Ensuring you finish well

As lockdown in its various forms, drags on and we wonder if we will ever get back to normal — and what that ‘normal’ will look like — I’m reminded of a recurring theme throughout the Bible. That theme is perseverance, with its sisters, waiting and endurance.

Derek Prince makes the distinctions clear, and each one is relevant to our situation.

Perseverance: Keep doing the right thing in spite of..

Perseverance is continuing in our pursuit in the face of adverse circumstances. How vital that is in these times. Physically it is so tempting to drop our guard and neglect social distancing, mask wearing and sanitising when it gets irritating and tedious. Spiritually, when we’re feeling depressed and God doesn’t seem to be coming through for us, it’s tempting to neglect our time with Him — to allow our spiritual disciplines to lapse.

This hit me in an unexpected way. With our church providing daily devotionals, an online prayer time with hundreds of our congregations participating, and an online church service, I’ve found my personal one on one time with the Lord taking a back seat. And yet I desperately need that time to hear from God personally, meditate on His Word and pray – just me and God. This is when the Bible urges me to persevere in what I’ve always done. I’ve had to deliberately discipline myself in this, making an appointment with God early in the morning and sticking to

Endurance: Don’t buckle under pressure

Endurance, Derek Prince says, is not buckling, and giving up under difficult circumstances. It is tempting to give up on God when He doesn’t seem to be coming through for us. When we can’t see how Romans 8:28 can possibly be right when it says, “All things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose.” and we’re going through such hell with a job loss or loneliness or illness. But the Bible calls us to endure to the end — and there will be an end, when God who, perhaps imperceptibly, has been with us through it all, will show us His faithfulness.

In my book, Prayer, Medicine and Miracles, I describe how messy a cleft lip repair looks halfway through the operation. Imagine if the mother had to see what the surgeon is doing at that stage and, in horror at the appearance of her child, snatched it away from him. She would then live with a deformed child, blaming the surgeon, who, if she’d only waited, would have had a beautiful lip in place of an ugly cleft. Sometimes, I think, when we fail to endure, this can happen to us as we do not allow God to finish the work He started.

Waiting: Anticipating a good outcome

Waiting is more a case of being expectant. In these amazing times, I’m eagerly waiting to see what God is doing. As those in the world become lovers of money, more and more narcissistically lovers of themselves and hooked on pleasure-seeking in all its forms; as children are being encouraged by educational authorities to disobey their parents (see 2 Tim 3:2); as Christians are being persecuted even in the West; as violence and aggression escalate, it seems we are nearing Christ’s return. Of course, we don’t know the time, but we can read the signs, and I’m waiting with eager expectation. But our citizenship is in heaven and we eagerly await a Saviour from there… (Phil. 3:20)

It’s the expectation that fortifies us to endure. Jesus, for the joy set before Him — the eager expectation of our being united to the Father — endured the Cross, scorning its shame (Hebrews 12:2)

So, no matter how long the road, or how invisibe the end, let’s persevere in doing good and maintaining a close relationship with the Lord; let’s endure the hardship, trusting God to see us through and to work it for our good; let’s wait with eager expectation to see what God is doing through this pandemic and all its ramifications, anticipating that this, in a sense, is the beginning of the end.

Derek Prince, when asked what he would say, in one sentence about God, said this: “God is faithful.”

That means, in everything He is true to His loving nature. You can trust him to come through, no matter what.