Perseverance

The book of Luke, chapter 18, verse 7: “…And will he not do justice to his chosen ones who cry out to him day and night? Will it take time to answer them?..." Do you know what the Lord put in my heart today? The need to understand that his answer lies in the perseverance of his people. How many know what it is to persevere? We more or less know what perseverance is, but the dictionary says that it is to remain constant in the pursuit of an idea from the beginning to the end.

Today when many of us do not like to spend more than 30 minutes making lunch, we prefer to go to McDonald's which is faster, even if we have to wait in line for cars, we get a little desperate. We are not persevering, patient.

Perseverance is a characteristic of the necessary personality in the son of God and I want to take it to a text that is in the book of Matthew, chapter 7, verse 7 to 11. And we just sang a chorus that in its part of the stanza of the chorus speaks of that text. Says.

“…Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you, because everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks will find, and he who knocks will be opened…”

This is a text where the Lord does not speak of the word perseverance, but it is implicit there and it is interesting that it has to do with a direct relationship with him. When, as children of God, we ask who do we ask? To the father. When we are looking for something, where do we look for it? In the Father. And when we need the attention of something and we call someone or something, who do we call? To the Father, our Lord, to God.

The Lord is calling a church that begins to understand that its life of faith necessarily needs the processes of perseverance. This text tells us about insisting, it tells us about a constant process in the Greek language and in the Spanish language, of a continuous present, searching, asking, calling.

Tomorrow search, ask, call. The day after tomorrow, search, ask, call. The next day, search, ask, call. He knows that the Lord is happy with the persistent. He knows that the Lord is necessarily looking for the insistent, not those who complain, the insistent. Don't complain, insist. Do not complain about what you do not have, insist on what the Lord is going to give you, on what the Lord is going to be in your life.

When we complain before the Lord, when we confuse insistence or perseverance with complaining, when we complain the Lord listens to this, quah, quah, quah, quah… bla, bla, bla. It is a repetitive sound. When someone complains, when they have someone by their side that you have known for some time and they start to complain, you say, they are already complaining. Because he says the same thing, cua, cua, cua… he already knows it, he already knows it, in the case of spouses.

We already know who complains, how they complain, what they are going to say, how it will end, and always the same cua, cua, cua… You know that this is how the Lord listens to us when we complain, cua, cua, cua…

But when we insist on this concept of perseverance, he pays attention, he prepares his ears and begins to listen and tells all of heaven, shut up because my son is insisting, he is searching, he is asking, he is calling.

Nothing in the world can replace perseverance. If you have talent, talent cannot replace perseverance. There is nothing more common in the world than seeing a talented failure. Don't look to the side. Intelligence, human wisdom cannot replace perseverance.

The intelligent are like poetry. The intelligent without reward for their intelligence are like poetry, like a proverb. Very pretty, he knows a lot, he hasn't achieved anything. Even education cannot replace perseverance. Don't tell anyone, you're not going to get out of here, but the world is full of educated bums, don't look to the side or remember anyone.

We must be persevering in prayer. We must be persevering in the search in our service to the Lord. The principle of perseverance implies that we must constantly insist before the presence of the Lord. The Lord is not going to bother. The text that we read in Luke, chapter 18, verse 7, is speaking... the story speaks of a woman who began to insist before the unjust judge and insisted, the word is full of examples of men and women who understood that perseverance was your profit.

The woman with the issue of blood, for years sought her healing, until she found it when Jesus Christ was passing by. If I only touch the hem of the Lord's garment, I know that I am going to be healed. But it was years.

Perseverance is the natural process in the life of the child of God. Jacob tells the angel in an attitude of insistence, of perseverance, "I will not leave you until you bless me, I will not leave you." But to us the Lord takes a little while in his response and we almost become atheists. We don't want to know anything about the Bible.

We closed Psalm 91 and exchanged it for a better book by Carlos Marx. I will not leave you. Jacob is teaching us that I am going to insist on you. He is telling us, I am going to insist on you God, Lord, until you bless me.

Daniel insisted that even if he was inside with the lions, his God was going to save him. Even his friends in the fiery furnace heated seven times over, his friends knew that if they insisted on what they believed, God was going to rescue them from there.

I don't know if you believe in these Biblical stories. I do. And just as the Lord looked at the insistence of Jacob, and just as he looked at the insistence of Daniel and his friends, just as he looked at the perseverance of Joseph, he is waiting for us to begin to persevere to win what he has designed for us, to that we win

Perseverance is relevant in the matter of prayer. You know, we need to understand that perseverance is part of our Christian life. Don't despair. Let us hope in the Lord and in his answer.

I will set my eyes on the mountains, says Psalm 121, where will my help come from? There is a persistent question there. It is interesting because the psalmist knew from where, because he says, I will lift my eyes to the mountains, and he asks a slightly ironic question, where will my help come from? And where it would come from, he just had to insist and wait. He says, my help comes from Jehovah, not even, the Lord told him, I am your help. No, he answered himself, my help comes from Jehovah. If I insist my help comes from the Lord, if I insist on what I am looking for, the Lord will make me find it. If I insist where I call, the Lord will open that door, if I persevere the blessing of the Lord will be with me.

The Lord wants to be with us. The best way to persevere today is through prayer, through communion with the Lord, through daily reading of his word, through the constant search for the saving and redemptive work and the response that the Lord has for us every day.

Last month I made a statement, we made it here that the Lord brings new things to our lives, to our ministries, to our families, to our marriages, but with perseverance and insistence we are going to discover what new things the Lord He has prepared, he says, I have already prepared, pay attention, open your ears, I have already done it. Now insist, what is, what are the new things that I have for you.

Persevere. Persevere. In Luke, chapter 21, verse 19, perseverance earns us the salvation of our souls. In Second Peter, chapter 1, verse 6, it is part of the Christian's character, if you are a Christian who gets impatient very soon, I would tell you to convert again. And if it still costs you, I know that there are some here who have the ministry of liberation, a little bit of boiling oil for sure…. also, also mercy. It says in Second Timothy, chapter 2, verse 12 that perseverance will make us reign.

In Matthew chapter 24, verse 13, he says that perseverance to the end guarantees us salvation. If you persevere to the end you will be saved. In James chapter 1, verse 12, he says that we are blessed and rewarded if we persevere. In Colossians chapter 1, verse 11, when we are strengthened, this text is tremendous, it says, we are strengthened by the power of his glory to be persevering, to have perseverance and power. It says so.

When the Holy Spirit comes to us we are strengthened by the power of his glory. When we are strengthened then our perseverance is guaranteed. No one can throw us out, no one can deceive us, no one can show us another way, no one can show us another God, our God is unique, creator of heaven and earth, the only one who sent his only Son to die on earth. Cross of Calvary for each one of us. God is unique and God wants us to insist on him, to persevere, to be happy, to strengthen ourselves in his power because there we will find perseverance.

Perseverance is not just a quality that we should try to achieve. It is part of our character that we must cultivate every day. Some will hate us, says his word, but if we persevere salvation will be with us. In a world where impatience and hopelessness are ruling every day, insistence and perseverance is rising as an alternative for men and women who say that faith is the certainty of what is expected and the conviction of what is not. go.

Those who hope in Jehovah will have new strength. And I want to invite you to open in the book of psalms, I told him that in 10 minutes we were going to finish, and now we are going to finish. Perseverance when the man and woman of God understand perseverance, they understand that God is sovereign in his times for their lives. God does not delay his answer, but he makes it and he gives it when he deems it should be so.

And in our insistence we will find our answer in the Lord's time. But look at this psalm, it's a bit long but I loved it, I related it to this concept that we must handle, it says:

“I will bless the Lord at all times, his praise will be continually in my mouth, my soul will glorify in the Lord, the meek will hear and rejoice. Magnify the Lord with me and let us still exalt his name, I sought the Lord and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. Those who looked at him were enlightened and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried out and the LORD heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of Jehovah encamps around those who fear him and defends them. Taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed is the man who trusts in him. Fear the Lord, you holy ones, for those who fear him lack nothing. Amen."

Glory to God. Can you give glory to God? Can you give glory to God? Can you give glory to God? Can you give the Lord a round of applause? Tell him, Lord, I want to be persevering. Sir, I want to be insistent. I do not want to let a day go by without persevering in what you have declared for my life.

Let's stand up for a moment. I don't know what your plans are, I don't know what your wishes are. I don't know what his difficulties are, but in the book of Genesis there is a question that the writer declares, is there something impossible for God? Will there be something impossible for God? And even one of the Gospels declares, for the one who believes everything is possible.

Raise your arms to the sky. Lord, tell him, teach me to be insistent with you. Teach me that every day opportunities are new to me. Teach me to ask, to search and to call. Get the complaint out of my mouth. Declare your word, declare your anointing on my life. Strengthen me in perseverance. Anoint me with the power of your glory.

Lord, show me your power in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.