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“BLESSED IS THE MAN WHO PERSEVERE.”

VICTORIOUS LIVING - James 1: 12

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Here are three keys to victorious living:

(1) Perseverance. Dr. G. Campbell Morgan tells of a man whose shop burned to the ground. The next morning he set up a shop in the middle of the charred ruins and put up a sign that read, “Everything lost except wife, children and hope – business as usual tomorrow morning.” So get back up again! “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life.”

(2) Purpose. Helen Keller wrote, “Many persons have the wrong idea about what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.” Jesus said, “The Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve” (MK 10:45). Don’t pray for generous heart, practice being generous and your heart will fall into line with your actions. As long as you are a sower, God will give you seed (see 2Co 9:10).

(3) Perspective. Your disappointment may turn out to be God’s appointment. “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps” (see pr. 16:9). Remember how an oyster makes a pearl? When a grain of sand gets into its shell, the oyster wraps it in layer of beauty until a pearl is formed. The poet wrote: “This tale has a moral, for isn’t it grand, what an oyster can do with a morsel of sand? And what couldn't we do, if we’d only begin, with some of the things that get under skin.” Get the right perspective. Try to see “God” at work in what you are going through today!

-1Cor 15: 2 “By which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preach to you – unless you believed in vain”

- Ephesians 6: 18 “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints

- Isaiah 40: 31 “But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint”

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