By Brenda Conrad
This post was written by Mrs. Brenda Conrad. Mrs. Conrad takes literary license to capitalize all pronouns referring to God and His Word, except when directly quoting from Scripture.
We encourage our readers to read all Scripture passages from their King James Bibles. The power is in God's Word, not ours. :) All Scripture is italicized and is taken from the King James Version of the Bible.
At the beginning of 2020, we thought because of the so-called "deadly" virus, the horrific happenings, the conspiracies that were surely going on, the falling away of believers by the score, the continuing deterioration of the family as God ordained it, and the lack of outward evidence of God's power in all this... Jesus must be coming soon.
It's now almost the end of 2020... Have any of these externals really changed? They have only gotten worse, as I Timothy 3:13 said it would... "evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived." There is absolutely no doubt that this world is getting darker, but must our light grow dim and go out? Or can we Continue in the faith?
In the trials and difficulties we face in life, in the discouragement with what seems to be a lack of answers to our most heartfelt prayers, in the defeat we feel because we do the same, dumb things over and over, in facing the coming darkness and dreariness of winter... Is it possible that we might fall into focused on what we "see outside" and what we "feel inside", instead of continuing to live daily by what we KNOW is true?
These externals can cause our fellowship with God to get stale and our spiritual growth to be stunted. The spirit of love, peace, and joy God intends for us to live by is smothered and snuffed out like a lovely scented candle without air. Once the air is taken away, the light quickly goes out and before long the sweet scent in the room will disappear and the jar will become cold. God wants us to continue shine brighter and glow more warmly... not smudged by the world's wickedness; not smothered by disappointment in ourselves or in others; not even snuffed out by a lack of fresh air of his Holy Spirit.
God, our loving Father, has provided everything we need to flourish- but we choose every day whether or not we will "CONTINUE" to grow stronger and glow brighter by finding and trusting His provision! If you truly desire to CONTINUE your life in a manner that is pleasing to God, you can! Here are some things we know but need to exercise "continually"...
Every day we must take time to glean, meditate, and apply the Word of God! My personal rule is one Dad taught me: "No Bible, no breakfast." (I do get coffee! :) Also, no cell phone checking or scrolling, no unnecessary conversations. As i open His Word, I often pray Psalm 119:18.
Psalm 143: 18 "Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee."
~Every day is a new day to seek Him!~
Psalm 145:18 "The Lord is nigh unto all that call upon him... in truth."
II Timothy 3:14 " But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of,... the holy scriptures..."
~You will continually forget!~
John 8:31,32 "Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
John 15:9,10 "As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love..."
Psalm 36:10 " O continue thy lovingkindness unto them that know thee; and thy righteousness to the upright in heart.
God's continual love in spite of our failures should inspire us; His kindness to us should help us to continue being gracious and kind!
Be faithful to gather together for learning and fellowship with God and His people, regardless of the disruptions and hindrances that come along! That social media feed that you must scroll through and spend hours on, unfinished business because you procrastinated or were not diligent, your whining, demanding child, or your favorite pastime, should NEVER keep you from a church service or an opportunity to learn of and follow God's plan for your life!
Acts 2:42 "And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers."
Hebrews 10:25 "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching."
1 Timothy 2:15 "Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety."
Eve only had the spoken words of God, through her husband, to obey and she failed. We have ALL of God's Word! Yet He said even though we, too, may be deceived and fail, if we continue to train our families in faith (trusting God), in charity (that is godly love), in righteous living (which is holiness), in sobriety (not being excessive in attitudes, actions, or appearance- biblical character training) ... we will be "saved" from ultimate sorrow and failure in our work of raising a family.
Ruth was an example of one who "continued"... in ultimately serving God!
Ruth 2:7 "And she said, I pray you, let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves: so she came, and hath continued even from the morning until now, that she tarried a little in the house."
God gives us different work at different times of our lives. It doesn't matter whether we have failed in the past. It doesn't matter that your specific area of responsibility are different from mine. It doesn't matter whether our God-given jobs are exciting or monotonous and boring. It doesn't matter that some seem to have it easy and others suffer setbacks and trials... God expects us to continue doing what He gives each of us to do!
1 Samuel 1:10,11 "And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore. And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life..."
Even as she prayed, God knew that Hannah would continue! He knew that she would keep her promise "to give him [Samuel] unto the LORD all the days of her life". How many things have you committed to God and then taken back... to worry over or try to protect and provide for? God cannot do His good, faithful work when we get in the way!
New Testament women were faithful to continue in prayer too!
Acts 1:14 "These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren."
1 Timothy 5:5 "Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day."
Colossians 4:2 "Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving..."
We cannot continue in anything good without God's help!!! It wont work if we try to continue in our own strength! He enables us to read, understand, apply His Word; He helps us to know and obey His will; He reminds us to pray and convicts us when we fail to keep our promises! The apostle Paul and others continued to live for God, preach, confirm, believers, encourage and exhort others all through their lives because God helped them.
Acts 14:21,22 "...when they had preached the gospel to that city... Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God."
Acts 26:22 "Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great..."
Colossians 1:22,23 "...you...hath he reconciled...to present you holy and unblamable and unreproveable in his sight: If ys continue in the faith grounded and settles, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel..."
CONTINUE: to abide indefinitely; to last, endure, be permanent (Webster)
CONTINUE doing your part... "unto all generations." (Brenda Seely Conrad)
"Keep on keeping on; don't quit!" (Dad- Ralph A. Seely)
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