{"id":325,"date":"2009-01-06T15:42:59","date_gmt":"2009-01-06T20:42:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/davidcprice.wordpress.com\/?p=325"},"modified":"2009-01-06T15:42:59","modified_gmt":"2009-01-06T20:42:59","slug":"perserverance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/perserverance\/","title":{"rendered":"Perserverance"},"content":{"rendered":"

I always love when God begins to do something special; when He begins to move among His people and take them to new levels.\u00a0 I love it…and I hate it.<\/p>\n

\"8\"
"Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." 1 Peter 5:8<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Well, I don’t really hate<\/em> it, of course, but I don’t enjoy what inevitably comes.\u00a0 Attack!<\/em> It seems that every time God begins to do something, sifting from Satan comes closely on it’s heels.\u00a0 In the end there is no power he [Satan] has over me, but he can cause enough manipulation that my own sin-nature and fallen will can easily finish the job.<\/p>\n

For the last couple of months, there has (as I’ve written about before) been some real steps forward made at The Gathering.\u00a0 We have focused more on the mission of The Church (both the Great Commission and the Great Commandment), looking for new and creative ways to meet the needs of those around us, looking beyond ourselves to a hurting world that needs deliverance, physically and spiritually.\u00a0 We have engaged in meaningful and authentic worship and taken a new focus on real discipleship and community.\u00a0 We have experienced some seeds of numerical growth, of late, as God has brought in some wonderful people who have a heart for Christ and a desire to minister.\u00a0 All of this is really great and I praise God for it.\u00a0 At the same time, I have experienced more internal struggles, at times gasping for my spiritual breath, and more conflict relationally than I have in quite some time.\u00a0 Coincidence?\u00a0 I don’t think so.<\/p>\n

Christ tells us to expect this.\u00a0 He tells us that in the world we will have trouble.\u00a0 Not might, but will<\/em>.\u00a0 I know that, but it hurts; it leaves us longing, sometimes empty feeling, always weary.\u00a0 It is sometimes hard to get past that part about the trouble to the rest of the teaching about being of good cheer…I have overcome the world. (John 16:33<\/a>)\"uphill_runner\"<\/p>\n

I would like to say that I’ve worked it all out and that I am just jumping for joy in the deliverance of Christ.\u00a0 I am not.\u00a0 Though I am confident<\/em> of His deliverance, I haven’t fully felt it.\u00a0 I have experienced some little tidbits of encouragement, but those are only morsels, holding me over as I wait for the feast.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, I am little more than “making it,” holding it all together as I muddle through while at other times I have such a certainty that God will make all things new…and I think that’s enough for now.\u00a0 I continue to trust Him.\u00a0 I will seek Him.\u00a0 I will<\/em> find Him.\u00a0 You see, I understand that one of Satan’s schemes to bring down a church is to bring down her pastor.\u00a0 I know that objectively and must, then, process that truth subjectively so that I feel it and gain strength from it and embrace a resolve that it will never happen because of the Spirit of God within me.<\/p>\n

So, as much as I absolutely hate<\/em> the attacks, I embrace<\/em> them.\u00a0 I am determined not to be undone by them and believe that, in the end, Christ will be made much of because of the deliverance and empowerment of the Holy Spirit to finish this work that He has started.<\/p>\n

Soli Deo Gloria!<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tTweet<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I always love when God begins to do something special; when He begins to move among His people and take them to new levels.\u00a0 I love it…and I hate it. Well, I don’t really hate it, of course, but I don’t enjoy what inevitably comes.\u00a0 Attack! It seems that every time God begins to do…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[4,6,16],"tags":[684],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3jKZO-5f","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":359,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/somethings-stirring-at-the-gathering\/","url_meta":{"origin":325,"position":0},"title":"Something’s Stirring at The Gathering","date":"April 1, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm not exactly sure what it is yet, but I get a strong sense that God is beginning to move within The Gathering, which could result in a revival, an awakening, and a growth spirt like we've never experienced before.","rel":"","context":"In "Church"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidcprice.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/worship.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1505,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/is-congregational-government-from-satan\/","url_meta":{"origin":325,"position":1},"title":"Is Congregational Government from Satan?","date":"June 11, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"James MacDonald has written a very interesting (and certainly controversial) article on church government. \u00a0Though I agree with his reasons for moving away from Congregational polity (our church recently moved to an elder form of church governance), his tone is stronger than anything I\u2019ve ever used. \u00a0Here is an excerpt:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"church government\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":33,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/is-the-devil-in-the-details\/","url_meta":{"origin":325,"position":2},"title":"Is the Devil in the Details?","date":"April 15, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I think the answer to that question is a resounding \"yes!\" The Devil is in the details because that is usually where we find that the failure comes. Personally, I am often careful to make sure I am generally healthy physically, spiritually, emotionally, etc., but it is usually in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christian Living"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":115,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/the-powerless-prayer\/","url_meta":{"origin":325,"position":3},"title":"The Powerless Prayer","date":"October 20, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm in a new series on prayer as we look at what has been traditionally called \"The Lord's Prayer\" or \"The Model Prayer.\" When we start looking at what Christ said prayer is and isn't, we quickly realize that much of what we do really isn't prayer at all...at least\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christian Living"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":242,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/doubt-less-1-john-319-24\/","url_meta":{"origin":325,"position":4},"title":"Doubt-Less – 1 John 3:19-24","date":"December 11, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Have you ever had serious doubts about your salvation?\u00a0 I think we all have from time-to-time.\u00a0 Sometimes they're well founded because it is possible to spend an entire lifetime going to church, doing all the religious ritual stuff, \"doing good,\" never having entered into a saving knowledge of Jesus (beyond\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "PSI (Personal Spiritual Insight)"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2927,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/a-stitch-in-time\/","url_meta":{"origin":325,"position":5},"title":"A Stitch in Time","date":"April 28, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Today is the day. At 2:45, I go into surgery for the second time to get this left shoulder fixed. \u00a0I appreciate all of you who have said you will pray for me. \u00a0Also, pray for my surgeon, Dr. Dorizas, a godly man I'll \"introduce\" you to later, if I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Health and Exercise"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}