The Power of Persistence
By Pastor Timothy Burdick
"Not that I have
already obtained all this, or have already
been made perfect, but I press on to take
hold of that for which Christ Jesus took
hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider
myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one
thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and
straining toward what is ahead, I press on
toward the goal to win the prize for which
God has called me heavenward in Christ
Jesus." All of us who are mature should take
such a view of things. And if on some point
you think differently, that too God will
make clear to you" (Philippians
3:12-15)
One thing that we lack in the Body of Christ
today is a holy persistence. Like the
Children of Israel, we persist in tending to
do the wrong thing instead of the right, and
then we wonder why there is no power in our
lives. How can the power of Christ exist in
us, when most of the time instead of
overcoming, we give up? To see what I mean,
please look at the above Scripture with me,
as though you are reading it for the first
time.
Here Paul uses phrases like, “Not
that I have already... been made perfect,
and “I press on toward
the goal.” Many of us, and none of us
are excluded, can walk around like
"Super-Christian," thinking that because we
have a little knowledge we have arrived! But
God says: "No - what you have learned is
just the beginning.
While God commands us to study, knowledge
should never be considered as an end in
itself. Instead these facts about Christ
should give us the freedom to follow Him, in
a deeper way. Let me tell you what I mean.
I was in sales for twenty two years and
hated it. I knew these verses but instead of
living above my circumstances in Christ, I
was bound by them. I allowed This bondage to
keep me from experiencing God working in my
life. Since God had to teach me the same
things over and over, I did not find the
freedom to persist to a deeper quality of
life.
Now, let’s talk about what you are going
through. Although you may find your
circumstances almost unbearable, there is
one who wants to bear them for you. Get out
of yourself and spend some time really
getting to know God. Then and only then will
you find the freedom to release the power to
persist, which in turn, will give you a new
outlook on life. We need it, for many times
we confuse existing with living. God’s goal
is for you to experience a life that
overflows with love, joy, and peace, and In
his presence you will find that and more,
regardless of your outward circumstances,
you can press on to new heights in the Lord.
