A couple of weeks ago, God dropped the word perseverance into my spirit.
That’s
when I looked up the word. The word perseverance comes from the
Greek transliterated word proskartereo. It means to be
steadfastly attentive unto, to give unremitting care to a thing.
In
our lives, we have plenty of opportunities to quit, to give up.
We confess the Word. Nothing seems to happen. We become
discouraged and opt to quit.
We’ve prayed and prayed, but our prayers don’t seem to be answered. Again we opt to quit.
We
keep being good to people, only to be betrayed....once again.
Then we opt to withdraw and not put ourselves out there anymore.
The
Bible tells us to seek and keep on seeking, ask and keep on asking,
knock and keep on knocking (Matthew 7:7 Amplified Bible).
Quitting
for Believers should not be an option. If we are blown away by
every disappointment, every difficult time, every distraction, we will
never fulfill the purpose God has for us.
We have to determine in our hearts to be steadfast, to be devoted to those things that God has spoken to us to do.
We
have to be like a bulldog with a bone. When someone tries to take
that bone from him, he digs his teeth in and holds onto it. He
refuses to let go no matter how hard the person tries to wiggle it,
jerk it or yank it from him. He isn’t giving it up.
When
it comes to the things of God, the promises that He has given you both
through His Word or through His Holy Spirit, the dreams He has planted
in your heart, we should be as that bulldog.
We
should dig our teeth into our promise and not give it up no matter how
many disappointments, distractions and difficulties come our way.
We need to hold onto our promise until we see it manifested.
But
most of us give up before our promise comes to pass. Most of us
become so discouraged that we decide that God failed us, that our
promises are too hard to obtain, that it wasn’t God’s will for us.
No,
if we hold onto the promise God has given us, it has to come to
pass...no ands, ifs or buts because God’s promises are yea and in Him,
amen (2 Corinthians 1:20).
So don’t give up. Hold onto your promise from God, and wait for it to manifest. Hallelujah!
- Annagail Lynes
My grandmother stood in her yard a little over a year ago. She shook a
photo. One that I had seen many times. One of me and some distant
cousin playing together when we were real young. I didn’t recall the
actual event, but I had heard the story many, many times.
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For years, I
wanted to be someone else. Anyone else. Someone
prettier. Someone smarter. Someone more talented. I
wanted to be anybody but me.
I couldn’t wish,
beg or plead myself into being a different person. I didn’t have
a magic wand to transform myself into someone else. The only
person I could be is me.
I compared
myself to others. It wasn’t the models in the magazines that
tripped me up. Instead it was the people who seemed to have it
altogether. They looked just right. They said the right
things at the right time. Everything they did turned to
gold. And I am just not like that.
I worried and
fretted, trying to be like them, only to fall flat on my face. I
could follow the same steps they took and still fail. Things just
didn’t come as easily for me.
Over the years,
I have learned a valuable lesson. God didn’t create me to be
someone else. He created me to be me.
He created me
just the way I am–with my brown hair streaked with gray, to be my
height, to have my talents and even my personality.
If He wanted me to be someone else, that’s who He would have created me to be, but He created me to be me.
He has a purpose
for my life and for my specific talents, just as He does for
yours. He has a reason why I was born at this particular time in
this particular place.
The only person
you have to be is you. The only person you have to be like is
God. If you will let Him, He will teach you how to be all He
created you to be. And that’s all you ever have to be.
- Annagail Lynes
Have you ever told God how you think that He should do things? Or how He should answer your prayer?
Have you ever bombarded heaven with a list of things that you needed? Or given God a deadline?
I know I have. In recent months, I have been upset with God.
A few years ago,
a close loved one met a man. I knew something was off with him,
but I was helpless to stop her from marrying him.
I prayed, prayed, and prayed some more. I even shared my doubts with this woman. All to no avail.
Now she is going
through the process of getting the marriage annulled. During this
time, I caught myself saying, “God, if You would have just listened to
me...”
I don’t know why
God chose to do things this particular way. I don’t understand
it. But who am I to tell God what to do?
As believers, we
spent a lot more time thinking of ourselves than about God or other
people. We think that God is a vending machine or that He is a
piano player at the local jazz club that takes requests.
God is
God. We cannot change His mind. We cannot influence His
decisions through manipulation or tears. God isn’t moved by our
tears. He is moved by our faith.
Now faith is the
assurance (the confirmation, the title-deed) of the things [we] hope
for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of
their reality–faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to our
senses. (Hebrews 11:1 AMP).
To make this
even plainer, faith equals God’s Word. If we believe what God’s
Word says about a situation over that of our senses–what we see and
what we hear–we have faith.
And faith moves
God. Not our lists. Not our needs. Not our
works. No, when we have faith, God moves on our behalf.
Remember the
lady with the issue of blood? Jesus told her, “Daughter,
your faith has made you whole” (Mark 5:34).
Her faith in Jesus’ words made her whole.
Just like the lady with the issue of blood, if we will agree with God’s Word and believe it, our faith will make us whole too.
It is when we believe that we will receive.
- Annagail Lynes
When did you become religious? I didn’t.
I went to church
for the first fifteen years of my life. I memorized Bible
verses. I attended Sunday School. I acted in the church
plays. But I am not religious.
I have a relationship.
You see, religion is a list of rules and regulations that determine if you are good enough to get to heaven.
Religion is a one-way street. You do, do, do. And the more you do, the more you have to do to “please” God.
A relationship is a two-way street.
Romans 3:23 says “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”
There is nothing
that you can do in your own strength to qualify you for heaven.
The only thing that qualifies you is accepting Jesus as your
Saviour. It isn’t anything that you do. It is what Jesus
did by taking your sins on the Cross. It is what Jesus did by
laying His life down so that you may have a place in heaven.
His shed blood
on the Cross puts me in right standing with God. As a result, I
have the opportunity to develop a relationship with Him.
Instead of
praying, begging and pleading, I talked to Him as I would a
friend. Then I listen, which to me, is the most important
part. When I listen, I hear Him speak. It may not always be
a voice. Maybe it is a thought that pops into my mind out of
nowhere. Perhaps it is a feeling or an impression, but I know
that when I listen, God will speak.
I don’t do
things because I have to. I do things for God because I want
to. I love Him and out of love comes obedience and the desire to
want to do things for Him.
A relationship
with God doesn’t just happen. As in any relationship, you have to
work at it. You have to carve out time in your schedule to spend
time with Him. The more time you spend with Him, the more solid
your relationship becomes. The more your love grows and so does
your need to obey Him.
Remember,
though, that a relationship is a two-way street. You can’t do all
the talking. You have to listen. If you don’t, you
will never really know God.
- Annagail Lynes
