20190929ASHAMH&W Endurance on our journey
As we continue in our series, Dare to be Different, our focus this month has been "different footpath".
We have considered the journey we are on with God and the fact that God is always with us as we journey through life.
This morning I want us to think about Endurance on our journey with God.
If we are honest, we know that our journey will not always be as easy as simple as we would like it to be.
Until we reach the end of our journey, and God calls us home for eternity, while we are still alive and living in a sin-sick world, we will encounter problems, difficulties, struggles, pain, and frustration.
But, in all of those things, God’s promises are He is with us and His grace is sufficient for us in every situation.
We can dare to be different, we can dare to endure because we have a hope that is steadfast and certain.
We can continue on in our journey with God and trust Him to lead us and guide us according to His plans and purpose.
Listen to the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 5:3-4, We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.
Rejoice in problems and trials...
Seriously...
Has the Apostle Paul lost the plot?
Humanly speaking, when problems and trials come we want them to be over as quickly as possible don’t we?
Something bad happens and we pray, “Lord, change this situation. God have mercy. God work a miracle in this situation”
Paul experienced many difficulties and trials in his life.
Paul tells us to rejoice because from his own experience on his journey with God he knows that God is in control.
So Paul says, “Rejoice. Let endurance develop character and hope”.
When bad things happen, when the journey is a struggle don’t give up, trust God.
What are you struggling to endure on your journey right now?
Rejoice and endure. God has not abandoned or forsaken you, God is with you.
What worries you?
Family issues, health issues, finances, Brexit?
Endure, God knows what concerns you and God cares about you.
When your prayers seem to be unanswered, endure.
When it seems Heaven is silent, endure.
When the journey is difficult, endure.
Rejoice in the truth that God loves you so much He was willing to send Jesus to die for your sins.
Rejoice in the truth that when you accepted Jesus as Lord and Saviour all your sins, past, present and future were forgiven.
Rejoice in the truth that God is with you and endure.
Pray and have faith in God when difficulty comes and endure in His strength and not your own.
Today is Healing and Wholeness Sunday.
At the end of the service, we will take time to pray in faith that God will move in people’s lives.
God is the God of the possible and the impossible.
Just a word from Him and every storm can be stilled.
So, trust God in every trial and circumstance.
Maybe today will be the day when you see and experience God’s power in action.
I think many of us find it difficult to understand why, when we know that God can do the impossible when we know He can move in power, He chooses not to.
God can change what is going on in your life, but sometimes the greatest gift He can give you on your journey is the ability to be patient and endure.
Pray, trust, have faith, have hope and endure.
In Romans 15:13, Paul wrote, “I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in Him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.”
On our journey, God is the God of hope and He is also our source of joy and peace.
Do you need God to fill you afresh with hope this morning to help you endure?
Do you have faith and trust that God is with you on your journey?
In faith, we recognize what is going on, and we trust God in what is going on. Faith involves being honest about what we are facing on our journey. Maybe as a man once said to Jesus we also need to say “Lord, I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”
Pray for change, pray for transformation, pray for help, pray for healing, pray for wholeness, pray for joy and peace and endure in the confident hope that God is able!
Our faith and hope are not dependant on our circumstances, or our situation, or our problems, our faith is dependant on the nature and character of God.
Friends, it takes real faith to declare that God is good and loving when your journey is difficult.
It takes real faith to declare that God is good and loving and in control when it feels like you are in the middle of a storm.
It takes real faith to endure and praise God when it seems like your prayers are unanswered.
Listen to the words of Jeremiah in Lamentations 3:25-26, “The Lord is good to those who depend on Him, to those who search for Him. So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord.”
To put these words of Jeremiah in context, he wrote this after the destruction of Jerusalem and the kingdom of Judah. After so much death and destruction, Jeremiah was able to write about depending on God because He understood who God is.
Maybe we struggle to endure because of our lack of understanding about who God is.
Maybe instead of focussing on God, we focus on the problem.
Maybe we are too quick to worry about our own ability than to pause, and be still, and know that God is God.
God is good but we are on a journey through a world that is damaged by sin. In this fallen and broken world and there are times when trouble comes our way and we abandon hope and try to change the course of our journey on our own.
Instead of enduring and praising God for who He is and what He has done for us we choose not to rejoice and trust. When what we are meant to do is seek God in the situation, depend on Him and endure.
Faith in God gives us confident hope for today, confident hope for tomorrow and confident hope for our future in Heaven.
Yes there are times when God will instantly answer our prayers, and there are times when He will say no, and perhaps hardest of all is when He says, “wait”.
Yes we are happy with, no might be disappointing and wait can be frustrating, but in everything we need to respond to God’s answer to our prayer in the same way - we need to trust Him, His love, His mercy and His grace - no matter the outcome, in faith we continue our journey with God and endure.
As we come to our time of prayer, I will close with the words of Isaiah 54:10, For the mountains may move and the hills disappear, but even then my faithful love for you will remain. My covenant of blessing will never be broken,” says the Lord, who has mercy on you.
Rejoice! God is faithful in His love for you.
Trust Him as you journey on with Him.
Endure in His strength, His mercy, and His Grace.
Amen
