5 Perseverance Verses to Help You Press On

Are you looking to grow in perseverance to help you to press on through life’s trials? It’s such an important biblical virtue to have in today’s world. My faith has gotten stronger when I’ve had to persevere through difficult trials like marriage problems, work issues, loneliness, and relationship strains.

Today I’m hosting my friend Landen Melton, creator of Devotable, who will help us learn about perseverance from five important Bible verses. I’m blessed to write regularly for Devotable, and our new devotional book is on the topic of perseverance. You’ll find my devotion on perseverance in the book along with dozens of other Christian writers.

Here is Landen’s guest post, and I’ll share more information about the perseverance book below.

5 Perseverance Verses to Help You Press On

Perhaps you’re enduring something ugly right now. Perseverance means pushing to get up, read the Word, pray and move past that hurdle each and every day.

Perhaps you are in a mountain top season where things are good. Perseverance doesn’t mean much to you since you’re doing really good right now.

Whatever the case, you can be certain that trials and tribulations will come your way. Whether it’s in the form of a test of faith, a friendship falling out, struggles with family, jobs, or even sickness and death. We all experience some form of trial in our life sooner or later. Sometimes these trials can even seem too large to overcome.

That is why we must have faith that Christ is bigger than all our issues. He’s taken our sin, our weakness, our failures, our doubt and everything else we fall short with and nailed them to the cross. We can struggle in our daily walks and still persevere, pushing forward in the race to pursue him. But how can we do this day in and day out?

Perseverance Through Devotion

I believe we can persevere through devotion in our lives daily. Devotion to pray and seek his face in scripture. But this is easier said than done, right?

If it was so easy, we all would be model Christians, knowing the Word inside and out, witnessing, sharing the Gospel and surrendering to God’s will in our lives daily.

But the truth is, it isn’t easy. It’s really hard! We all know we should do it, but it takes discipline and strength to pray and study every day. Much like dieting, it’s easier to indulge in convenience food of the world than it is to cook and prepare in His word.

With discipline, repetition and God’s grace, we can develop a habit of daily devotion to Him that will help us endure life’s hardest moments. #perseverance @devotableapp Click To Tweet

5 Perseverance Verses in the Bible

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. – James 1:2-4

We should consider it joy when we face trials? What?! How can James tell us to consider it joy when we face sickness, struggles, the death of a family member, weakness or sin. We must consider our failure joy?

Yes, we must. If we go running back to Jesus’ arms, he will take us in. He will show us that his forgiveness is powerful enough to forgive us yet again. He can show us that we can persevere through these trials and that perseverance produces a mature Christian.

Paul points out that the Christian life is a marathon, not a sprint. We must continue to practice and finish the race strong, not shoot out of the gates and fizzle after 100 yards. We start slow, learning and growing, persevering to the end where we can finish strong.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 4:6-7

Paul is telling the church to endure hardships with thanksgiving. He honestly thought that telling the early church to endure all their persecution, affliction and troubles with thanksgiving would work? Why did he think this?

Paul knew that God’s peace could comfort the Philippians despite their situation and understanding.

I’ve talked to many Christians that have endured horrible things, from the death of a child, to imprisonment for their faith and more. All of them talk about these situations and mention that in their despair, the overwhelming peace of God overcame them.

That is exactly that this verse is talking about. Press on through trials and seek Christ’s face, and he will present his peace to you, covering all your other emotions, allowing you to push through.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. – Hebrews 12:1

Again with the race analogy! But it fits so perfectly to what we’re talking about. I once read about a lady who ran 366 marathons in one year, just so she could say that she ran more than one marathon a day. How is this even possible?!

I have personally trained and ran two half-marathons, and I used just about all the time and effort I had training and eventually running the race. From the long Saturday morning runs, to the four or five shorter runs in the week, and the exhaustion throughout the week, I can’t even imagine the amount of training and discipline that it takes to run 366 of those races.

But yet with perseverance and discipline she did it. She talked about how she ran through illness, fatigue, dehydration and other ailments but still made it through.

This real life example matches the faith race so perfectly. We must purpose in our hearts that this day we’re going to serve the Lord. Each day that might look a little different.

Perhaps you don’t have 20 minutes to spend in study, maybe you only have 10. Or perhaps you have an early meeting that prevents morning study, so you shift it and do it at night. But you still get it in and spend time with the Lord.

Whatever the case is, determine in your heart that you’re going to “train” each and every day. We exercise our soul with prayer and scripture so that when it comes time, we can use that training according to how we prepared.

Let us throw off every excuse of today and every sin that shames us, and press toward God so that we can pursue his righteousness every day. #perseverance @devotableapp Click To Tweet

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go. – Joshua 1:9

I love the story of Joshua. Throughout the Old Testament, we see countless examples of people God uses that are inadequate. From Moses and Aaron to Joshua, we see God used people who had “issues” to do his work and further his Kingdom.

God commanded Joshua to be strong and not get discouraged as he pushed onto the promised land. I’m not sure what you’re doing today, but I’m not commanding an army, battling giants or dealing with thousands of grumbling people under my watch and command. I’m guessing you aren’t either.

Joshua had some truly huge struggles, yet God commanded him to be strong and not be afraid. If Joshua can find strength in the Lord, so can I.

The righteous person may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all. – Psalm 34:19

I love reading the Psalms. There is something comforting about a Psalmist crying out to the Lord for help, strength and motivation to continue on.

We can gain encouragement from this verse as it tells us what we already know. Our ultimate delivery into heaven will be the final nail in this world’s coffin. We have a mighty Savior that has overcome all of life’s problems. We simply need to look to that day.

When we endure death, temptation, hardship, parenting, children, uncertainty, homelessness, broken relationships, and so much more, look to that day.

When we endure fallen brothers and sisters, help them look to that day.

The Lord will deliver us from all this when we meet him in heaven! We simply need to look to him for strength to persevere until that day.

The Perseverance Book by Devotable

Thirty authors have come together from Devotable to compile a book of devotions to help struggling Christians. As we all face hardships, we must know that we’re not alone. We must seek guidance and help from fellow believers as we navigate through these problems in life.

As each writers expounds on scripture, they give a unique story or perspective on it and ask questions you can apply to your life. This 30-day devotional seeks to empower believers in their daily walk and let them know that whatever their struggle is, they’re not alone. Read their stories, connect with them and be encouraged through life’s battles.

At Devotable, our goal is to help believers daily stay in the Word and be empowered by it. With this devotional, we want to extend that goal into print and allow people to consume and share the powerful Word of God every day. As we seek that goal, we hope you will partake in that with us and strive to seek God daily.

Get your copy of Perseverance HERE.

About Landen

Landen is a web developer by trade and and online entrepreneur by passion. He is the owner and creator of Devotable, an online Christian daily devotion project. Together with over 100 talented writers, they create inspiring devotions that help encourage believers and share the good news of Jesus Christ daily.

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