Overcoming Hope Deferred, Part 4: Perseverance

Perseverance is defined as persistence in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.

Several years ago, an acquaintance came to me seeking help for some difficulties in her life and marriage. After hearing her story, I knew that there needed to be some alignment in both her and her husband’s souls – some belief systems shifted, some wounds healed, and some strongholds broken. When I made that suggestion, she replied, “We tried that once, and it didn’t work.” They had gone for some healing and deliverance prayers, did not continue the work on their own and, because they did not experience a quick fix, had decided to never “try” it again. 

In their book Wrestling Prayer, Eric and Leslie Ludy point out that 7 long years of persistence and wrestling prayer took place before William Carey baptized his first convert in India, before Adoniram Judson won his first disciple in Burma, before Robert Morrison won his first convert in China, before Robert Moffat saw fruit of his labor in Africa and before Henry Richards won his first convert at Banza Manteka. Their point is that great breakthroughs often do not come quickly and easily and that the majority of the work is actually done in prayer. 

The prayers that birth miracles are God-prayers (His heart, His thoughts and His will). They are faith-filled prayers. But they must also be persistent. We must remain steadfast in prayer until the answer comes, just like Jacob wrestled until the breaking of the day, saying, I will not let You go until You bless me!

So we must not grow weary in doing good, for in due time we will reap, if we do not give up.
-Galatians 6:9, NET

In this passage, the word translated weary is Strong’s #G1573, the Greek word ekkakeo, which means “to be utterly emptied of the fighting spirit, exhausted, wearied or tired.” The word translated as give up is Strong’s #G1590, which means “to have one’s strength relaxed, to be enfeebled through exhaustion, to grow weak, grow weary, be tired out, to become faint hearted.”

We will reap a harvest from our kingdom seeds only if we do not grow weary, so the adversary’s strategy is obvious: to exhaust us. 

Tangible, external anchors are very important in the process of outworking your miracle, but, alone, they will never birth it. Breakthrough must always happen first in the Secret Place. If you focus your energy on the tangible realm first, you will become weary, burned out and ineffective. 

A number of years ago, I was crying out to the Lord about the lack of fruit I was seeing after many years of labor. Yeshua came to me and sweetly and simply said, If you waste your life on Me, I will build the house. Shortly after that encounter, I was worshipping when a small and very enthusiastic angel grabbed me by the hand and said to me, “Come on, let me show you how to accomplish much in the Secret Place.” We immediately approached a tiny, round door with beautiful, golden light streaming out from it. The light was so bright that I was blinded when I entered. The angel said, “Don’t worry. You’ll see soon. Your eyes will adjust to true reality. They have grown accustomed to a dim reflection.” Sure enough, I gradually began to see. Through the golden haze, I began to see people kneeling in prayer, tears streaming down their faces in a mixture of the ecstasy of His presence and the agony of feeling His heart. Others were sitting in chairs talking with Jesus. He manifested His omnipresence, as He was right there with all of them, holding their hands, looking in their eyes, conversing with them as friends. Everything was shrouded with this golden glory light. I knew by the Spirit that time was suspended in this place and that moments seemed like hours and hours like moments. And I knew that more was accomplished here than in millions of years of “heavy labor” on earth. It is laboring in the Secret Place that will keep you from exhaustion and burnout and that will birth your miracle into the earth. 

Blessed and greatly favored is the man whose strength is in You, In whose heart are the highways to Zion. Passing through the Valley of Weeping (Baca), they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with blessings. They go from strength to strength [increasing in victorious power]; Each of them appears before God in Zion.
-Psalm 84:5-7, AMP

We see here that, when we find our strength in God, we go from strength to strength. But, in reality, we sometimes experience a crisis of strength in between. David experienced a horrific trauma that brought him and his men to a place of complete emotional exhaustion, and he modeled for us the pathway back to strength… and victory. When he and his men were away at war, the Amalekites raided Ziklag, burning their homes and taking their families captive.

Then David and the men with him lifted up their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep. David’s two wives also had been taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail, the widow of Nabal the Carmelite. David was greatly distressed, for the men spoke of stoning him because the souls of them all were bitterly grieved, each man for his sons and daughters. But David encouraged and strengthened himself in the Lord his God.
-I Samuel 30:4-6, AMPC

We, of course, know that this story had a happy ending and that David strengthened himself in the Lord, ran to God for the strategy and ended up recovering everything. 

We know from Scripture that Sarah “received strength” (dunamis or miracle power) to conceive her miracle. Strength is very important in your miracle manifesting process. And it is poured out from the Father….as you wait!

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.
-Isaiah 40:31, NKJV

Perhaps you have grown weary in the waiting. Maybe you are now realizing that you have been expending more energy in the tangible realm than in the secret place. Wherever you are in your journey today, I am joining my heart with yours, agreeing with you for renewed hope and renewed strength. Step into the heavenly realm and take a peek at your “expected end,” with the eyes of your heart (your sanctified imagination), allowing that glimpse to ignite your heart with fresh passion. May the breath of YHVH refresh you today…

-Virginia

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