Even as we strive to survive in a world of pandemics and economic crises, we’re striving to fulfill the Great Commission. But we’re all living in challenging times. Our hearts go out to those who have suffered because of COVID-19, which prompted a virtual economic shutdown around the world and many months of lockdowns for billions of people!
To put matters into perspective, the 2008 recession in the United States caused a shocking loss of jobs—2.6 million became unemployed in 2008, and it took four years or more for the economy to recover from that recession. During the COVID-19 crisis, the number filing for unemployment compensation reached more than 35 million!
How are we to respond and live our lives in these trying times? We strive to follow this admonition from the Apostle James: “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing” (James 1:2–4). Not that we falsely pretend that a trial is a joy, but we should rejoice in knowing God’s power to use even the greatest trial for our benefit and growth. With this knowledge, we can respond to our trials with patience. How patient are you?
In the “love chapter,” 1 Corinthians 13:4 says, “Love suffers long and is kind….” Love “suffers long” because we suffer the impositions, the handicaps, and the idiosyncrasies of our different personalities—but love is patient.
One of the key qualities of godly character is perseverance and patient endurance. Consider the patience of Abraham. “For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, ‘Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.’ And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise” (Hebrews 6:13–15). Brethren, just as Abraham patiently endured to obtain the promise, so must we.
How important is our need to endure? Matthew reminds us that “he who endures to the end shall be saved” (Matthew 24:13). He’s already talked about the beginning of sorrows and all of the prophetic trends—famines, pestilences, earthquakes—that are being fulfilled beforehand. He says that in spite of all the external turmoil and natural catastrophes, you need to endure to the end. So, brethren, we need to be like Abraham. He patiently endured, and God has called us to patiently endure and to persevere.
If you have a New King James Version Bible, you’ll see the header “The Faithful Church” above these verses:
And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, “These things says He who is holy, He who is true, ‘He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens’: I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name” (Revelation 3:7–8).
That’s true Christianity, and God has blessed us with His Spirit to make sure we are pure in heart, that we are fulfilling the spiritual magnification of the Ten Commandments. Jesus praises the Philadelphians, who
have kept My word, and have not denied My name. Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you (vv. 8–9).
We see that expression several times throughout the New Testament; God tells us that He loves us, and has loved us. Remember that always, especially when you’re feeling down and are tempted to cry out, “No one loves me!” I probably said that at times when I was a teenager, and so have some of you at one time or another in your life. Well, I was wrong! God the Father always loved and loves us all, and so does our Savior, Jesus Christ!
One characteristic God praises in Philadelphians is their perseverance, their endurance. He promises to keep His most faithful people, who endure to the end, safe from the end-time trial we call the Great Tribulation (Revelation 3:10–11). God wants us to endure—but do we know how?
Think of the historic catastrophes that people have had to endure. Some of us who are older have lived through World War II, which devastated nations—and included the horrors of the Holocaust. Eighty years earlier, the American Civil War killed an estimated 620,000 young Americans, according to Bruce Catton’s American Heritage History of the Civil War. Pestilence and disease have devastated populations in the twentieth century. You are aware of the influenza pandemic of 1918–1920 that killed more than 50 million people worldwide—but, surprisingly, even here in the United States, the pandemic of 1918 killed a reported 675 thousand people. In less than 60 years, from the time of the Civil War to the 1918 pandemic, almost 1.3 million Americans were killed by war and pestilence. Can you imagine? And now, counting COVID-19 deaths and others where the coronavirus played a decisive factor in death, more than half a million more Americans in little more than one year fell victim to a shocking new disease!
The history of the world demonstrates that the way of life practiced among peoples and nations has brought us untold misery, death, pain, and suffering worldwide. The world has yet to learn the consequences of vanity, jealousy, lust, and greed. How can we endure this end time? “And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end” (Hebrews 6:11). We are to renew our repentance, and again, make sure that we are close to God, “that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises” (v. 12).
How do we endure to the end? We exercise faith and patience, and God says that we need to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Let’s consider seven keys to end-time endurance. Some of these may overlap, but together they can help us think about how we are doing and how we can do better.
Seek First God’s Kingdom
Our first key is to seek first God’s Kingdom. “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). Most of us know this by heart. But read the whole chapter—Jesus is admonishing His audience, You have little faith. What about us? Is something lacking in your faith? Then strive more to seek God’s Kingdom, and what you lack will be added. And what is God’s righteousness that we seek? As David proclaimed of his Lord, “all Your commandments are righteousness” (Psalm 119:172).
Seeking God’s Kingdom and righteousness brings another great benefit to help us endure. “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (Matthew 6:34). So keep your priorities straight, with God always first. What “idols” are in your life ahead of God? You might want to watch Mr. Wallace Smith’s excellent sermon “Bury Your Idols” at LCG.org. And Mr. Gerald Weston, our Presiding Evangelist, has lately been encouraging us to read—or re-read—Dr. Meredith’s powerful booklet Your Ultimate Destiny. It should remind us of just what it means to be a firstfruit in the Kingdom of God. Here is just one inspiring and powerful excerpt, reminding us that
at the “last trumpet,” Christ will return to this earth as King of kings, and those found worthy will find themselves surging upward toward the clouds to meet Him in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:16–17). They will have spirit bodies and will be glorified as newly “born” members of the divine Family! They will not be regarded as “adopted” or merely “created” beings. Rather, these Spirit-born sons will come right out from God, having His very divine nature just as surely as we in this life have the human nature and characteristics imparted by our human parents (p. 13).
Maintain a Positive Mind
This should give us great encouragement and hope, and brings us to our second key—to maintain a positive mind. Many of us have memorized an important passage in Philippians on this point.
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things (Philippians 4:6–8).
Dr. Meredith wrote The Seven Laws of Radiant Health years ago, and it originally had “Maintain a tranquil mind….” Later, he changed that to maintain a positive mind. So, I prayed for years for God to help me “maintain a positive and tranquil mind.” That’s not just a passive approach; it is fine to reason with God (Isaiah 1:18). David challenged God in Psalm 6:5, Who’s going to give You praise in the grave if You let me die? When you pray with thanksgiving, you can also explain to God your hopes and the reasons for those hopes. And God can fulfill our hopes in the most remarkable ways.
Remember the account of the Philippian jailer. The Apostle Paul and Silas were in prison.
Then the multitude rose up together against them; and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods. And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed (Acts 16:22–26).
God blessed their positive attitude and answered their prayers.
Run the Race with Perseverance
Those answers help encourage us as we approach our third key—that we run our race with perseverance, buoyed by the examples of those who have gone before us. We read in Hebrews:
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:1–2).
Are you a man of faith? A woman of faith? A teenager of faith? A senior citizen of faith? Our Savior endured even the horrific torture of being nailed to a stake to be drained of His blood and His breath until the soldier pierced His side (John 19:34). He did not let the world, or His own suffering, distract Him from His goal. Sin so easily ensnares us if we do not focus on running our race, recognizing that each choice we make is a part of shaping our permanent character.
As mentioned above, when times are tough, we can plead our case before our God. Remember the example of Jacob wrestling with the One who became Jesus Christ. Jacob held on firmly to this God Being, who said to Jacob, “‘Let Me go, for the day breaks.’ But he said, ‘I will not let You go unless You bless me!’” (Genesis 32:26). Jacob persevered and God changed his name to Israel. For more on this point, I encourage you to listen to or watch Dr. Douglas Winnail’s helpful and motivating sermon “Philadelphian Perseverance.”
Pray for the Kingdom of God
Our fourth key is to pray for the Kingdom of God to come. Christ taught us what we often call the “model prayer,” which opens with the following: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9–10). Sometimes I just spontaneously pray that, and I hope you do, too. Sometimes, when you read the news or see some video of injustice, oppression, famine, or poverty, you can spontaneously say, Father, Your Kingdom come! We don’t want to have this oppression; we don’t want to see people suffering, little children dying from famine! We want Your Kingdom to come!
What is the next-to-last verse in the Bible? Revelation 22:20: “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming quickly.’” And then John, who wrote down the book of Revelation, answered, “Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” Then verse 21, the last verse of the Bible: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.”
As we pray for God’s Kingdom to come, and about the reasons why Christ needs to return, remember that He needs to save the earth, to save humanity, to establish the Kingdom of God on earth, and to establish the Royal Family of God as well. “And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming” (1 John 2:28).
Be a Living Sacrifice
Our fifth key is to be a living sacrifice. As a teenager, I had the idea that someday I would be a hero, that I would give my life for someone. But God wants us to be a living sacrifice, “holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:1–2).
Jesus Christ died for us—but for three-and-a-half years of ministry, Christ showed the world what it means to be a living sacrifice. He did not put Himself first and try to please Himself instead of serving others. And although He knew what was ahead, He endured. He sacrificed His present for the future—for our future!
Paul says we need to be a living sacrifice. We need to seek God’s will in our lives every day. And we know how to become a living sacrifice. “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15:13). That doesn’t usually mean dying—rather, we lay down our time. We give of our possessions, our prayers, our care, our service. Be a living sacrifice. If you haven’t already, you might want to read my article in the May–June 2021 Living Church News, “How May I Help You?” We need to be responsive to others’ needs and ready to serve as living sacrifices.
Exercise Patience
Our sixth key is to exercise patience. Again, some of these points overlap, and I mentioned patience at the start of this article even before the list of points. Let’s now consider how King David talked about waiting patiently for the Eternal. “I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps” (Psalm 40:1–2). David went on, saying: “I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart” (v. 8). Do you delight in doing God’s will, even when His answer to your prayer hasn’t yet come, while you strive to wait with patience and hope?
Another classic example of patience involves the calling of Saul, who became Paul. The resurrected Christ told Saul that he was going to suffer many trials. Writing to the Corinthian brethren, he catalogs some of the sufferings that he patiently endured:
Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness—besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches (2 Corinthians 11:23–28).
Paul experienced amazing sufferings, and he endured. So can we, with God’s help.
Always See the Big Picture
This brings us to our seventh and final key—one you’ve heard many times through Dr. Meredith, Mr. Weston, and all of God’s ministers: Always see the big picture. The Israelites got their eyes off the Promised Land. They saw the giants and they forgot God. How do you see the big picture? Consider these words from the book of Psalms:
O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth, who have set Your glory above the heavens! Out of the mouths of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength, because of Your enemies, that You may silence the enemy and the avenger. When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? (Psalm 8:1–4).
What a beautiful picture! Isaiah also talks about the glory and the power of God: “All nations before Him are as nothing, and they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless” (Isaiah 40:17). So, if we get a little anxious or have phobias or fears concerning the power of nations, just focus on God’s power.
Dr. Meredith always encouraged us to see the big picture. In a powerful Tomorrow’s World magazine article titled “Play God or Obey God?,” He wrote:
The Bible itself tells us through Jesus Christ—the very Son of God: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God” (Luke 4:4). The Bible is often referred to as the “mind of God” in print. For it is the Big Picture principles of the way God thinks—the way the Creator thinks. That is why Jesus Christ told us to live by every word of God! (January–February 2016).
In conclusion, let’s consider a promise God gives us through Paul. It’s a promise that I’ve claimed, and I’m sure you have, too, when you’ve gone through serious trials and challenges:
No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it (1 Corinthians 10:13).
As we’ve seen through the above keys, with God’s help we can endure whatever trials we face, giving thanks that even in our worst trials God will be there, helping us not just survive, but even thrive as we go on toward perfection!