What Does Perseverance Mean

What does the word perseverance mean to you? According to one online dictionary site I looked at, perseverance means: “steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.” How many of us truly persevere when we encounter difficulties or delays in achieving success? How many of us persevere in prayer UNTIL we receive our answer? We pray and ask God for something, and if it doesn’t happen right away, we backpedal and say things like, “Well, God must not have wanted to give it to me.” Or, “If God wanted me to have it, He would have already given it to me.”

Wrong!

Sometimes, dare I say most times, when answers to our prayers aren’t forthcoming, God wants us to learn perseverance! It is a virtue God wants us to add to our lives in order to be effective and productive in our Christian life.

“For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” 2 Peter 1:5-8

Perseverance in prayer is pivotal to progressing in our Christian walk. Do we really believe we are praying to a benevolent God who longs to answer the prayers of His children? Or are we simply breathing heartfelt longings to an empty sky?

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” Matthew 7:7 NIV

In the original Greek language, the verbs ask, seek and knock indicate ongoing, continuous action. He wants us to ask and to keep asking, seek and keep seeking, knock and keep knocking.

Next time you find yourself getting discouraged in the process, keep moving! Perseverance pays off in the long run.