Perseverance is Essential!

A Jesus.net team member, Suzanne Spolarich, asked me, “Eric, God gave you a dream. How do you persevere? What do you do to persevere in accomplishing that dream?” Here’s what I answered: Hebrews 11:1 states “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, being convinced of what we do not see.”

In fact, God gives us all gifts and He gave me the gift of faith. Every time I exercise my faith, I persevere. We can’t realize anything without perseverance. As pioneers and innovators, we must persevere with the ideas we think God has given us. We don’t know right away if the ideas will amount to something. So, we persevere. We have to keep waiting and understand that God leads the projects and the Holy Spirit is our spiritual “antenna”. He gives the idea and will bring the key people and finances through divine connections.

Our perseverance plan:

• We seek to know that an idea comes from God.
• We read the Word of God. Every day I find a particular verse that speaks to me. We are nourished by the Word of God and we store up in our hearts what we learn.
• We surround ourselves with people who pray for us and with us.
• We pray and ask others to intercede to break up the blocks the enemy puts in the way.
• We recognize there is a battle to be won. Daniel persevered in prayer and on one occasion an angel appeared to him and said : “… your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia.” The angel on the way to respond to Daniel had been hindered. (Daniel 10:12-13)
• I ask my wife and my colleagues for advice and counsel. I am not alone. We are a team. Together we go far and we can encourage and exhort one another.

One last point is that it’s good to persevere at being healthy. It’s good to take care of ourselves, to sleep, to eat well, to exercise, to maintain good relations with others, and to master our thoughts. If you are discouraged, you will not persevere.

In conclusion, take as a model what James tells us in chapter 5:10-11: “As an example, brethren, of suffering and patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.  We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.”

Let’s Persevere!