Be-Cast Episode 32: BE ENDURING
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We’re so excited to welcome back Allison Diaz this week! If you missed last week’s podcast with her on Be Courageous, just click here to listen. Allison is grown from a mix of Georgia Red Clay and Canadian dust…a southern girl with a heart for God, her family and big dreams. She’s a warrior for Jesus, her husband and her family…overcoming near-tragic difficulty and standing firm as an example God is bigger than any disaster. You will be incredibly blessed by her wisdom and insight. To read more about Allison and her journey, visit her personal website,www.allisonmdiaz.com and the site she writes about living in the wake of traumatic brain injury, www.dannyandallison.com.
BE IN THE WORD (this week’s verses):
Love puts up with anything and everything that comes along; it trusts, hopes, and endures no matter what. (1 Corinthians 13:7)
Strengthen them with Your infinite power, according to Your glorious might, so that they will have everything they need to hold on and endure hardship patiently and joyfully. (Colossians 1:11)
And after Abraham had endured with patience, he obtained the promise he had hoped for. (Hebrews 6:15)
Simply endure, for when you have done as God requires of you, you will receive the promise. (Hebrews 10:36)
Don’t run from tests and hardships, brothers and sisters. As difficult as they are, you will ultimately find joy in them; if you embrace them, your faith will blossom under pressure and teach you true patience as you endure. And true patience brought on by endurance will equip you to complete the long journey and cross the finish line—mature, complete, and wanting nothing. (James 1:2-4)
BE DOERS, NOT JUST HEARERS (practical application):]
1. Get in the Word. Sometimes it will feel empty or superficial and that’s okay…but keep doing it! Find your voice in the book of Psalms…read David’s heart as he poured himself out to God.
2. Find Community. You need people around you that can help shoulder your trials and pain. It can be a community of one or many, but you need someone you can be real and transparent about what you’re going through. You need to take off the mask and be real.
3. Extend Yourself Some Grace. You’re going to have great days and really crappy days; you’re not going to be on the mountaintops every single day. But the good news is that it’s totally normal, and it’s okay! It’s okay not to be okay.
BE EDUCATED (additional resources):
1. Stand: A Call for the Endurance of the Saints by John Piper. Are you struggling to remain firm as you live out your faith? Here’s help from people who’ve endured! From John MacArthur’s longtime pastoring to Randy Alcorn’s obedience in the culture wars; from Jerry Bridges’s patience through suffering to Helen Roseveare’s constancy in the mission field, you’ll glean the strength you need to practice Christ-exalting endurance.
2. Job: A Man of Heroic Endurance by Charles Swindoll. The trials of Job are legendary. One righteous man suffering so many calamities, so much heartache. But despite the fact that many have heard about Job and his trials, not many people truly understand what those trials were all about and what God was trying to accomplish through them. Eventually, though, through tough questions and unexpected answers from God, Job gained new insights on suffering, patience, and endurance. And, more importantly, he learned how deeply he was loved by God.
3. Patient Endurance by Family Christian. Patient endurance is not easy, but many times it is necessary. Your faith has the opportunity to go deep when you stay somewhere for awhile, but your faith remains shallow when you run from resistance. Resistance is a faith builder.
BE TWEETERS (ready made tweets, just click to tweet):
We don’t know what we’re capable of until we’re put in situations where we have to choose to endure.
We keep God in our man-made, faithless boxes when we choose to NOT endure.
Endurance is holding fast to one’s faith in Christ…even when it doesn’t make sense.
Either God is who He says He is, or He’s not. There is no gray area.
BE LOADED UP (free downloads):
Here are this week’s printable, phone wallpaper and Instagram/Pinterest pics! Use #BeEnduring and#bestillbefree when posting!
BE TOGETHER (creating discussion in the comments):
Where in your life is God asking you to endure? What’s one thing you can do this week to endure? Leave us a comment below, reply to others’ comments and let us know what God is speaking to you about Being Enduring!