Persistence: The Vital Link to Victory

And Jesus, replying, said to them, Have faith in God [constantly]. Truly I tell you, whoever says to this mountain, Be lifted up and thrown into the sea! and does not doubt at all in his heart but believes that what he says will take place, it will be done for him.
—Mark 11:22-23

When Jesus said that we are to speak to our mountain in faith, commanding it to be lifted up and thrown into the sea, this is a radical statement and one that deserves some study. First of all, what do we say to the mountains in our lives? It is obvious that we are not to hurl our will at them, but the will of God, and His will is His Word.

In Luke 4 when Jesus was being tempted by Satan in the wilderness, He answered every trial with the Word of God. He repeatedly said, "It is written," and quoted scriptures that met the lies and deceptions of the devil head on. We have a tendency to "try" this for a while, and then when we do not see quick results we stop speaking the Word to our problems and begin once again speaking our feelings, which are probably what got us into trouble to begin with.

A stonecutter may strike a rock ninety-nine times with a hammer, and there may be no evidence at all that the rock is cracking. Then on the one hundredth time, it may split in half. Each blow was weakening the stone even though there were no signs to indicate it. Persistence is a vital link to victory. We must know what we believe and be determined to stick with it until we see results.

From the book New Day, New You: 365 Devotions for Enjoying Everyday Life by Joyce Meyer. Copyright © 2007 by Joyce Meyer.

The Story of Civilization

Anybody can make history. Only a great man can write it.- Oscar Wilde

Fifty years of writing a book may seem like a long period of authorship, but there is a lengthy work that took a full five decades to write. The book is The Story of Civilization, and the man was Will Durant.