- it is ultimately God's perseverance with me and for me, ultimately for the glory and praise of Jesus Christ
- "Where does my help come from?" (Psalm 121) "My help comes from the Lord." - the Creator and Sovereign God
- God works perseverance in me (Phil. 2)
- It is Christ who keeps His sheep.
- perseverance and endurance produce characer therefore trialsmust come in order for us to be made into Christlikeness
- you must stand taking the pressure - perseverance is the divine ability to stand
- e.g., Daniel 1-3, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego
- you must believe in God's purposes and sovereignty and that you will receive "the crown of life"
- then wisdom transforms that knowledge - and all you must do is ask for wisdom with faith and you will learn of the amazing generosity of God
- you must know and allow Christ to have full Lordship of every part of your life
- humble yourself (1 Peter 5:6-7)
- don't ignore the blessings
- we must persevere in temptation: first it's attraction (twisted adoration for the false, untrue, wayward - very often in seeing something), then deception, then conception
- we must "[Hide] your word in my heart that I might not sin against you" - resist at the beginning - do not be deceived
- and know above all else that God is unchangeably good
- God is good all the time. All the time God is good. How do I know? Because He did not even spare His only Son, Jesus Christ.
- God has now supernaturally given us rebirth and something to hope in - persevere!
- we will receive the crown of life, our character will be built, we will be like Christ
Persevere and in the end we will be perfect in Christ and everything will be worth it.
And we will thank God for all of eternity!
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