Pillars Of Perseverance

What are the foundational pillars to become and remain an overcomer?

"Count it all joy, My brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."

James 1:2-4

During your journey as a Christian in which you aim to conform to Christ, the enemy will never relent in his effort to cause you to fail. He is not just motivated by pride but also his hatred of everything God loves. Therefore, I have identified seven pillars of perseverance you need to keep in your heart and live by in earnestness to assist in overcoming the enemy’s attempts. And, more importantly, to remain in God’s will for your life.

Because those who heed to His call and accept Christ will need to endure hardship and persecution. But they can make this journey much more bearable by building their faith on the seven pillars of perseverance. These seven pillars are not new but the idea is to continue to meditate and commit to them by applying their values and spiritual advantages in your life without ceasing. To apply the seven pillars will also prevent corruption and deception from being able to infiltrate your life, so you can remain steadfast and upright.

For these pillars to be incorruptible, you need to root and establish them in a relationship testifying of your love for the Lord, His Word as well as your neighbour. Love is the only foundation pure enough to withstand the attacks from the enemy regardless of the intensity, for its purity sprouts from the heart of the Father. Love is the key. Eternal salvation is not received by the works of your hands but only by grace through faith. And the true desires and intent of the heart to accept and follow Christ, will determine your reward as mentioned in Luke 6:23&35 and 1 Corinthians 3:14&15. The heart can only speak the language of love (from the Saviour) or the language of hatred (from the Enemy), which either leads to life, or leads to death.

While these pillars are easy to comprehend, they are hard to apply without fail in times of trial and tribulation as well as times of great abundance. And even though they are difficult to master, they are not impossible to attain. The secret is not attempting to accomplish them in your own power, but to fully submit to Christ in your effort. The more you immerse yourself in the Word of God, the more these pillars will be foundational to your whole being. And when applied as God intended, these pillars become blessings with the potential to unleash tremendous overcoming power for the believer. However, when these pillars become unstable because of the death you sow in your life through the words you speak, the works of your hands and the thoughts which occupy your mind, they become curses having the opposite effect. They are then called the seven pillars of idleness, weakness and apathy.

The seven pillars of perseverance and the opposite pillars of weakness are:

1. Faith versus Unbelief

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."

Galatians 2:20

Faith is a gift from God which He gives through His grace, mercy, and love and because only the Lord deserves all the glory for your salvation. You cannot earn or deserve faith, it is a gift to you because of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. The Lord uses faith to distinguish between those belonging to Him and those that do not. According to Romans 10:17 you know establishing and remaining faithful is only possible by knowing the Word of God and Jesus Christ is the Word. Also, from Hebrew 11:6 you know without faith it is impossible to please God. And from believing the Word of God you know faith is the belief in the one True God without being able to see Him. Faith is the unwavering and complete confidence through your own free will, in Almighty God. It is the unshakeable belief God is working behind the scenes in every area of your life and that He is in total control. And this trust increases every time you recognise the Lord is faithful. True faith makes you place your trust in Christ as your only Way to salvation, making you righteous by grace.

Faith manifests as a fruit in your life through the Holy Spirit. It is a powerful weapon of protection as it shields you from the fiery darts of the Enemy. Faith is spiritual and not intellectual and is the power pressing you forward to undertake the impossible because faith releases the supernatural. It also humbles the logical mind, focused on the world. By faith you acknowledge God and His truth and have a kingdom-minded attitude. It is a settled confidence and an abiding assurance. It is having the trust and confidence in the Trinity compelling you to commit body and soul to the Saviour. Still, as seen from James 2:26, faith without works is dead because the lack of works reveals an unchanged life. It is by faith that your life transforms, and it is the works you commit to that manifest this change. At the same time also knowing it is your faith sustaining you to the end. Your ability to live in harmony and fellowship with other Christians displays the purity of your faith. And this pure faith also strives to maintain holy relationships between yourself, those around you and the Lord.

Unbelief is increasing in these last days because of the massive ignorance concerning the Word of God. Not knowing God by not knowing His Word, always leads to unbelief. Exposure to secular humanism, false doctrines, false teachers, the love of the world and not walking in a personal relationship with the Lord will cause the carnal world’s influence to overcome you. The world does not accept the Bible as God’s final authority and because they walk by sight and not faith, they continuously relegate the Word.

In the world of the unbeliever, everything is rationally explainable. And because the eternal goal of salvation is absent from the unbeliever, the most important ambition driving them is to enrich themselves through significance, or desperately trying to suffer less. With unbelief there is no eternal reward. And because there are no eternal prospects to aspire to, unbelievers live for themselves in the present. God designed faith to distinguish between those who believe and those who do not. And even if unbelievers will provide and assist their fellow neighbours, they do so to exalt their own significance. The humility they project in these circumstances will camouflage their true intent. In total contrast, the true giver is able to give without being asked, and receives no glory or honour because nobody, but God, knows of the giving.

Through unbelief you depend on yourself and the world around you because in the world of the unbeliever, the power of self, reigns supreme. Unbelief causes you to become impudent to the solutions and answers the Word gives for whatever problems you may have to overcome. This is because your flesh seeks an outcome from the world.

The Lord's mercy and grace empowers our continual faith through which you overcome whereas unbelief can only rely on the fleeting and temporary outcomes provided by a fallen and broken world.

“Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because He has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgement: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil,"

John 3:18-19

2. Obedience versus Disobedience

"Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven."

Matthew 7:21

Obedience is the measure to what extent you will trust God, and it means you comply with everything God has commanded. However, you are obedient not because of a sense of duty, but because of an overwhelming love and true faith in Christ. And this faith manifests itself through your obedience. All Christians must obey the law of love and the principle is that by loving and obeying God, you will also love your neighbour. Your obedience means you comply with everything God commands and you except this in humility. To establish and maintain a personal relationship is imperative if you wish to know what God's plan and purpose is for you. Because a mutual relationship of trust between yourself and the Lord will suffer if there is regular and willful disobedience.

Unshakable faith and trust in the Lord, requires obedience, even in the face of great adversity. But the Lord blesses and rewards obedience. Confront your reluctance to experience discomfort by embracing obedience and if there are any pre-conceived limitations attached to your personal sacrifice, crucify them on Christ's cross. Ask yourself whether you are willing to trust the Lord in displaying the limit of your abilities, or do you prefer to make the decision yourself? The Lord tests your worthiness by testing your obedience and worthiness results from the righteous heart. God will never expect you to do anything which will not benefit you or be to your advantage and will never allow you to be tempted above your means. Obedience is always for your own good. Even if your circumstances prohibits you from comprehending this concept in its entirety. And sometimes obedience may even serve as protection as obeying could be a matter of life and death.

By being complacent you become demanding regarding your own levels of comfort and you may even begin to question if certain sacrifices are indeed ordained by God. You allow doubt to pollute your mind because under the circumstances it is comfortable and easier. By not being involved in an active and intimate relationship with the Lord, you cannot overcome all the various forms of fear with which the Enemy will try to overcome you. And this situation will lead to disobedience as your fear will cause you to put your trust in the world.

Disobedience is an act of rebellion and idolatry and it disrespects the Word of God. By being disobedient you are displaying your doubts concerning His sovereignty and show that you are unwilling to walk in His ways. Most of the time the root cause of disobedience is a lack of trust in the Lord. However, there are plenty of people who are disobedient because earthly comfort and security seem more appropriate and assuring to them. But to use your own human weaknesses as an excuse, will never suffice since your disobedience is rooted in fear and mistrust, and not mere ignorance. Remember that ignorance is no excuse either.

The enemy’s favourite strategy for leading God’s children into disobedience, is to spread complacency in all spheres. His churches especially. Some churches place great emphasis on prosperity and health and never admonish nor bring any true correction. And the congregation becomes complacent, fed only what they want to hear. The church is overcome by the fear of upsetting congregants which may lead to the loss of essential revenue and they fall victim to the mindsets they should preach against because they follow numbers. As if their continued existence depends on man’s provision.

“Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do what I tell you?”

Luke 6:46

3. Gratitude versus Ingratitude

“Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His steadfast love endures forever”

1 Chronicles 16:34

A grateful and thankful heart brings God joy. This strengthens you as the joy of the Lord is also your strength. You should be thankful because God’s mercy endures forever, and He is worthy of your gratitude. Believers are thankful people because they comprehend they do not deserve anything compared to the price Christ paid on the cross. Believers know everything they receive are gifts conceived from love and in appreciation they give thanks for what they have and overcome their human nature not to focus on what they do not have. Thankfulness ensures your heart remains in a right relationship with the Lord as gratitude will sustain and strengthen you to endure challenging circumstances. The veracity by which you demonstrate thankfulness towards Christ, rests in your ability to acknowledge the Trinity in everything you say and do.

Unbelievers are by nature ungrateful. Because they are convinced they have accomplished everything they are and have, through their own power and abilities. And during hardship and suffering they are quick to point the finger at God. Instead of the real Enemy or even themselves and this also explains the root of their unbelief. Because even though the Lord is not the source of their oppression but rather the solution, they fail to see that suffering is an opportunity to change the mindset.

Believers are grateful because they comprehend how undeserved they are of salvation and their expectation at eternal life. They are grateful because Christ’s atonement on the cross took away their eternal condemnation. Now they can rejoice in the promise of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. And by professing their gratitude, they acknowledge that God is in control and all their trust is in him.

Believers are thankful because they cannot fathom how an Infinite and Almighty God would even bother with the depraved human race. Let alone love them enough to give them the tremendous expectation and opportunity to be in His presence for eternity. They receive guidance from the Holy Spirit to identify all the elements of mercy and grace given to them in their lives, and this manifesting gratefulness, glorifies God.

On the other hand, to be ungrateful, you need to be selfish which in turn is birthed through a lack of love. The absence of love within some of those who are important and powerful by earthly standards, entitles them and gives them delusions of grandeur. They are reluctant to be grateful for anything because the enemy makes them believe they are entitled to everything because of who they are. By the same token, those who are insignificant and weak become ungrateful because their self-pity controls them. Overruling any emotions of love through their destructive murmuring. They drown in their perceived hopelessness, because they believe the Lord has forsaken them, and remain unable to completely surrender.

Sinful human nature leads many only to be grateful once they benefit to some extent in the here and now. They fail to realise the magnitude of the gift of salvation which is undeserved and for free. You need to remember God does not owe you anything. Therefore, the participation in His salvation plan should occur with grateful delight, considering the possibilities if He had not intervened.

“Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?”

Ezekiel 18:23

4. Humility versus Pride

“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Luke 14:11

Spirit-filled children seated in Christ, reflect His humility in their hearts and do not just reflect it as an outward demeanour. This humility comes as you pray for His will to be done considering your own insignificance. It is a state of meekness, lowliness, and absence of self where you die to self. True humility produces godliness and contentment and is when you acknowledge Christ has exchanged your worthlessness for His infinite worth, your sin for His righteousness. And the life you now live, you live by faith in Jesus Christ who loves you and gave His life so you may live.

Through humility you seek the best in others and you have no difficulty in regarding yourself as the least. Humility rejects the things which glorify self and always acts with patience, kindness, goodness and self-control. The humble always defend the truth, serve others and acknowledge they are unable to save themselves or even worthy to be saved.

Pride is giving yourself the credit for something God has accomplished and it results from having built your foundations on the image and importance of yourself. Self-significance and self-righteousness is the mantra by which the prideful operate. They believe God should accept them because they deserve His acceptance and use their pride to hide their fears of the unknown and their own vulnerability.

Through the desperate dependence on your own significance you are deceived into believing in the magnificence of your own capabilities and power. And even though your focus may not be on the Enemy, but rather on yourself, he has taken your eyes off the Lord. The enemy’s most important goal is not to convince people to worship him, but rather that they cease to worship God. But an inner humility through the love of Christ will convict you in knowing you are not capable in achieving anything by yourself without the mercy and grace of the Lord.

Humility will always give all the credit and recognition to the Lord whereas pride insists on constant recognition from the world. The recognition from mankind for worldly achievements many depend on, is not sustainable in the long run and is a breeding ground for pride. In the end it always leads to a fall. This is not saying recognition is bad, it is saying that dependence on recognition is bad. With enough pride, you will become a self-sufficient god unto yourself. Disregarding that even one of the most powerful angels created, was overcome by pride. If there is a difference in the humility you exude towards God, your family, and the rest of the world, you must perceive pride has already corrupted your foundations.

By its very heavenly nature, true humility is immutable. It is one of the greatest spiritual characteristics to attain to as Christ’s law promises the meek shall be blessed, for they shall inherit the earth. Always keep in mind the Lord wants His children to assemble, to prepare and to advance, so they may also experience the victories promised to the faithful.

“But He gives more grace. Therefore it says, God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

James 4:6

5. Peace versus Fear, Worry and Doubt

“I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world”

John 16:33

Peace is your response to God’s power and allows for reconciliation in your life at every level. It is also the manifesting of your unshakeable trust in Him. Although peace is the absence of war or conflict, more than that, it is the spiritual power of mercy, justice and righteousness where everyone may live as God intended. And even though peace is a gift from God, it relates to your actions and attitude. Peace with God will keep your heart and mind secure through Christ’s justification and is also part of the plan and purpose of God’s promised kingdom. It expresses God’s power, and it brings healing and restoration to every part of your damaged and alienated life in areas such as the uneven socio-economic structures, conflicting and opposing communities, broken relationships and even inner guilt. Above all, restoration to your ruptured relationship with your Creator, also brings peace.

After you turn to Christ, your path is set to remain submitted and surrendered to Him. And when the unsaved dare to take the leap, and surrender to Christ when called, they are rewarded with an overwhelming inner peace that defies all human understanding. This peace is a reward from God for having the courage to place all your trust in Him. All your securities, all your hopes and all your beliefs are withdrawn from the world and deposited in Christ. You become blessed with overflowing peace because you become kingdom-minded. And once you accept to adopt His ways, the journey starts where all your worldly minded weaknesses causing anxiety and doubt are challenged.

Through this mighty inner peace surging within you, you become unconcerned regarding the worldly opinions of others. You also become unconcerned with your own mortality and that of the world because you know the eternal Creator is in control. You are not moved or motivated by that which the world perceives to be significant, because you know true significance is in the way you glorify God with the gift of your existence.

Faith and fear should not prevail in the same believer. Yet you will often find people speaking words containing death because fear and doubt are rooted in their minds. The Lord despises all fear, except for your fear of Him. Your fear of Him resembles your devotion, faithfulness and undying love for Him; and it is not possible to stand in faithfulness and devotion without such love.

You will only be able to overcome your fears once you have submitted and surrendered to the Almighty Creator of the heavens and the earth. To completely submit and surrender means to trust and trusting God is the refusal to give in to fear on account of your faith in Him. And you know the love you have in Christ drives away all fear. Worry and doubt are both consequences of fear and grows uncontrollably in the absence of peace. Unbelievers who doubt, are missing an unattainable worldly answer; whereas believers who doubt, are missing the inexplicable peace you get through unconditional surrender.

“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love,"

1 John 4:18

6. Joy and Hope versus Grumbling

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”

Romans 15:13

Always rejoice during trials and tribulations for they strengthen you and testing your faith produces perseverance. Through the ever-lingering presence of the Holy Spirit you receive hope and joy in abundance, knowing that your joy in the Lord cannot be taken away. However, the Spirit can only bless you with life-giving joy and hope if you live a life of sacrifice. To embrace the heart of praise and worship in the face of great calamity and adversity, is to be devoted to God. True believers are devoted to Christ throughout their everyday lives and not just when the occasion calls for it. They understand Christ is omnipresent and everything they say and do is a testimony of their devotion to Him. And it is this devotion causing them to experience abundant joy.

Absolute devotion is how you conduct your life. You depend upon your Rock of Salvation with everything you are and this utter reliance on Him will stir a delight within you that manifests through your devotion. When you are not devoted to God you are either devoted to yourself or the world. You can never be devoted to nothing as even apostasy or neglect is a trademark of the kingdom of darkness. And once the enemy realises you are not devoted to God in all spheres of life, he will search for a weakness from where he will attempt to breach.

One small breach such as grumbling will lead to neglect, opening the door to defilement through mistrust and unbelief. By being in a state of constant neglect, you risk being further deceived by accepting false doctrines, ideas or teachings. This will cause you to fall away from the Word of God and His righteousness. From 2 Thessalonians 2:3 you are also warned this falling away will only get worse as the time for Christ’s return approaches.

To place your hope in the world is futile because it is based on human achievement. Just as joy in the world is temporary because it is based on fleshly pleasures. It will always come and go. When your trust in the world is contaminated due to your inability to find enduring joy and hope and you succumb to self-pity and grumbling, is when doors of darkness open within the spiritual realm. At this, the enemy rejoices with deafening fanfare. True joy and hope in a perpetual state is only attainable through an unwavering conviction in the Creator of all goodness, joy, and hope. This conviction will manifest in your contentment with all circumstances.

By looking beyond the natural realm and holding onto His heavenly promises, your joy is assured. The joy and hope in the world lacks longevity because its temporary foundations are built on what matters most: significance and materialism. When you grumble because of your circumstances, you succumb to your doubts and unbelief and alienate yourself from the loving heart of the Father. Your grumbling distances you from the Lord and sends a message to the heavens of your distrust in the sovereignty and providence of the Almighty. Calamity, oppression, suffering, and sickness are all works of the enemy in a fallen world, but through clever deception and the unbearable ignorance of sinners, the Saviour is blamed many times. The fact that a Sovereign God allows hardship does not mean it will not be to your benefit in the end. Grumbling may cause you to never reach the end because it is nothing other than the formal confession of your mistrust in the Lord.

"It's been rightly said that we shouldn't bother complaining because eighty percent of the people won't care and the other twenty percent think you deserve what you are getting!"

- Michael Zigarelli (Dean, Regent Business School)

Everlasting joy and hope is found in submitting yourself to Christ and by sowing your seeds in His heavenly soil. This activates your ability to overcome by not opening the doors leading to grumbling. Christians need to know, if they do not give up, they will not fail. As conditional heirs to eternal life, it would be foolish to expect to be pampered into heaven. The Lord will reveal your true motive and intention through various ways but there will always be a victorious outcome for His mighty men and woman of valour. Be devoted and take joy in knowing it is possible to persevere because you are nourished by the living water flowing from the Word. And be watchful of the neglect brought about by grumbling as this breach in your weakness will pollute and defile you severely.

“We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the destroyer”

1 Corinthians 10:10

7. Forgiveness versus Mercilessness

“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”

Ephesians 4:32

When you live by faith, obedience, gratitude, humility, and peace, together with overwhelming joy and an insatiable sense of hope, it becomes natural to extend forgiveness. Just as you are forgiven. The deliverance from any remaining yoke or bondage by being forgiving will fill you with a sense of freedom radiating from your entire being. It is the state where you are convicted that nothing other than your life in Christ comes first and you are able to overcome this vengeful world. Forgiveness is your ability to put your trust in God to heal your hurting heart and to give you the ability to move on. It is not based on works, but rests in the redeeming work of Christ on the cross. By being forgiving you become more like Christ because you refuse to relent to any feelings of resentment.

Although you know you will not lose your salvation due to sinning, at the same time you also know unconfessed sin corrupts the relationship between yourself and God. Therefore, to restore this relationship you confess your sins and ask God to forgive you and by His grace the relationship is restored by Him forgiving you. But when you are unable to extend mercy and grace to your neighbour, how do you expect to receive the same from the Lord? The parable of the merciful servant in Matthew 18:35 illustrates the hard reality of such circumstances.

The most damning consequence of being merciless towards others is that it prevents God from forgiving you and therefore it is a serious stumbling block. By being merciless you are rebelling against God and this will prevent you from coming into His presence. Romans 12:19 teaches vengeance and judgement is reserved for God and being vengeful and harsh will interfere with God’s plan and purpose for your life.

Sometimes it may be difficult to forgive as it requires your human nature to display selflessness, which is a Christlike characteristic. That is why conforming to Christ is the key by which you unlock your ability to forgive. But forgiving does not always mean forgetting. The need for you to remember may sometimes protect you from either getting hurt or making the same mistake again. Ongoing and unresolved refusal to forgive will lead to bitterness and this bitterness will consume you like a cancer. Altogether, to be merciless gives Satan an open door in your life, and the greater the accompanying hardness of heart, the greater his access in your life.

“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

Matthew 6:14-15

Closing Statement

The single most important milestone in the Christian life is not health, happiness, prosperity or even the spreading of the gospel of Christ. The first and biggest goal is the continuous victory over sin. But this victory is only possible through grace. So if you find yourself in a situation where a door to sin have been opened, you should know that His grace is wanting. And this grace is wanting because the Lord wants to show you a shortcoming in your faith life. This shortcoming is a lack of absolute dependence on God and absolute dependence on God in all spheres of life in turn creates faith. And it is through this faith by which you receive grace. The bigger your dependence on God, the less your dependence on the world. And this results in bigger grace.

Faith equals dependence on God and when the Lord lifts His hand of grace it is a call to His elect to return to this principle. Because it is indeed your dependence on Him to which you submit daily which accomplishes your triumph over sin. Dependence upon God is trust and trust does not put God to the test. It simply trusts. Therefore, to put God to the test is proof that enduring faith and trust is indeed lacking.

May you be mightily persuaded by the Lord's Spirit to live a life that testifies of your steadfast conviction that everything is from Him, through Him and to Him. Because God is love and to Him be all the glory forever.

Amen.