God's Purpose Demands Persistence

By Carmelo Alicea

What if I told you that your enemies are priceless?

Life-changing encounters, filled with difficulties, suffering, and enemies. A short story of an outstanding leader called Nehemiah, which meets trouble time to carry out an impressive vision regardless of the profound resistance.

But, despite the troubles and the extreme fight, Nehemiah a powerful and strong leader boosts the hardship versus chances to build up the walls of Jerusalem.

Heck bursts out; still, it takes an individual who is pushing and defying throughout times of frustration. Instead of doubt, worry or retribution, Nehemiah seized the issue to the Lord. A truthful tale of self-empowerment, leadership and bold determination.

Will Nehemiah achieve his aspirations or yield to the miseries of his enemies?  Or will he discover that discouragement times are emerging from God for a purpose?

How deep do you extend to bring your daydreams?

The Man Behind The Wall.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Carmelo Alicea
• Release date: Sep 14, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393844747

Carmelo Alicea

Carmelo Alicea was born and raised on the beautiful island of Puerto Rico. In 2012, his ministry began with the opening of a small church in Ponce, PR. It was during this time, as a newly ordained pastor, he found himself in the struggle of his life—losing his job and having to bear the weight of a family and a ministry. Through the grace of God and his family support, he persevered. Now, he takes his ministry to the next level as a preacher, traveling to places like Costa Rica, Ohio, the Dominican Republic, and various cities in Florida to bring the Word of God to others. He has been a Christian for over 30 years and has a deep passion for God’s Word and His kingdom. He is also a mentor in church growth and organizational structure and a member of the Apostolic Group of Pastors in Puerto Rico. In 2016, he released his first book, Entregando El Corazón, in gratitude for all that God has done in his life and to reach out to others everywhere. This book, God’s Purpose Demands Persistence, is dedicated to those who are facing life challenges and severe trials to let them know that they too can persevere during affliction and turmoil to stand on the edge of glory. Carmelo Alicea has been married to his wife Anna Alicea for 33 years, and they have two beautiful children.

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

"God will never grant you a position if you are not a mission-driven person. It’s not about convenience, it's about doing the hard work and going through the process to achieve the best results."

Let’s begin with a question. What is persistence and what does it mean? The dictionary’s definition  is firm or obstinate continuance in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition (Merriam-Webster).Let’s embark on this teaching with a simple question. What is the most important skill that every person should have in order to achieve success in all of his endeavors? Obviously, this is not a question that you can respond to quickly. But let’s  think about it, there are many skills that are necessary for success: good management of time, capacity, planning and development of strategies, negotiation skills to manage people, technical skills and professional knowledge in general, among others.

However, when you contemplate further, all of these skills are not as relevant as persistence. Why? Because persistence is an attitude that will help overcome any lack of abilities that I previously mentioned. Skills can be acquired by training or personal experience at any time, we can be taught to negotiate and be good managers. But the magic about this innate quality is that it will strengthen your weaknesses and help you succeed despite the circumstances or obstacles in your way. It is that firm resolve to succeed against the odds that makes this attribute so special.

Some of you may say that persistence is a skill but in the kingdom of God, it is not. You can learn to be persistent, but the application of such ability whether it’s mankind’s or God’s will entirely depend on your human nature. You could practice to increase your attention span, improve your psychological approach or pay more attention to detail or task completion,  but we will end up with much improved and sharpened personal abilities rather than a fully developed Spirit-filled nature.

A skill will train the mind to act and perform adequately and in some cases, above average. It exists in your mind, not in your spirit. Persistence is something that dwells in our spirit man—our godly nature. This attribute is part of our kingdom nature that feeds off God’s favor and faith.

John Calvin Coolidge Jr. the 30th President the United States of America, said:

Nothing in this world can take the place that has the persistence, the talent cannot take it, there is nothing more common than unsuccessful men full of talent; the Genius may not take the place of persistence. Underpaid genius is almost a proverb.  Education can’t also take the place of persistence; the world is full of decrepit very well educated.

It’s an amazing quality to be able to persevere with the right attitude when everything around us is collapsing. All of us aspire to be professionals in our preferred fields. Society often defines professional people as those who have the ability to perform efficiently in difficult times. It will involve doing something when our human nature doesn’t want to do so. This takes a person with enough discipline and persistence to do what is asked of him or her. We should be more professional in the management of our lives and make use of discipline and persistence to achieve our goals, more importantly, our godly purpose.

On many occasions, we have made the error of investing time or being paralyzed trying to change our lives, instead of being persistent. We are always looking for the magical answer that can solve our problems. And that’s not surprising because we live in a world that expects instant gratification. Very often, we want to achieve our purposes without understanding that we always have to pay a price to get what we want.

You will never achieve your purposes without going through the process. It will take time, and we don't have time to spare. Achieving your goals will cost you time, money, tears, pain, friends and in some cases, all of your belongings. It will cost you! How much? That is up to you. How much are you willing to give up to achieve God's purpose in your life? Purpose defines why we exist, our reason for being.  More significant  is our focus on something greater than ourselves. For example, my purpose in life is to heal the sick. It defines why I exist—to help others, rather than myself. This is the true meaning of purpose.

Remember, first, you have to pay the price and then receive the reward.  There is no such thing as a purpose without a process. It's customary to dream about the things we all want in life by justifying the purpose or reason why we want them, without thinking about the process that we have to endure to make these things happen. Experience tells me that it doesn't work that way. It’s ok to dream, but actions lead to a process that will help you achieve your dream. We don't like painful processes, but we can't live without them. If you define the process and how it works, you will understand how it feeds your purpose and perhaps, realize that you truly have to pay the price before you can receive the reward.

Let’s take Joseph for example. Do you think that he could’ve gone from being Jacob’s son straight into the position of the Governor of Egypt?  Imagine Joseph being interviewed by Pharaoh for the governor’s  position, trying to sell himself for such a dignified and trustworthy task. Let me remind you, that trust can only be obtained through a relationship, which requires a lengthy process. All that said, what is wrong with this picture? I'll say—everything.  If Joseph had tried to do things on his own, he would have failed. A divine purpose requires a divine God, a man made purpose requires a man on his mission.

Going through the process prepared Joseph to be the next governor of Egypt. And he did it efficiently and effectively.  His is a story of a young man who went from the Pit to the Palace. A man with a prophetic destiny who took a detour to accomplish his divine destiny. Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers who were jealous of him, his skills to explore dreams, and because he was their father’s favorite. He was sold again as a slave to Potiphar, the Pharaoh's chief steward. Falsely accused of trying to have sex with Potiphar's wife who desired him and sought to have an affair with him. He was placed in jail and during his time in prison seized the opportunity that would position him to meet with Pharaoh to interpret his dreams. These events all qualified Joseph to be the next governor of Egypt.

³⁸So Pharaoh said to his servants, Can we find a man like this [a man equal to Joseph], in whom is the divine spirit [of God]? ³⁹Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Since [your] God has shown you all this, there is no one as discerning and clear-headed and wise as you are. ⁴⁰You shall have charge over my house, and all my people shall [f]be governed according to your word and pay respect [to you with reverence, submission, and obedience]; only in [matters of] the throne will I be greater than you [in Egypt]. ⁴¹Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, See, I have set you [in charge] over all the land of Egypt." ⁴²Then Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand, and dressed him in [official] vestments of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. (Genesis 41:38, AMP)

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He neither tried to beat the system, alter the process nor quit. Altering the purpose will get you somewhere other than your prophetic destiny.  Let’s take it into perspective that Joseph was sent to Egypt on a mission from God to be a blessing to others in the severe times of famine. It just seems that God planted a seed in the womb of Egypt to give birth to a rising child governor to help this nation in bad times. What am I saying? Well, we all know that Egypt went from having seven years of plenty to seven years of famine:

When the seven years of plenty came to an end in the