![]() ![]() If you want endurance, you must endure! By continually working these five things your endurance will grow and your spiritual health will vastly improve. ![]() By bringing someone along, we stay committed to the process ourselves. There is great mutual encouragement and accountability with you do this. Spend quality time with other followers of Jesus. Study it and hide its words in your heart – memorize scripture. Ask for insight and be sure to pray for others. Every prayer you make strengthens your relationship with God. Fortifyĭo the things that strengthen you spiritually. This is hard but you can do it – especially as you make it part of a lifestyle that includes all five steps. Remember all these things can and will hurt your endurance. You must get rid of activities that detract, attitudes that hurt, obligations that encumber and possessions that demand. If you aren’t willing to eliminate, you haven’t really repented. Ask this question: What am I doing that leads me into sin? More questions you can ask at this point: Why am I doing this? Why do I watch this? Why does this seem important? Eliminate Take some time, pray, and discover everything you are doing that is unnecessary and hurting your spiritually. You must also repent of attitudes and the busyness and distractions that weigh you down. ![]() It starts with sin – complete and total repentance means you will no longer follow that way but follow Jesus. This means we completely give up everything that keeps us from endurance. In other words, you must continually engage in these five things. Understand these five things are not one and done – they are part of a continual lifestyle of following Jesus. There are five things that you must do in order to simplify and endure. Jesus endured these trials with joy because he was focused on the reason for the cross and the glory after the cross. It was a criminal’s death, without dignity, public and painful. He is the complete picture of what a life of faith is. There was no shortcoming in him and we need to look to no one else. Every day, we must look to his life, his example, his teaching, his death and resurrection and his ongoing ministry through the Holy Spirit. Endurance is easier when you simplify.įollowing Jesus all the way means making disciples just as he did, doing kingdom work he’s called you to. We must run the race, never stop, never let up. Our entire life must be devoted to running the race. If we have multiple priorities we have not laid aside every weight. We are to have just one priority – run with endurance the race that is set before us. Next to this passage in my Bible I wrote: There are no priorities. Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus – important by Jesus’ standards! Martha was busy preparing the table and the food – important by our standards. We must evaluate every weight by Jesus’ standard not ours. Our lives are to have no encumbrances or complications. Anything that produces a conflict with following Jesus must be abandoned. We know that God will take away our sin as we place our faith in him.Īlso – every weight that keeps us from moving strongly ahead must be dealt with. ![]() We cannot play around with sin, it must be gone. Sin must be dealt with, that is, eliminated – clear and easily acceptable. What does this passage ask us to do? Two things – and the first is the most important because it is what powers the second! Two Things First – Simplify Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Is there a way to build endurance to work through the trials we face as we follow Jesus? God’s word provides us with all we need to thrive as we follow Jesus and to endure! And I have discovered five essential steps to build endurance based on his word. Endurance is a key part of spiritual health and strength yet most people struggle in the area of endurance. ![]()
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