Once writer, priest, and activist named Henri Nouwen, went to visit his friends who were trapeze artists. He watched them as they practiced swinging from one swing to the next. They caught each other with ease and moved seamlessly through the circus tent. 

Afterwards, Nouwen asked his friends, “How do you know they’re going to catch you?” 

They simply replied: “You have to trust they are there to catch you when you jump.”

Persevering towards a great purpose requires trust (and a watchful eye to catch you when you jump). 

Over and over again, we see in God’s story, people trusting in their own performance, rather than God’s process. And every time they do, they fail to persevere towards their purpose. 

Why? 

Because your willpower is not greater than God’s power to catch you when you have to jump into the next part of your journey. 

In God’s Story, Sarai takes matters into her own hands by telling Abram to sleep with Hagar, her maid-servant. She does this 1. to persevere by trusting her own willpower and 2. because this was a custom during her time. But trusting her performance over God’s process did not produce the promise of a son. Abram was told: “This is not the son you were promised.” 

Fourteen years later, through no plotting of her own, Sarai - now Sarah - miraculously conceived a son. Her re-naming was also a re-shifting. She no longer trusted the willpower of her own performance, but she trusted the power of God’s process. She jumped freely trusting that God would catch her. 

THIS WEEK: Answer these Qs: 

  1. What purpose am I persevering towards in this season? 
  2. How am I trusting in the willpower of my own performance? 
  3. What one shift can I make to start trusting the power of God’s process? 

PRAY: God of Perseverance, thank you for walking with me this month. For giving me the power to defeat despair, distractions, and doubt as I persevere towards your greater purposes for my life. Teach me to persevere in the power of your promises. Help me to not trust in my performance, but to trust in your process. Let it be so. Amen. 

KEY VERSES: Galatians 4:21-5:1

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