Pray for Endurance
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada, and I need help.
Do you say that often? Do you ever hear it from your friends? Or, do you ever admit it to your friends? Well, I do. It’s a good thing to ask for help when you need it. The team here at Joni and Friends understand this. Sometimes in the middle of the day, I will have to ask my coworkers to get me out of my wheelchair and lay me down to adjust my corset to relieve the pain in my hip and my back. And while I’m lying down, sometimes the pain is so bad I’ll ask them to pray for me. “Please,” I’ll say, “please ask God to help me to endure. I need endurance. I need His courage to go on.”
Endurance is a gift from God mentioned in Romans chapter 15, verse 5. Actually, endurance is coupled there with perseverance and it’s a good thing. With my quadriplegia and problems with pain I have to persevere and endure. I can’t let go of hope. I have to hold fast, a little like that invigorating command in Hebrews chapter 10: “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering.” And elsewhere, Jesus says: “Hold fast until I come.” Oh friend, when times get tough, hold fast. When one problem piles on top of another, hold fast without wavering. Jesus himself knows how hard life is, and it’s why He personally tells you to hold on until He comes.
“Blessed is the man who perseveres, and endures under trial, for he will receive the crown of life.” That’s a promise from James chapter 1. Our perseverance and our endurance is inextricably linked to the crown of life that God wants to give you on that glorious day. Endurance is that critical. So, just how do you pray for endurance? Well, ask God to keep you and preserve you and defeat every rising rebellion or doubt in your heart. I know that I ask God to deliver me from temptation to complain. I ask the Lord to help me wake up with a good attitude about the day. I ask God to help me not compare my pain to other peoples’ discomforts. I ask Him to keep me from emotionally throwing in the towel, and you can do the same. Ask the Lord to incline your heart, master your will, and do whatever must be done to keep you trusting and fearing until Jesus comes or calls. It’s the way to pray for endurance. And with endurance will always come perseverance.
To help you on this journey—and it’s a hard journey, especially if you have a chronic condition—I really want to send you my little booklet called, “Pain and Providence.” It’s filled with great advice for those who deal with pain: scriptures, great quotes, poems, and insights on how to hold to hold fast until Jesus comes; how to hold onto hope without wavering. For your free copy, just go to my radio page today at joniandfriends.org/radio and ask for “Pain and Providence.” And if you are wavering, if you feel like you might throw in the towel spiritually or emotionally, then please let us know because we want to pray for you. Our Joni and Friends staff meets every morning for prayer and we would love to lift up to the Lord your needs and the needs of friends like you. It’s all there for you at joniandfriends.org/radio.
Remember, what saves you is to take a step, and then take another step because sometimes it takes every ounce of courage to live, and live well. God bless you for doing that, for persevering, for enduring, and for holding fast without wavering. It’s the Christian thing to do. Thanks for listening today on Joni and Friends.
© Joni and Friends
