PATIENCE, ENDURANCE, AND HEALING

Many hyper-Pentecostal (HP) groups insist that we should have it all now—wealth and healing. If we don’t get healed immediately, the sick were often told that there was something the matter with their faith. Now, it is more likely the un-healed are told, “There is something within you that is blocking your healing.” But they are not told:

•    “You might have to wait for your healing,” or
•    “It might not be according to God’s will to heal you. Instead, He might be accomplishing something more important within you like patience, endurance, character, and faithfulness,” or
•    “God’s grace is sufficient” and His strength is made perfect through weakness and infirmity.”

These considerations are left entirely out of the HP equation, although they are central to the Bible and our lives in Christ, even though the concepts of patience, endurance, waiting, and perseverance are mentioned many hundreds of times in the Bible. Abraham had to wait 25 years for His promised Isaac. Moses had to endure 40 years as a lowly shepherd in the desert before God would appear to Him in a burning bush and instruct him to lead his suffering people to freedom the very thing that he had previously wanted to do. But meanwhile God was preparing Moses who had become the humblest man on all the earth. And now we await Jesus’ return! Even our Lord waits patiently as He too forbears as our sins destroy:

•    Romans 3:25  [Jesus] whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.

Some of our Lord’s goals could only be accomplished through patience:

•    2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

Jesus also had to patiently endure:

•    Luke 12:49–50 “I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! I have a baptism [the crucifixion] to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished!”

Patiently enduring demonstrates the truth of our Faith:

•    2 Corinthians 6:4 but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities,

If we patiently endure, we shall reap the blessings. There is no promise that we shall receive God’s promises immediately but in “due season”:

•    Hebrews 6:11–12 And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

•    Galatians 6:9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

We inherit the promises of God through patience:

•    Psalm 37:9 For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land… 37:34 Wait for the LORD and keep his way, and he will exalt you to inherit the land; you will look on when the wicked are cut off.

We need the patience of the farmer who must await the harvest. There is no secret formula to reap the moment we sow:

•    James 5:7–8 Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient…

Through patiently enduring, we receive God’s blessings, which we can pass on to others to build the Body of Christ. This also creates love and community:

•    2 Corinthians 1:3–4 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

Enduring suffering is also God’s command. Through this God produces character, humility, hope, and gentleness:

•    Ephesians 4:1–2 therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,

•    Romans 5:3–4 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,

All these promises are foreign to the HPs who claim that they receive their blessings in the here and now. They are forceful motivational speakers who make bold claims. One such speaker, before tens of thousands promised that no one will leave his crusade unchanged.

Can we honestly make such wild claims? According to the Scriptures, we are an insubstantial mist, a sinful nothing:

•    James 4:13–16 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

In any event, we need not worry that we are missing out: Romans 8:26–27 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

DEALING WITH PERSECUTION BY LOOKING BEYOND IT

We Christians are heading into hard times. Persecution has become a tsunami. Some of us are already struggling for our lives. How do we endure?

How did Jesus endure His ordeal?

·       Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1-2)

We too must, therefore, look towards the joy set before us. Of what does this joy consist? It consists of our eternal heavenly inheritance:

• But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. (Philippians 3:20-21; Jude 24)

This signifies that we will be (and are) co-heirs with Him:

·       So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s. 1 Corinthians 3:21-23 (ESV)

We will be reigning with Him forever:

·       No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. (Revelation 22:3-5)

The Lord will honor us by blessing us in the presence of our enemies:

·       You prepare a table before me in the presence of my [former] enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever. (Psalm 23:5-6)

I added the word “former,” because many prophecies demonstrate that those who are left at the end will come to the Lord in great shame and humility, and we will reign over them:

·       Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you, and lick the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.” (Isaiah 49:23)

·       The sons of those who afflicted you shall come bending low to you, and all who despised you shall bow down at your feet; they shall call you the City of the LORD, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel. (Isaiah 60:14)

Who are these nations? Evidently, there will be a great salvation at the end among the survivors of the nations who battle against Israel. They will mourn over their sins:

·       Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. (Rev. 1:7)

·       "At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.” (Matthew 24:30)

·       For if their [Israel’s] rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? (Romans 11:15)

They will worship God, and God will receive them:

·       "And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. (Joel 2:28)

·       The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might; they shall lay their hands on their mouths; their ears shall be deaf; they shall lick the dust like a serpent, like the crawling things of the earth; they shall come trembling out of their strongholds; they shall turn in dread to the LORD our God, and they shall be in fear of you. (Micah 7:16-17)

·       "From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me," says the LORD. (Isaiah 66:23)

·       Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, they will have no rain. If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. The LORD will bring on them the plague he inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. (Zech. 14:16-18; 8:20-23; Isaiah 66:18-21; Joel 2:32; Amos 9:12; Acts 15:17)

·       "Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn, my mouth has uttered in all integrity a word that will not be revoked: Before me every knee will bow; by me every tongue will swear. They will say of me, 'In the LORD alone are righteousness and strength.' All who have raged against him will come to him and be put to shame. But in the LORD all the descendants of Israel will be found righteous and will exult.” (Isaiah 45:22-25)

And the nations that remain after the final war will be providing for us:

• "Foreigners will rebuild your walls, and their kings will serve you. Though in anger I struck you, in favor I will show you compassion. Your gates will always stand open, they will never be shut, day or night, so that men may bring you the wealth of the nations -- their kings led in triumphal procession.” (Isaiah 60:10-11)

• The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. (Revelation 21:24-26)

We will be reigning over them (Rev. 22:5), rendering judgments:

·       Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? (1 Corinthians 6:2)

We will also minister the things of God as priests to the nations (1 Peter 2:9; Rev. 1:5; 5:10; 20:6). Perhaps more importantly, we will be enjoying an unimaginable love with our God:

·       And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD. (Hosea 2:19-20; Eph. 3:17-19)

If people endure college by looking towards the final goal, how much more must we look towards the accomplishment of all things to endure our trials!

SUFFERING IS TOUGH TO ENDURE WHEN WE DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY

We tend to regard suffering as a negative. However, from God's perspective, it's a necessary positive, as Peter has written:

·       “Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.” (1 Peter 4:1-2 ESV)

Suffering, in God's hand, turns us away from sin and to God. This doesn't mean that we will be liberated from sin but from a sinful lifestyle. Instead, we will be seeking to please our Savior.

Suffering also prepares us for the return of our Savior:

·       “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.” (1 Peter 4:12-13)

Suffering prevents us from becoming too comfortable here. It refocuses our sight onto the things above, causing us to long for the return of Christ!

How unwelcoming we'd be to our Savior if we told Him on His return: "Great to see you, Jesus. But could you postpone your return for a couple months. You see, we got a cruise coming up and I'm due for a promotion."

Suffering also readies us in another way:

·       “For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Peter 4:17)

Suffering also humbles us by exposing what we have buried - our self-centeredness. According to Peter, membership in the body of Christ requires us to be humbled so that God will exalt us:

·       “Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:5-7)

Humility will not come about without suffering. We would rather exalt ourselves. Therefore, we need to first be convinced that God's ways are better than our own. Suffering reveals the poverty of our own agenda, forcing us to embrace His.

Until this happened for me, I failed to see much of God's grace in my life. However, the more He has humbled me, the more I have seen of His goodness.

We need to understand these things. Without this understanding, we will think that God has failed or rejected us, the very thing that Satan wants us to believe:

·       “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, KNOWING that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.” (1 Peter 5:8-9)

We need to know and understand that suffering is necessary medicine, which we all are called upon to ingest. If we don't, we will despair when suffering comes knocking. Besides, if we don't understand this, we will be fair game for Satan.

We also need to understand that suffering is not only a gift, but it is also temporary:

·       “And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.” (1 Peter 5:10)

WARNINGS:

1. Even after you are armed with this understanding, suffering will still remain painful. That's what it's supposed to be (Heb. 12:5-11).

2. We should still look for a way of escape from the suffering. This might be God's way of rescuing you:

·       “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)

He is our Deliverer!

PATIENCE, ENDURANCE, AND THE NATURE OF FAITH

Faith often tells us to wait, to endure without seeing the prayed-for results. Abraham had to wait for 25 years to receive the promised son, Isaac. Although he had been commended for his faith (Rom. 4), he often despaired and crashed. After several years of residence in the Promised Land, he despaired of having a son and made his servant, Eliezar, his heir. However, God renewed His promise to Abraham that he would have a son.

Although he believed God (Gen. 15:6), he again despaired and jumped on his wife's suggestion to sleep with her Servant girl, Hagar, to have their son by her. 

Once again, God had to reaffirm His promise of a son to Abraham. However, at this time, Abraham was 99 and his wife no longer had her period. Therefore, he laughed in disbelief (Gen. 17).

However, the next year, both Abraham and his wife Sarah were able to laugh in joy at the birth of their Isaac, meaning "laughter."

We too are made to endure discouragements that place our faith at the breaking point. We, therefore, clutch at our "Eliezars" and sleep with our "Hagars," anything to fill the aching void. We pursue our goals by placing our hope in all the wrong things - secular therapy, unbiblical lifestyles, and mindfulness meditation. 

However, life's discouragements are all part of our Lord's program:

·       “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1:6-7)

Our Lord is always in the process of refining our faith so that our hope will be invested in Him alone. Moses became so discouraged with God. He had risked everything for the sake of liberating his people, Israel, and lost it all. He fled to Midian where he became a lowly shepherd. He was so discouraged with God that, when God encountered him in the midst of the burning bush 40 years later and instructed him to return to Egypt to perform the very task that had been in his heart, Moses refused God.

However, God has a blessed purpose for what He makes us endure. During these painful 40 years, God had made Moses into the humblest of men (Num. 12:3), so humble that he understood God beyond what others understood (Num. 12:8). 

We too need to understand the ways of God, lest we despair and lose hope. However, even when we do, our God remains faithful. He restored Abraham, Moses, and even the most righteous Job, who had brought many ignorant indictments against God in the midst of his suffering. However, God humbled him and then restored him.

We too will be humbled through the trials we must endure. However, this is only preparation for something far greater:

·       “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 12:11)

Therefore, let us brace ourselves for what might be a long wait!

Prophecy, Persecution, and Perseverance

The Prophet Daniel was honored with a vision about the end:

• "In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. (Daniel 7:13-14)

• Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be handed over to the saints, the people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him. (27)

However, he was troubled by what would have to precede this everlasting kingdom:

• As I watched, this horn was waging war against the saints and defeating them, until the Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgment in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came when they possessed the kingdom. (21-22) … He will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time. (25)

Daniel therefore concluded:

• "I, Daniel, was troubled in spirit, and the visions that passed through my mind disturbed me… This is the end of the matter. I, Daniel, was deeply troubled by my thoughts, and my face turned pale… (15, 28) 

I too am troubled as I see the decimation of my brethren in Kenya, Somalia, Nigeria, Mali, Sudan, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, and North Korea. I knew the prophecies but couldn’t imagine the extent of the horrors. Troubled? No! I am tormented, even enraged at the West for winking at these worst horrors imaginable.

What is there to say to our “civilized” world? There is nothing I can add to the horrid photos that have escaped the Islamic world to occasionally emerge in the Western media. No logic or reason that will shame the West into action. Even our churches have fallen to political correctness and pragmatic silence.

Why, oh Lord, have you allowed the oppressor to “oppress [Your] saints?” Why have you “handed over” your saints to carnage?

I don’t completely get it, but I am convinced that this is according to plan – a gracious plan. But how do I endure this? This is something I have contemplated for a while now, and here are some of my thoughts:

I need to know that persecution is according to God’s plan:

• In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. (2 Timothy 3:12-13)

• "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also… All this I have told you so that you will not go astray. They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God. (John 15:18-20; 16:1-2)

Persecution is inevitable:

• "Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.” (Matthew 24:9) 

I need not avenge; God will:

• Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. (Romans 12:19) 

I also need to remember that our Lord is fully in control:

• "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)

There is also work for us to perform in the midst of this great persecution. We need a proactive, not a defensive, vision:

• Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved--and that by God. For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him. (Philippians 1:27-29)

He will keep His people in the midst of the greatest persecutions:

• For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect--if that were possible. (Matthew 24:24)

• My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. (John 10:27-28)

He will also provide for us in the midst of it:

• But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. (Matthew 10:19-20)

           He can also grant us courage, as many testimonies have demonstrated.

We will endure by looking at the example set for us by Jesus:

• Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (Hebrews 12:2-3)

I will go to be with the Lord:

• Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life. (Revelation 2:10)

I need to submit these verses to memory. Only then can I stand and preach the Gospel unafraid to them who would behead me.