Suddenly perseverance is needed!

Posted 23 Sep 2026

An interesting co-incidence just occurred. I have been getting a bit down due to an ear/hearing problem. My in-laws are suffering with ill health. My wife has encountered a difficult, stressful couple of weeks at work, etc. During all this I/we have been praying for the Lord God’s help, but nothing seems to have changed or improved very much.

When that happens, I admit I get a bit cross & despondent with God, as I figure He is all-powerful, and could do something to improve the situation, if only He chose too. This is an on-going struggle I have between faith and doubt. Maybe most Christians face this? I don’t know.

Anyway, I have just read the latest devotional from Justin Camp called “WiRE for Men”, which is a free Christian email devotional designed to help busy men build spiritual resilience and integrate their faith into daily life.

Below is the devotional, with my realisations written afterwards.

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Want More Persevere(ability)?

“Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour”—1 Peter 5:8

The ability to persevere—to remain strong and steadfast in the face of difficulties and delays and distractions—is a fundamental skill, necessary for any man [or woman] choosing to devote himself to our King, Jesus Christ. He showed us how in the wilderness and against the temptations that followed (Matthew 4:1-11). Like him, we too must bear up against the pressures of the world, and not only for a while, but until the very end of our days. Though any one trial or temptation may be short lived, there’s always something out there capable of our destruction.

Preparedness is paramount. You see, when we’re unprepared and trouble comes (at work, in our relationships, our finances, our health) it takes us down: into anxiety, anger, bitterness, despondency, depression, isolation. When we’re unprepared and temptations come (material, carnal, moral) they too take us down: away from God and into sin. Compounding our lack of preparedness, the enemy is always quick with interference and misinformation.

[The Devil will tell you…]
“You won’t make it.”

“You should just give-up/give-in now, and avoid the grief of waiting, just to give later.”

Okay, so what do we do?
Perseverance isn’t innate; it’s learned. All of us can do it if we train. So, brother, manufacture some pressure and train yourself. Push your limits, physically, mentally, spiritually: climb a tough summit; tackle a hike of many miles; fast for a period of days; turn devices off and embrace quiet and solitude and prayer for an uncomfortable period. Remember, God designed you for perseverance. So, by training, you’ll simply learn what you’re made of (plus you’ll expose the lies of the enemy). It doesn’t take much to learn a whole lot about yourself.
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After I read the above devotional, it suddenly dawned on me that the Lord God allows these difficult times to come into my/our lives, not because He doesn’t love us, or care about us, but because He wants us to develop characteristics identical to those of Jesus, in this particular case, Perseverance.

I believe that the sneaky, nasty Devil does indeed suggest (into my imagination) that God is withholding His love, or assistance, when we encounter troubles. He does indeed insinuate into my mind “If God loved you He would help you, so if He doesn’t help you that must mean He doesn’t love you”.

I have just realised that the exact opposite is indeed true: God loves me/us very, very much… so much so, that He wants us to develop the kind of fighting perseverance that Jesus had when He was on earth. And as Justin Camp explains in his WiRE devotional above, perseverance doesn’t just get gifted to me/us, we have to develop it; it is learned, by experience, by exposure to trials and difficult times. When we encounter such troublesome issues and events in our lives, we can either complain about it (which I have been in the habit of doing!) OR we can realise that this is an opportunity for us to flex our “perseverance muscles” and GROW, indeed, in my case, to grow up!

This realisation puts a completely different “face” on my/our experiences. Instead of seeing a mean God who doesn’t want to help me/us, now I see a very kind, loving heavenly Father, who wants me/us to grow in character (in this instance Perseverance), and that the only way to do that properly is to expose me/us to stimuli/situations which stretch me/us and causes the very growth development and character strength we and God, wants us to have.

I also see just how nasty, two-faced and horrible the Devil really is. He twists our thoughts around and tries to poison our relationship with God. And unless I/we realise that, he may very well succeed. Praise be to God that He provides Godly men like Justin Camp, who write the right words, at the right time, to help us/me discover the truth about God, & about the Devil.

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