Persistent Faith

Thursday, June 27



1 John 5:4 (AMP)
“For everyone born of God is victorious and overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has conquered and overcome the world—our [continuing, persistent] faith [in Jesus the Son of God].”
Devotion
The Lord cannot be overcome by darkness because He has defeated the powers of the world. (See John 1:5, 16:33) Because Jesus was victorious, we, as believers, according to Romans 12:21, are not to allow ourselves to be overcome by evil, rather we should overcome evil with good. We are not weak and defenseless in spiritual battles because those battles have already been won by Christ. In 1 John 2:13-14 and 4:4, we read that we have overcome the evil one and the evil spirits. 

How do we claim these powers for which Jesus already paid the price? We do this by exercising our faith. In the featured verse above, it says our continuing persistent faith in the Son of God is our victory. When we are tempted or struggling in an area, it is up to us to grow in our faith. We need to study the wisdom His Word provides and spend intimate time in prayer with our Heavenly Father, asking for His guidance. Just as our muscles deteriorate if we don’t work out, so will our faith deteriorate if we fail to work out spiritually.

Today’s Prayer
Dear Heavenly Father,

I humbly admit that I have faced troubles or fallen into temptations simply because I did not give my time to sitting at Your feet and studying Your Word, only to cry out to You to free me from the struggles I got myself into. I ask Your forgiveness for not growing in my relationship with You. Please prompt me daily and remind me by Your Holy Spirit to spend that much needed intimate time with You and Your Word. When You do, I commit to following that prompting and will spend treasured time with You each day. In the Name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

Apply It Today
Although in this world, we will face troubles, I wonder how many unnecessary trials we endure simply because we don’t work out spiritually. Now is the time to surrender our time to God. Spend some intimate time with Him and in His Word today and make it a daily habit.

Resources
  • Watch, “What Great Faith Can Do”, and allow the message to penetrate into the deep crevices of your heart and mind, so that you can walk in such great and persistent faith that even God, Himself will marvel.
  • Read Hebrews chapter 11, the faith chapter, and be encouraged to keep the faith during the hard times, as you read about those who walked out their faith, even when the road was rough, and the time was lengthy.