more and more toward having most everything in our lives controlled.

This includes our freedom to worship and evangelize the world  with the Word of God. Being able to pray in public, mention Jesus at work, display our crosses, etc. are being taken away from us for the “betterment” of society and not to offend others (i.e. control society at large).

We are stuck in this whirlwind of chaos and we must find and keep our peace in Christ to not be affected or swayed by this. We must remain bold in our beliefs. Acts 28:31 tells us that the apostle Paul preached and taught about Jesus with boldness and was not stopped from doing so.

Shouldn’t we have such boldness? God was with Paul, as He is with us. Mankind was unable to forbid Paul of speaking of Christ. To have his boldness would be awesome but the repression being pushed on us scares us of the consequences we will face, so we back off.

I admit I’m this way in some situations, but in others, I am bold.  I do let fear get in my way a  lot of the time. I do fear  possible repercussions if I open my mouth to speak about Christ. My heart is bold, but by the time my thoughts gets to my vocal chords, the “umph” is gone. Then I curse myself for not speaking up and for passing up the opportunity to impart God’s message of salvation and His wisdom when the opportunity was there.

I know I’m not alone in this because even Peter, who walked with Jesus, denied Him (Matthew 26: 69-74).  This is no excuse, but shows we are fallible humans. Yet Peter recovered and was a great champion for the Lord in due time. We can be, too.

We can be bold through finding peace in God and receiving rest in Him as we conduct daily battles for our hearts, souls, and minds. Nowhere in the Bible does it say this will be easy. It will be difficult at times and we will face trials and tribulations as we live for and follow Christ.

The world wants us to hold our tongues and practice our faith behind closed doors and to keep the love and message of Jesus away from those who have not yet been introduced to Him.

We must hold on to Christ and fight, even if it is one person at a time, one situation at a time, to ensure we are not influenced and swayed away from our path with Christ leading to everlasting peace and love in heaven.? No one knows when we will be taken up in the Rapture but we must keep watch on hold fast to Christ.

“Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh” (Matthew 24:44).

John_lysaught@yahoo.com

It’s hard to keep going, to move forward and to persevere and endure. I’m not saying we should give up—not at all. I’m just saying it’s hard sometimes to keep fighting. Maybe it’s just me and I’m way off the mark by saying this, but I think a lot of folks can relate to what I’m saying. Life can throw so many things at us.

The world can booby-trap our paths unceasingly to get us to slide away from Christ. Has Satan thrown enough traps at some to get them to just give up, to not persevere? Yes. I know some of you suffer and it’s hard to get through each day, each hour—to just survive. I’ve been in this boat sailing toward the edge of the abyss, but yet, I’m still here and I’m persevering.

One of the things I have is fibromyalgia. It is a horrid condition and if you have it, you know. If you know someone who has it, you see how miserable it can be. There are so many variables of pain and fatigue tied to this condition, that to try explain it would be tough.

In a general sense, having fibromyalgia is like having the flu with a normal temperature. The body aches, the fatigue, the muscles pains, etc., but this is just the tip of the iceberg. It goes way beyond that for this is just the normal feeling most of the time.

There are good days but they are outnumbered by worse days.  My journey with fibro is a few years old now and I hate it because of the pain and fatigue and the lack of sleep that comes with it. It gets pretty bad sometimes, but I’m not a quitter so I persevere and endure. God is my strength and though I pray for relief and healing, I trust the Lord in my condition regardless whether He answers me or not or gives me a night of rest.

I think to myself, Is this is a test? I remind myself  that all of life is a test of perseverance in the Lord, regardless of whether or not it is a disease, finances, temptations or tribulations. We just need to learn to trust in the Lord and persevere. So when I’m talking about it here, I’m not talking out the side of my mouth, I’m living it, just like you.

Is perseverance easy? No. If it were, it wouldn’t be called perseverance, would it? I have to look at each day as a day the Lord has made, to be glad and rejoice in it. Easy? Hardly, especially when facing something you’d rather see in the review mirror of life. Before I go to bed for those few hours of slumber, I’m always hoping and praying for a better day and the strength to face it if I don’t get relief.

I just remember that each day is another day closer to the next, which can be better. Do I get wound up in my self-pity? Yes, I do sometimes. Some will look down on me for this, but hey, I’m human aren’t I?

I’ve been told if I really believe, God WILL heal me. I know this can happen, but in my mind, I know God does things for a reason and allows things for a reason. He has allowed this condition to continue for reasons unknown to me. Job did nothing wrong and look at what happened to him; God allowed Job to suffer for a season and Job persevered and endured with his eyes on God.

Look at Paul and the thorn in his side that God allowed, and He told Paul that His grace was good enough and we are made strong in our weakness. So to those pundits telling me I’m not a good Christian or not faithful enough, I say pick up the Bible and read. Job and Paul persevered and trusted the Lord regardless of what they faced. We can too.

If you suffer, like we all do in one way or another (don’t lie to yourself), we can learn from those who suffered to persevere through our own suffering through trust and reliance on God for peace and rest—even in the midst of our problems. Sometimes, I feel like I’ve had enough of this suffering and  I just want to give-up.

Give up on what? I don’t know, I just want to give up. I get so tired of trials, even in the midst of my trust, that I wish something else would happen. I’m not saying I want my life to end or anything like that, but I just want to give up and, I don’t know… I want something to change.

In these moments of perpetual misery, the Holy Spirit urges me onward toward the light of God. Jesus knows what I’m going through and He knows perseverance. He faced both on a level  far beyond our comprehension. I think about this, not all the time, but a lot of the time; and then I do and pick my cross back up and walk forward toward heaven.

2 Corinthians 12:9 (KJV) says, “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

In my moments of weakness, when perseverance seems fleeting to my heart, I remind myself that God’s strength is with me and refines me through my trials. This verse helps me to keep going. It helps me to face the day. To get through the day with God at the front of my mind, at the end of it,  I can say, “Yes, He is with me and helps me endure.”

I know I must endure, in every facet of my life, specifically, those things causing me trouble. It’s not just my health, but all the other things in life seemingly getting in the way in my walk with Christ.

In Romans 5:3-4, we are told to glory in our tribulations because when we endure them, they build in us patience and hope; patience in waiting on the Lord and hope in Him as well. When we work to persevere and endure problems in our lives, we desire so much for them to be fixed immediately. We want change this minute and not a second later.

Romans 5:3-4 tells us to endure. We must have patience in the Lord to help us endure our situations.  We need to accept those things we cannot change on our own and trust that the Lord is working in us betterment in these situations on His timeline. Regardless of what we may want in the time we want it, God has His own plans for us. We just need to let go of our wills and let His will be done in us.

For some of us, perseverance is hard to deal with and accept in our Christian faith. We have health problems, financial problems, and family problems—to name a few. We desire quick fixes and quick action from God. When we don’t get what we want we can walk away or draw nearer to God in that moment. This is the crossroads for us to either hold on to Him or let go.

Keeping faith and hope in God and His grace to help us endure and persevere is paramount in our walk with Him. We don’t want to grow stagnant in our relationship with Him, nor do we want to step away from Him.

What we need to want is His strength. When we’re tempted to throw in the towel is the time when we need to focus on Him the most. Persevere my friends. You may need to persevere for a short time, a season, or a lifetime. Regardless, our focus should not be on when or what but it needs to be on Him. God bless.

John_lysaught@yahoo.com