Our faith in Jesus under trial requires a special kind of endurance. Are you weary of the suffering your faith keeps bringing into your life? Have you been a follower of Jesus Christ long enough that you are tired of suffering in partnership with Jesus’ calling on your life?
I have served as the Senior Pastor of the same Southern Baptist Church, Vanguard Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado, for the past twenty-nine years. I wrote a book called “The Good Pastor” that was published by Vide Press in 2022. The point of the book? “Don’t quit, don’t fornicate, you will be the only one left and you will be great.”
Since the publication of that book, the pastorate has been downright unbearable at times. So much so, that I experienced my most painful pastoral year of the twenty-nine just last year, in 2025. The only thing I wanted to do was quit. I begged God in May of 2025 to let me quit and His simple response to my soul was, “NO!”
I had a choice: obey or quit. God told me not to quit. I told God, “Let me quit!”
Honestly, had I not written "The Good Pastor" three years prior, I might have quit, even though God told me not to.
I am learning that suffering for my faith and calling for Jesus requires a special kind of endurance - a kind I am convinced I wasn’t born with. A kind that only comes from and through a real relationship with Jesus Christ.
I can’t count how many times I have been discouraged as a pastor in the past almost three decades of my life and ministry for Jesus. We live through the chaos and consequences of suffering and then we suffer from the suffering.
It is in these moments that I say to the Lord, “Is it time to let go of the rope? Is it time to give in to the critic of my soul? Is it time to raise the white flag and cave under the pressure without and within?” It is in these moments that life feels truly miserable. The emotions are hot, rapid, and torturous. The chamber of pain is like an inferno that has engulfed my every thought and consumed my every feeling. Paralysis by analysis begins to set in around me, above me, below me, and sadly within me.
If you have never experienced this sort of cycle in your faith in Jesus, keep living. It is unbearable. The furnace of suffering gets so hot sometimes that the enemy’s lies seem like truth for a time. And it seems the furnace of suffering will consume the faith of my soul.
It is in these moments that I cry out and say to the Lord, “I can’t do this Lord.” But then I realize that is an incomplete prayer. And then I pray, “Lord, I can’t do this without you.”
Then where do we go? We go back to God’s Word and remember what He told the saints of the past, because those truths are still true for us today.
The book of Hebrews may be the most critical book in the Bible to remind us of the faith of the saints of old and to emulate their example in our lives today.
Hebrews 6:13 recalls the promise God made to Abraham when He said, “I will surely bless you and multiply you.”
Then, twenty-five years passed in Abraham’s life and the age of bearing children passed with it too. Sometimes the circumstances of our lives can make God’s promises feel cruel. But Hebrews 6:15 says, “Abraham having patiently endured, obtained the promise.”
After twenty-five years Abraham obtained the promise because of his patient endurance. I am convinced none of us are born with this kind of endurance. It is not human. It is not possible to muster this kind of endurance out of a human body apart from Christ.
What is patient endurance in Christ? Patient endurance is the active, steadfast, and calm perseverance through long-term trials, suffering, or waiting without becoming bitter, angry, or giving up. Rooted in faith, it involves trust in God's timing, active obedience, and maintaining hope despite difficult circumstances. It is often described as "remaining under" a heavy load while staying faithful.
The writer of Hebrews gives us the recipe for patient endurance. These qualities must be continually mixed together by your everyday life as you examine the circumstances and the cruelty you must endure to be who God has called you to be and do what He has called you to do.
The writer of Hebrews says in Hebrews 10:23, “Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who has promised is faithful.”
Patient endurance is not perfect endurance. Abraham messed up with Hagar. Patient endurance is holding fast to our confession that God will fulfill what He promised in our lives. If He said it, He will do it. Patient endurance is rooted in trust of who God is to us and to His promises to us.
Don’t lose confidence in God’s promises because of your performance. It is not up to you. Patient endurance understands it is up to God. The writer of Hebrews reminds us in Hebrews 11:6, “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” You and I must trust God with the impossible otherwise it is impossible to please God. Hebrews 11:8-9 says, “By faith Abraham obeyed. By faith, he stayed.”
Abraham is not our only example. Moses gave us an example to follow too. The writer of Hebrews in Hebrews 11:26 says, “Moses considered abuse suffered for the Christ to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to the reward.” We must believe the cost now is worth the reward then. This requires faith and trust. No one can convince you of this, but many will try to convince you otherwise, including yourself at times, when the suffering is unbearable.
Where do we go for motivation in these times? The writer of Hebrews in Hebrews 12:3 says, “Consider Jesus who endured such hostility … so that you may not grow weary in your soul or lose heart.” Jesus is our example and our source for patient endurance in suffering. Hebrews 13:13 says, “Let us then go to Jesus and bear the abuse he endured.”
Jesus gets it! Jesus gets us!
In the meantime, what do we do? Hebrews 13:16 says, “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.”
Patient endurance looks for ways to do good to others and to share what we have just as Christ did. This is why I believe none of us were born with this. It is a learned trait. It is a learned trait to be selfless in the face of cruelty done to us because of who God made us to be and what He called us to do.
I wish I could tell you that people won’t be cruel to you from time to time, but I would be lying to you if I did. They were cruel to Jesus, and they will at times be cruel to you. But remember this in Hebrews 11:29, “By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, but when the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned.”
Keep moving forward by faith through patient endurance and one day you will look back to see that you made it through the Red Sea and those chasing you, abusing you, falsely accusing you, were cut off. That’s up to God. Keep pressing on with patient endurance by doing good and sharing what you have with others.
And you can rest assured Hebrews 11:16 will become God’s mantra of you, “God is not ashamed to be called their God.”
The reward will be worth it. He promises! Keep patiently enduring!
