Conquer Hard Times by Learning to Endure - Part 2

Many people are going through very difficult times right now. The prolonged recession and uncertainty about the future are gnawing away at our confidence and hope.  

How does God teach people to cope with hard times? How can we prepare ourselves to triumph even when the going gets tougher and tougher?

I believe that learning to endure--growing in perseverance in some of the physical disciplines of life--is important training for the greater tests that will come our way.

Last week we looked at the importance of learning to work hard to train your will to endure. Let's now look at two other human disciplines that can not only teach us endurance, but actually make us stronger, invincible soldiers of the One who endured the Cross. 

FASTING

Another physical area of our lives where perseverance can be learned is in the area of eating, or more accurately, in the area of not eating--fasting. Foregoing eating for the purpose of prayer and study of God's Word teaches us to persevere against the natural desires of the body.

Jesus began his own earthly ministry with a 40-day fast that rooted His character in perseverance. The Father knew that three years later He would desperately need this trait to face the agonizing moments of betrayal, flogging, crucifixion, and death. He had already learned endurance in the work world of the carpenter's shop. His final test prior to the launching of His public ministry was to be over the enticement of hunger.  

He passed the test. Immediately afterwards He went back to Galilee to preach the gospel, heal the sick, and proclaim the kingdom of God (Matthew 4:23). In His first big sermon, called the Sermon on the Mount, He encouraged His disciples to fast also. "Your Father," He said, "will reward you" (Matthew 6:16-18).

Our body naturally craves food. It doesn't always need it. When we give up eating in order to spend special time with God, we learn to endure the pain of a gnawing stomach for a greater reward. I remember my first attempts at fasting during my teenage years. I felt as if I were going to die after missing a few meals! My teenage appetite (which had never left a table unsatisfied) had grown to dominate my will. Only the discipline of fasting could break the power of indulgence.

One time I went on a ten-day fast. After three days, everything in our house began to smell like food. I was weak. Water tasted horrible. I persevered. By the end of the ten days I had learned some valuable lessons. Since then I've made weekly and yearly fasts a part of my life. In my forties God used Dr. Bill Bright to encourage me to do forty-day juice fasts to seek God and growth spiritually. They have been some of the most memorable seasons of my life--and helped me to learn to live by my will.

I would urge you to let fasting become a part of your character development. It's a quality you need to develop for greater challenges that may lie ahead.

 EXERCISE

Another place where endurance can be learned is in the area of physical exercise. It's often a contest of mind over matter. In this case, the "matter" is our finite, human bodies.

Physical exercise has always been an important part of my life. Growing up, I enjoyed many sports (especially football and basketball), and in each one I learned the value of discipline and training.

Paul's words in I Corinthians 9:24-27 stand out:

"You know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize. So run to win! All those who compete in the games use self-control so they can win a crown. That crown is an earthly thing that lasts only a short time, but our crown will never be destroyed. So I do not run without a goal. I fight like a boxer who is hitting something--not just the air. I treat my body hard and make it my slave so that I myself will not be disqualified after I have preached to others."

Here Paul specifically uses the example of sports training to highlight the importance of perseverance. In sports we learn to buffet our bodies, to run to win. If athletes discipline themselves for earthly "medals," then we should certainly do the same for eternal rewards.

One day many years ago while jogging around Sebago Lake in southern Maine, I felt that God wanted to speak to me about the importance of learning perseverance through physical conditioning. I hadn't run for awhile. My legs seemed like lead. In a matter of minutes I was huffing and puffing. I didn't know if I could go on.

The pain of my out-of-shape body brought back vivid memories of past sports contests. I remembered running wind sprints during try-outs for basketball until the skin hung off the bottom of my blistered feet. I'd persevered then.

I recalled being beat up in football only to push my aching bones up the field one more time. Once my legs were so sore that I couldn't lift them out of bed. I rolled onto the floor and crawled to the shower. Soon I was back on the field.

If I did it then, I can do it now, I mumbled to myself as I trudged around the lake. No matter how much it hurt, I was determined to keep going. My body kept screaming no. My persevering spirit proclaimed yes! As I rounded the last corner and stumbled over an imaginary finish line, I thought I heard the Lord saying:

"Very good. Now do the same in prayer."

The words cut deep. I'd learned to persevere in athletics. But this was just a training ground for the greater issues and duties of life and ministry. What God really wanted to teach me through exercise was to persevere in all the other more important areas of my life.

PERFECT AND COMPLETE

After we have learned endurance through such disciplines as hard work, fasting, and bodily exercise, we can then apply this quality to every area of our life. In James 1:2-4, God gives us a phenomenal promise related to perseverance. Here are His words:

"My brothers and sisters, when you have many kinds of troubles, you should be full of joy, because you know that these troubles test your faith, and this will give you perseverance. Let your perseverance show itself perfectly in what you do. Then you will be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."

God promises we will have problems. He tells us, though, to rejoice over them because this testing of our faith will produce perseverance. But what will learning perseverance make us?

Perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

That means INVINCIBLE to the attack of the enemy and thoroughly able to do God's will.