"Stay the Course and Don't Quit!"

1 Peter 5:10-But may the God of all grace Who called us to His eternal glory, by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while,
1. perfect-katarizo-adjust and repair; as in ‘mending the nets’, restore; this word signifies ‘right ordering’ and ‘arrangement’.
2. establish-sterizo-to fix; to set; “stablish your hearts”….to not waiver!
3. strengthen-sthenoo-to strengthen now and well into the future…to strengthen in the inner man continually…
4. settle-to make a complete decision; a resolve; not a “consider”-to lay a foundation, as if to say, “This is what I know! I am fully persuaded!”
you!
Peter was exhorting these wonderful believers to not back down from their faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ! These believers had embraced the Good News many years prior on the day of Pentecost as you will see in the book of Acts. Now, years later, persecution is setting in and they are beginning to ‘feel the heat’ as they take their stand for Christ! Peter wanted to make sure that his hearers would ‘stay the course’ and allow God to continually do the above four things in their lives; and not give in to the pressures of the persecution!
In the verses immediately prior to v. 10, Peter tells them to humble themselves under the mighty hand of God; (v.6), to cast their care upon Him; (v.7)…(the word ‘cast’ literally means to ‘vehemently throw your burden off from you and onto something or Someone else!’); to resist the devil; (v.9), and then we see in (v. 10), he says may the ‘God of all grace’!....(oh yes….may we never forget that He is the God of all GRACE!!! He has enough GRACE to match any and all ‘heated’ trials!), perfect, establish, strengthen and settle you!
Are you ‘feeling the heat’ in a situation and as a result being tempted to give up? I encourage you to follow these steps that Peter is telling his listeners to follow. Humble yourself, cast your care, continue to resist that temptation to give up, and watch as the ‘God of all grace’ comes on the scene and begins to perfect, (get your situation in the right order!), establish, (teach you how not to waver…remember, Peter’s name use to be Simon…wavering one….now he is Peter…the rock!), strengthen, (in the inner man continually), and settle (helping you to lay a solid foundation on Christ, that nothing can move you!) you. He will do it my friend…just stay the course!
Thinking of you all as you are ‘going through’ the heat of summer,
Would love for you to comment!
Anna
www.annadonahueministries.com