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WELCOME TO GOD FOCUS THIS MORNING

The title of today’s episode is: “ENDURANCE”

We are in the battle of a lifetime. The church has not had to face such persecution and opposition for many, many years. We are in this to keep pressing forward and showing the world our faith. Jesus is on our side; we cannot lose.

Things may appear scary and if we look with our natural eyes, things do not look good. But we have to endure whatever is coming our way and stand strong in our faith.

Matthew 24:13 KJV: But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

We have to endure what is coming. As Children of God, we have to stand strong on our faith. We need to fight back with prayer. We can only win if we come together and pray for our nation, pray for the body of Christ.

James 5:7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.

We find that James is encouraging endurance and patience. He is explaining how the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth.  This is all about the harvest. It is saying, Jesus is waiting patiently for the precious fruit which is the souls that will come in during harvest time. Until he receive the early and latter rain.

The early rain was His Spirit that was poured out on the early church. The latter rain is when His Spirit is poured out on the earth for the final harvest of souls.

James 5:8 Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

James is encouraging the believers to establish their hearts. In other words, we need to make sure that our heart is set on the things of God. We are to be determined and have a made-up mind that nothing will keep us from God. We have to have our minds set on the things of God.

The best way to establish our hearts is through prayer and studying the Word. Prayer for an understanding of God’s word.

James 5:9 Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.  This means we are not to judge or complain against other believers. We need to get our hearts right if we have grudges against anyone we risk being judged by God.

James 5:10 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. 11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

We need to look to the prophets as our example of how to stand strong during affliction. Job is one of the best examples of enduring. He was patient and trusted God even in the midst of horrible loss and sickness.  He kept his faith and trust when everyone told him to “curse God and die.” But he kept his faith and he was very blessed for endurance. Just like we will receive God’s blessings if we can stand strong and endure our fiery trials.

Think about a runner. They train long hours to build up lung capacity to run marathons. They have to be determined to finish the race strong. They build up their endurance by training.

We build up our endurance to run our spiritual race by training. Training our minds to guard our mouths. Train our minds to fight against negativity planted by the enemy. We are learning to walk by faith and not by sight. 

Every time we pray, we add to our endurance. Ask God to help his people stand strong. Every time we dig deep into the word of God, we learn something to give us endurance to stand against the enemy.

2 Tim. 2:3-4 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

We are just passing through this life. It is not our destination; it is just somewhere the road goes through. We cannot allow the things of this life to distract us from doing the will of God.

Enduring means that we will come through the fiery trials of life without compromising or allowing our faith to waiver. It all comes down to knowing God’s will for our lives. Then not allowing anything to keep us from carrying out that will.

Until next time,

BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS

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