Enduring To The End

By Joana James

Starting any race is easy. Enduring to the end is a whole other story. Christianity is no different. Whilst it is not a race, it requires endurance and perseverance. Even the most seasoned veterans get discouraged sometimes and it’s easy to lose sight of the goal and give up. In this volume of the Soul Food Series, you can find bursts of wisdom that will help you get to the end. Every page is filled with words that are meant to encourage, instruct and push you forward.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. Hebrews 12:1 (NLT)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Joana James
• Release date: Mar 20, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311383075

Joana James

Joana James is a young Christian author from the island of Saint Lucia in the Caribbean.

Book preview

Enduring To The End

(Soul Food Series Part 3)

Joana James

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Smashwords Edition

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Copyright © 2013 Joana James

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.

For my mother who continues to inspire and influence me even after she is gone.

I will never forget her sacrifice.

Foreword

Enduring to the End is the final volume of the Soul Food series. All of the books in this series came as a result of the situations that I face daily as a Christian. I began to realize that I was not alone in my struggle and I penned these words as a form of encouragement to others to keep going forward.

My prayer is that someone will find strength to keep going through these words.

Be Blessed.

Table of Contents

Write Your Vision: Making a List

Can You just be in God’s Presence

Stay Alert

Grateful for Forgiveness

Passive or Aggressive

Do You Influence Others

Do You Have Self Control?

We Serve A God That Hears Us

Thanking God for Your Past

Worship God with Your Life

Test? Or Testimony?

How Does Love Turn to Hate?

Leaning On the Everlasting Arm

What Doesn’t Kill Us Makes Us Stronger

God Is On your Side

The Big Picture

Change

Overcoming Pain Through Praise

When God Doesn’t Make Sense

Using Discernment

Starting Over

Avoiding Self-Inflicted Depression

Wearing Kindness Around Your Neck

Feather-Weight Christianity

Obsessed With Our Desires

All Things Work Together For Our God

Write Your Vision: Making a List

Having a clear vision is important for any organization. It's something that we see in real life almost everywhere. Every successful organization that you walk into has a vision and mission statement that's prominently displayed. They teach it to their staff, explain the way forward and then expect people to work toward those goals. This is a good example of a biblical principle used in the world successfully. (Habakkuk 2:2)

So I began to wonder, what if I applied this to myself? I mean, I have goals for my own life; there are things that I'd like to see happen in my life. So why not write down my own vision? Why not create for myself a statement that says where I want to go and how I plan to get there? Sounds like a good idea, right?

So, here I get down to the real subject of this devotion: Making a list. See, as a much younger Christian, I was taught that giving God a list was a no-no. I guess the reasoning behind that was based on the God is not our bellboy theory. Over the years I've learned that presenting God with a list has some merit. I still believe that God isn't my bellboy and I can't just go asking him for this, that or the other just because I feel like it, however,  I believe that making a list is simply a matter of gathering your thoughts clearly on paper. Some things don't make sense until we write them down.

Goals, visions, plans etc. should always align with what God has in store for us so writing this stuff down should basically be saying, Lord, this is what I desire for myself. If you've been in a close relationship with God, communicating with Him daily, then it will be a no-brainer to have your plans line up with His. Communion means communication, this usually adds up to agreement. We Christians tend to have the belief that God knows what I want and we don't verbalize anything. Yes, God knows our thoughts, but I believe