weariness

Faith: Key To Endurance

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The Greek word for endurance is hupomone. Strong’s definition: constancy, perseverance, continuance, bearing up, steadfastness, holding out. Note in my Bible. It describes the capacity to continue to bear up under difficult circumstances, not with a passive complacency, but with a hopeful fortitude that actively resists weariness and defeat.

Faith in God is the key to endurance. Endurance clings to the Lord in barnacle faith ~ allowing nothing to shake or uproot it. I love Psalm 63:8 in the Amplified. It says, “My whole being follows hard after You and clings closely to You; Your right hand upholds me.”

Thanksgiving is the fertilizer to our faith rooted in love. Ephesians 3:17 says, “That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love.” 

Meditating in God’s word sends our roots deep into the river of God. Psalm 1:3 says it, “…brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.”

Patient Endurance~Part Two

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Our flesh and the Holy Spirit are antagonistic.  Galatians 5:17 says, “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another…”

That is a perfect description for why we struggle. We don’t want to let go of our flesh.

Psalm 34:9-10 says, “Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him. The young lions lack and suffer hunger; but those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing.”

The fear of the Lord, seeking Him, and patiently enduring our trials are three areas that supply anything we lack. Psalm 84:11 says, “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold for those who walk uprightly.”

Endurance means to bear up under difficult circumstances with hopeful fortitude that actively resists weariness and defeat.

That Opportune Time

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I woke up thinking about Galatians 6:9 which says, “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.”

Jesus was tempted in the wilderness by satan during His most vulnerable time.  In Luke 4:13 it says, “Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.”

Weariness can be that opportune time.  Emotional fatigue dulls our spiritual senses, and we can easily fall prey to fleshly reactions.  Ephesians 4:27 says, “Nor give place to the devil.”  We are not to give any opportunity, or ground over to satan in our lives.  That means we have to be on our guard.  Weariness comes from our flesh and loss of focus on Him.

Proverbs 4:23 is a command.  It says, “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.”  That diligence is defined through Colossians 3:23.  It says, “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men.”  The Amplified says to work at it from the soul.  Our soul is our mind, will, and emotions.  We are do things wholeheartedly as unto the Lord.  This will help us keep our focus and not withdraw emotionally.

Constantly renewing our minds, strengthening our faith, and being thankful are powerful weapons to fight off emotional fatigue.  They refresh and strengthen our spirit, and consequently weaken our flesh.