Thursday after Reminiscere, 3/15/01

James 1:2, 3 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. --NASB

In the name of the One Who tests our faith in order to produce endurance in us, amen.

Have you ever run a marathon, or at least a cross-country race? If you have you know that you don't start out by running the full race without ever having run any distance before. Instead you practice by running shorter distances, gradually building endurance until you can run the full distance.

The life of a Christian is like a marathon. It is a long distance run, and God builds up our endurance by testing our faith from time to time. This is necessary if we are going to make it all the way to heaven. Tests of our faith are really a benefit to us, even though like athletic training, they are painful at the time. Amen.

Prayer: Dear heavenly Father, thank you for testing our faith. Give us Your Holy Spirit so that we are strengthened by the tests, and stand firm to eternal life, amen.

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