This day brings us to the attributes of Netzach of Gevurah which translates to mean endurance of discipline.
What follows are simply notes of an ordinary Christian on this journey through the wilderness of life while counting the days from Passover until Pentecost.
ENDURANCE OF DISCIPLINE
But what does Netzach of Gevurah mean to today’s Christian living in the modern world?
Let’s answer that question with another question.
What is the one thing in your life that you feel you MUST do; no matter what?
For most of us this would be the one thing we can’t live without on a daily basis. This isn’t a person or being; it relates to something that we DO.
THE ONE THING THAT MATTERS MOST
For this author the answer would be writing. That is my daily passion. Some would tell you about their love for jogging, or daily exercising to obtain a high level of physical fitness.
Others would mention their love for cooking, or crafting, gardening, weaving or hunting, fishing, flying airplanes or driving race cars.
Many relate their daily passion to participating in a sport they love.
Teachers teach and preachers preach; but we all have that ONE passion that doesn’t ever get put off or pushed aside for other things.
Whatever the answer; it would be your constant passion; the one thing that you are going to do or die and never miss. This would be something daily that satisfies your soul.
DISCIPLINE OVER TIME
Without even realizing what you are doing; you perform with discipline each time you participate in your favorite God-given passion of life.
If you are called to something that brings you joy or pleasure and fills your moments of life with purpose; that is your main discipline in life.
The older you get the more precise that discipline will become because the longer you indulge in it; the better you will become at whatever it is.
This is something that will always be aiming for perfection.
CONNECTING TO ENDURANCE
The perfect discipline connects itself to endurance.
Endurance can turn a hobby into a career. It can turn unedited drafts into published books. This attribute of endurance can bring you from a state of totally unhealthy to becoming an extremely healthy person. It can turn your passion into a profitable venture; either financially or spiritually.
So don’t forget to connect your endurance to your passionate discipline.
Allow the one thing in your life that has become your God-given destiny and purpose to develop and evolve by enduring whatever it takes to embrace this gift on your whole journey through this wilderness we call life.
ENDURING FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM
The forefathers of Israel who lived in the wilderness while on exodus from slavery had to acquire certain elements of endurance.
They learned to connect this element of endurance to their passion and discipline for freedom from slavery.
I’ve actually written a book about this subject of The Exodus called “EXODUS TO FREEDOM.” If you desire to go deeper into this fascinating subject you can find the book by Gail Landgraf on sale at Amazon.com. It will take your study of the characteristics of God from studying the process of counting the Omer much further than these daily devotions. There are thought-provoking questions at the end of each chapter.
As this connection evolved for the Israelites, they found their dependance on God growing and growing.
This played out in many ways. One example would be in the food they consumed.
FROM LACK TO PLENTY BY ENDURANCE WITH GOD
There is not a lot of food in the desert. Yet; they did not give up their discipline to return to freedom over this little bump in the road. They prayed to God and He heard. God granted them food from Heaven in the form of Manna.
This Manna was doled out daily.
You could not pile it up and save it.
That is how endurance develops.
Each day contains its own wonders. All of them come from God’s chesed love for us.
AN EFFECTIVE DISCIPLINE
In this aspect of chesed love, God has warned us that in order to endure to the end and to obtain the prize (in the case of the ancients it was freedom; and in our own modern situations – it is also freedom;) we must continue to be disciplined.
It is more than discipline though; we are talking about effective discipline. To achieve its end; discipline must be effective as opposed to useless or destructive.
This discipline must be coupled with endurance in order for us to become the overcomers who survive and thrive in the land of promise.
WATER FROM A ROCK
The journey to freedom for the Israelites required that they drink water on a daily basis. When they could not find streams of living water in their desert travels they did not give up. They endured. As they endured they prayed to God for water and He gave it to them when they asked. The discipline of prayer brought results after a while of endurance.
When our own endurance gets to be too hard, and we are tempted to stop and quit our journey before it is completed, or before the goals have been reached; we must learn how to cry out to God for our strength and endurance. He will grant us water from The Rock. Jesus Christ will lead us through The Holy Spirit into a perfect inheritance. God’s Holy Spirit guides us effectively through discipline with endurance.
DISCIPLINED ENDURANCE THINKS FROM AN INFINITE PERSPECTIVE
As we endure; we must always remember with hope that there are better days coming. Our future is bright no matter our troubles because Our Great God is always in control.
We must be disciplined enough to keep enduring as we follow the ways of God to the end of all His amazing promises. He will help us through the hard times. As you practice endurance; learn to ask God for your daily needs. He wants to provide for His children.
LEARN TO ENJOY THE JOURNEY
Netzach of Gevurah will guide us to the proper places and we will learn to enjoy the moments of the journey as they unfold in God’s good time. Someone once explained to me that you must learn to ask the right questions. With endurance it is not the question of “why is this happening to me right now?” The better question is “What is God going to teach me as I endure this?”
Let the journey help you to grow.
Our hearts will learn and know the joy of endurance that comes when we reach God’s desire for our souls by continuing to pursue discipline with effective endurance in each and every moment that we breath.