Faithful Endurance
Words from Jesus
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“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being.”—Ephesians 3:161
When you consider the great men and women of the Bible who were mightily used of Me, wrought miracles, brought forth great wonders, delivered My messages, and accomplished My will, you might wonder what attributes they possessed that they were chosen to do these things. One important quality is that they were faithful in that which was least. I tested them and tried them and proved them, and they came through as faithful men, as obedient men, as yielded men.
Consider the breakings that they went through to become the men and women that I wanted them to be. You read of their exploits and glories, but there was not space in My book to write of all that they went through. The things you read about them were the peaks, the highlights. They achieved these because day by day, hour by hour, they chose to follow Me and serve Me. They learned through their care of lesser things to be faithful in the greater things.
Consider Moses, who grew up in an earthly king’s palace for 40 years, and then in My palace in the wilderness for another 40 years—a palace of breaking and humility, where he learned of the true King and the ways of the true King.
Consider Samuel, who grew up as a young child in My house, in My care and in My Word, and yet was of age before he was fully used by Me.
Consider My servant Paul, who was called by My hand and My voice and healed from blindness, and who after his conversion was eventually used of Me to reach the Gentiles with the gospel. Yet he too spent much time in the desert—the spiritual desert—learning My ways and being fed of Me. Having proven himself true and faithful, he was then greatly used.
You are as the clay in the hands of the Potter.2 The substance is there, the potential is there, and you are being formed day by day and year by year into the vessel that I created you to be. But have patience, have faith, for all that you go through and experience helps to mold you into the vessel that I would make you.
Do not be discouraged or dismayed if you feel you have not found your calling or the place where you can fully use the talents I have given you and the training and preparation you have received. Be patient. Desire My will for your life and seek this: Seek to learn and to grow. Seek to draw nigh to Me. Seek to pass through the desert places that you may come out as a man or woman of understanding, as a man or woman of depth, anointed of My Spirit.
I too spent time alone in the desert places, and I too went through the times of testing. When you find yourself in that desert place, do not fear, do not give up, but trust and believe that I am able to mold you and form you during these times. It is there that decisions will be made as to the kind of vessel you will become. It is there that you will come to know Me in deeper ways, to trust Me, and to love Me.
So in times of despair and deep discouragement, and times when you look about you and say, “What is happening? How could this be?”—when you feel like saying, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?”—know that in those times I am there with you.
Trust Me in the desert places. Just hang on. Strive to lay down your own ways, your own desires, and say, “Not my will, but Yours be done.” Trust Me to bless your stand of faith and to anoint you with the power of My Spirit.
Be patient, and know that I am He that forms you. I am the Potter, you are the vessel. Give Me the moldable clay of your life that I may make you into the useful vessel of My choosing, of our choosing. For the vessel you become is a vessel of My choice and your choice together.
Glory-strength
“We pray that you’ll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul—not the grim strength of gritting your teeth, but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy.”—Colossians 1:113
When ongoing problems require you to stick it out over the long haul, your faith sometimes falters. That’s when you resort to grimly gritting your teeth—simply passing time in a negative frame of mind. This is not the way I want you to deal with difficulties.
I am sovereign over the circumstances of your life, so there are always opportunities to be found in them. Sometimes those opportunities are so obvious that you can’t miss seeing them. At other times—especially when the journey is hard and seems endless—you have to search for the hidden treasure. Do not be like the man who hid his master’s talent in the ground because he was disgruntled with his circumstances. He gave up and took the easy way out: blaming his hard situation rather than making the most of his opportunity. The truth is, the more difficult your situation, the more treasure there is for you to discover in it.
I gladly give you glory-strength; it is limitless and freely available to each of My followers. It is exceedingly potent, because the Spirit empowers you—strengthening you with power in your inner being. Moreover, glory-strength enables you to keep on enduring the unendurable. Since this strength has no limits, there is more than enough of it to spill over into joy!4
Published on Anchor October 2016. Read by Gabriel Garcia Valdivieso.
Music by Michael Dooley.
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