Does Your Love Endure?

Does Your Love Endure? by Kirk Hunt

And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.   But he who endures to the end shall be saved.

Matthew 24:12-13 NKJV

Love is something you choose.  Love-in-feeling comes and goes, but love-in-action is the result of your choices.  Does your love endure despite the climate around you?  Your salvation, and likely the salvation of others, depends on your individual choice to continue loving God then men.

The worst version of lawlessness is the lack of compassion or caring for fellow human beings.  Too many violate the law of love and use the secular legal code only as a way to inflict vengeance or retribution.  The concept of forbearance or even mercy seems to have fled our national borders. 

There are those who choose to love anyway.  Despite the climate of resentment and callousness, they fight to endure in the love and grace that comes through Jesus Christ.  Who or how many will benefit by the determined effort to bless the least of these?  Only heaven knows.

The law of love does not allow anarchy, sin or injustice.  Jesus did not condemn the adulterous woman (or missing man) but He commanded her to stop sinning.  Jesus loved her enough to endure the pressure of the Pharisees and still extend grace to the woman.

You have a choice today.  You can choose to give into the current environment and punish and persecute those around you.  You can also choose to endure to the end and love God’s children, extending the love and grace He has already given you.

Think:      Does my love endure, despite the climate around me?

Pray:         “Lord, help me to endure in my love for You and Your children.”

 

Copyright © May 2019, Kirk Hunt

This devotional is brought to you courtesy of CadreMen Press.  You can purchase a copy of Blessed and Blessing: Devotionals For Gospel Champions from your favorite bookseller or directly from CadreMen Press.

You Have Need Of Endurance

You Have Need Of Endurance by Kirk Hunt

For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:

Hebrews 10:36 NKJV

Perhaps you have heard the adage: “If it was easy, everyone would do it.”  Endurance is a key ingredient of the best saints of God.  The Christian men and women you most admire have likely built up their endurance.  You can do the same.

Endurance is a characteristic that separates the dedicated from the dabblers.  Talent cannot work if you cannot stay on your feet.  Skill cannot win if you are face down on the floor. 

If you participate in this life, you will take blows.  Somewhere along the line, you will need to stay on task, despite how you hurt.  Can you endure long enough to win anyway? 

Of course, the promise is that God will give you the strength and toughness to go the extra distance to victory.  Are you willing to bear your hurt and harm until God gives you victory?  Endurance is not easy, otherwise everyone would do it.

God promises to be with us, to the end of the world.  The blisters, gasping for air or soreness are our part of doing His will.  You will have to exercise your free will to fulfill His sovereign commands. 

Great men and women of God are not always the best educated, most skillful or even best looking.  The greatest among us endure until their part of God’s plan is complete.  You can be one of His elite saints.  It is as easy as doing His will until you receive His promise.

Think:      What do I need to endure so God can give me victory?

Pray:         “Lord, help me to endure so that I can be a part of Your victory.”

 

Copyright © May 2019, Kirk Hunt

This devotional is brought to you courtesy of CadreMen Press.  You can purchase a copy of Blessed and Blessing: Devotionals For Gospel Champions from your favorite bookseller or directly from CadreMen Press.

An Angel Named Perseverance

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An Angel Named Perseverance By Kirk Hunt

 

Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.

 

James 5:11 NKJV

 

Perseverance is not one of the beautiful angels. There are no hidden secrets. There are no mysterious procedures. It is the simple act of staying at your tasks until the end.

 

Most Christians do not associate perseverance with skill or power. It is one of the fruits of the Spirit and very often, it is the difference between success and failure. Perseverance has great value in the secular world, and in the things of God. Perseverance carries and preserves us until His answers come.

 

Perseverance is a sibling to endurance and a cousin to patience. It is the link between hope and prayer. All champions have, or get, perseverance. That is because all champions eventually run out of fancy moves and clever strategies. All that remains then is refusing to give up until you get victory.

 

Perseverance does have a formula: Take the hits. Get up, if needed. Continue serving God. Repeat until you arrive in His Kingdom.

 

There is no magic or mystery in perseverance.   Just a willingness to continue until victory comes. You do want victory, right?

 

Think:            Perseverance may not be flashy but it is critical.

 

Pray:               “Lord, help me have endurance until my change and answers come from You.

 

 

Copyright © September 2014, Kirk Hunt

This devotional is a ministry of https://devotionals.cadremenpress.com.

Despite The Circumstances

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“Despite The Circumstances” by Kirk Hunt

Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die. But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips. (Job 2:9-10 KJV)

Job 2:9-10 KJV

Mr. and Mrs. Job sat in the middle of devastation and loss. A lifetime of carefully accumulated wealth disappeared in the space of a morning. The precious lives of their 10 children had been just as unceremoniously cut short. Job, himself, lay miserable and hurting with disease.

You would think there would be at least a little bitterness. The facts point to betrayal by God Himself. Job ignores that false conclusion.

Job chooses to trust God. During the good. Despite the bad. He knew that no matter the circumstances, God’s love is good and constant.

Hurting with pain, and living through extraordinary loss, Job held the line. He refused to believe that God had abandoned him. He dismissed the story told by the facts and figures.

Perhaps you are hurting during a season of loss and devastation. Ignore the statistics. Trust in God’s faithfulness and grace.

No matter how dark and hopeless it looks, God is there. He didn’t turn from you then. He will not turn from you now. There might be chaos and noise today, but there will be peace and calm in your (near) future.

Think: When everything is disrupted, God’s grace remains.

Pray: “Lord, I choose to trust you, no matter what.”

Copyright © February 2010, Kirk Hunt