The Discipline of Spiritual Perseverance

Be still, and know that I am God . . . —Psalm 46:10

Perseverance is more than endurance. It is endurance combined with absolute assurance and certainty that what we are looking for is going to happen. Perseverance means more than just hanging on, which may be only exposing our fear of letting go and falling. Perseverance is our supreme effort of refusing to believe that our hero is going to be conquered. Our greatest fear is not that we will be damned, but that somehow Jesus Christ will be defeated. Also, our fear is that the very things our Lord stood for— love, justice, forgiveness, and kindness among men— will not win out in the end and will represent an unattainable goal for us. Then there is the call to spiritual perseverance. A call not to hang on and do nothing, but to work deliberately, knowing with certainty that God will never be defeated.

If our hopes seem to be experiencing disappointment right now, it simply means that they are being purified. Every hope or dream of the human mind will be fulfilled if it is noble and of God. But one of the greatest stresses in life is the stress of waiting for God. He brings fulfillment, "because you have kept My command to persevere . . ." (Revelation 3:10).

Continue to persevere spiritually.

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屬靈韌力的操練

你們要休息（英文作安靜），要知道我是神。 （詩四十六10）

堅韌不單是忍耐，乃是在忍耐之上，加上絕對的肯定，知道所期待的必然實現。堅韌也不單是持定，那可能只是怕倒下來的軟弱。堅韌是以最大的努力，堅信他的英雄表現能夠獲得最後勝利。一個門徒最深的恐懼，不是他會被定罪，而是耶穌基督被貶低，叫他所代表的一切——對人的愛、公義、饒恕和仁慈，至終不能奏凱；而他所表彰的一切只像電光一閃而過。這是，屬靈的堅韌力叫我們不要徒然持守而無所事事，乃是著實地作工，確信神絕不被挫敗。

若我們的盼望似乎幻滅了，那正是進行潔淨的工夫。人心裡一切所想所​​求；都必一一實現。生命中最竭盡心力的事，莫過於等候神。 [你遵守了我忍耐之道。 ]

祈禱◆噢，主啊，今天讓你那偉大、使人尊貴和叫人鼓舞的感動臨到我們每個人身上。讓我們完全不用驚慌，而我們的心靈亦免於過分的追趕。