Keeping the faith-continue to believe in the goodness of God.
The definition of keep is “to maintain the course.” The enemy of our souls wants to get us off course. He wants to discourage us to the point that we quit believing. He wants us to give up, to throw in the towel.
Matthew 24:13 “He that shall endure till the end shall be saved. Some would view this as a doom and gloom scripture. Some would say, “Well, I just got to endure till the Lord comes back and gets me out of this mess.” Let us look at that scripture a little different. Endure means to remain, to have fortitude or staying power. Saved means to protect, preserve, deliver, to keep safe. God will protect you, keep you safe and deliver you. He will anoint you with staying power to keep on keeping on until there is breakthrough. Enduring is not just barely hanging on.
David said in Psalms 27:13, “I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” The word faint mean “to grow weary”. Goodness means “the best.” David could be saying, “I would have grown weary but I chose to believe that God had only the best for me and in due season I would reap if I maintained the course.” David kept the course by believing in the goodness of God. He penned the 23rd Psalms, and this is a passage of scripture stocked full of the goodness of God. When a lion came after the sheep of his flock, David did not run away. He single-handedly caught that lion by the mane and killed it. When the bear came, David killed it to. Later in his life, when everybody in Israel was afraid of the giant Goliath, David was the only one courageous enough to fight him. He said in 1 Samuel 17:37 “The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine.” David not only knew about the goodness of God, he had seen it work in his life over and over. God anointed him with staying power to do what need to be done until breakthrough came. He had seen the victories God’s goodness had gained for him, and just thinking of them made him bold in whatever he had to face in life.
When we began to think about the goodness of God in our own life, it will cause us to rise up in boldness. We have had breakthroughs before, and we will again and again and again. Because our God showers us with goodness over and over and over.