Prayer as God’s Means to Perseverance

“Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.” (Psalm 16:1-2)

One of the people in the Bible that we can relate to in terms of endurance and perseverance amidst hardships, trials, and failures is David. David was never near perfection. Reading the account of David's life in the Bible we see how he endured and persevered not just from the dangers and threats to his life, but how He was kept by God until the end even after his failures and sins against God.

What we can see in David's life is the pattern of him being dependent on God, on His word, and also of him being persistent and persevering in prayer. Many times we see David, in the book of Psalms, calling upon the Lord to deliver Him and to preserve in so many ways. One of them is Psalm 16:1-2. There were times too that God didn't answer his prayers right away. But he kept on trusting God.

In our perseverance daily, we don't just pray and expect a divine miracle like that of a manna from heaven where we just wait passively for God to answer our prayers and fulfill His promises to us. Let us learn from David. David was always calling upon the Lord for deliverance and for guidance. But after praying to God and trusting Him in His promises, he did not just sit there and let God do the rest. He actively did something. For instance, God promised him victory against his enemies so many times. He then went to war and trusted God to give him victory. Then God gave him victory.

In our persevering, don't take prayer and communion with God for granted, and just wait passively For God to preserve us. We are not just called to endure but to also "actively" persevere. Brethren, are you barely surviving or are you actively persevering?

Let us take it from David. He actively persevered by being diligent in prayer and dependence upon the Lord. We, believers of Christ, have the responsibility to actively and intentionally pursue obedience to our God as He works through us and in us for our sanctification. We should use the means of grace that God gave us, and one of those is prayer.

Active persevering means active praying and communing with God. Active persevering means actively depending upon God Himself. Active persevering means actively trusting the Lord to work in us and through us.