Growing Our Endurance

By: Kim Garrett

Monday, May 12, 2025

You know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. James 1:3-4 (NLT)

Teaching elementary children to build stamina sets the stage for success in academics and life. The challenge comes in finding creative ways to build their endurance without them knowing it. Children can easily lose focus and resist if the challenge appears too difficult. If their endurance falls short, they aren't likely to have the fortitude necessary for success. Children don't understand being successful isn't easy, it means "putting in the time" and doing the hard work.

To a child's way of thinking, the benefits at the end aren't worth the required investment. Spiritually speaking, many adults often think the same way... We're overly busy, so we get impatient. We're pulled in a million different directions, making us frustrated and confused. Sometimes, we allow fear to cloud our ability to make godly decisions. Even worse, we struggle with commitment, so we don't obey and apply God's teachings to our lives. Excessive demands on our time can even blind our view of spiritual gains.

Be careful, it's easy to convince ourselves the commitment required to grow our endurance isn't worth the sacrifice. What would that look like? We can attend church regularly, worship God, be in a small group, and attend biblical seminars. But the moment life gets challenging, our walk with God wanders. A church hurt can disenchant the strongest heart. Someone we held in high esteem may disappoint us. If we see blatant hypocrisy in our homes or in a fellow believer, it can crush our spirit. Perhaps we think God isn't responding to our prayers fast enough. Or maybe we've endured a painful loss, and it's causing intense heartache and grief. The bottom line: If this type of thinking isn't halted, the faith we once eagerly embraced will start to slowly fade away. Don't let it!

Those tests of faith are like exercise, when we stand firm, they build up our spiritual endurance! Trust God, and trust the journey. Don't ever forget that God's plans and purposes prevail. Stay committed to the journey of faith God has you on. Ask God for help when you're weathering life's storms. Ask Him to help you endure challenges the world sends your way. Maintaining our spiritual endurance helps us develop our spiritual wholeness.

Pass the test my friend, endure, and press forward through your difficulties. Trust God to work out the details, it's a beautiful thing to see from the other side!

Read: Hebrews 10:36, Romans 2:7, Philippians 4:12-13