But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, turning you over to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors on account of My name. It will lead to an opportunity for your testimony. So make up your minds not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves; for I will provide you eloquence and wisdom which none of your adversaries will be able to oppose or refute. But you will be betrayed even by parents, brothers and sisters, other relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death, and you will be hated by all people because of My name. And yet not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives.
~ Jesus, Luke 21:12-19 NASB
But be on your guard, so that your hearts will not be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life, and that this day will not come on you suddenly, like a trap; for it will come upon all those who live on the face of all the earth. But stay alert at all times, praying that you will have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.
~ Jesus, Luke 21:34-36 NASB
I have written blogs on endurance before and today once again I was apprehended by the Holy Spirit to write on endurance - to overcome and to stand worthy of His call. We are living in the last days before the return of our Lord and King Jesus. There is a great intensity and pressure to conform to the pattern of this world and to grow discouraged in your Christian walk and walk away from the faith in Christ that you once had confessed with great zeal and passion.
The disciples encountered themselves in a similar moment when Jesus told them to cross over the sea to the other side (Matthew 14:22-36). In obedience they set out and in the dark of night when their boat was far from land, in the middle of the sea, tormenting opposition arose. Adverse winds blew strong, contrary to where they were heading, and great waves battered the boat to halt the forward progress to obey the instructions of Jesus. We know that the disciples took in fear as that boat would have taken in the water of those contrary waves. Shortly before dawn Jesus came walking on the water of that sea and an opportunity arose in that contrary moment for Peter to walk as Jesus walked - stable on the water. But a failure happened as Peter allowed the external pressure and torment of the moment to sink his confidence in the Word of God to walk the walk of the Spirit and he began to sink. The Bible tells us that "Immediately Jesus reached out with His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”" (Matthew 14:31 NASB).
Jesus is not one to 'understand' our excuse to fear the hour and not believe His Word. Although Peter was rescued, he got rebuked by Jesus. Faith is required in this hour to walk on the water of all adversity and not spectate the opposing winds and waves, Keep the course He has set you on to cross over to the other side of what your flesh feels and sees. Step over into the Spirit by heeding to His Word and refuse to allow your natural man to navigate you in this hour. The natural man has only one response to adverse winds and high waves blowing on the surface of the sea of your life and that is to sink.
In Jesus, rescue is always at hand but endurance to overcome is required. Through our new birth in Christ we have been given a new life and a new nature - His! His life is an overcoming life that is solely moved by God's say and God's do. Only His say can take us through this moment of arising persecution and great opposing waves of thought that are anti-Christ's Word. You and I have a choice to make - do we lean on our understanding of the old natural carnal way of life to fear or do we step out courageously on the Word of God to be bold and not allow our hearts to be weighed down with the cares of life.
Just as in the story of the disciples crossing the troubled sea, on the other side were many sick and tormented people waiting for rescue and deliverance. Let us now cross over into faith and allow Jesus to be seen and heard through us. For as many as touched Jesus they were healed and rescued from all oppression. Let us manifest the kingdom of God on Earth by walking as Jesus walked and be a rescue light in this dark tormented world.
By your endurance you will gain your lives. (Luke 21:19 NASB)
Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man. (Luke 21:36 NKJV)
