Don’t Quit In The Heat
If we study the progression of Romans 5:4, (trials then perseverance then character then hope), we begin to understand the real issues. Threshold wars are waged when the heat of trials gets our character to a red-hot blaze, like the point when metal can be changed and re-shaped. That is the point when the heat 
makes it tempting to quit and run to the nearest place of relief rather than complete the process by submitting to the Blacksmith’s hammer. So these wars are screaming the question while we’re in the heat of battle: “Will you do the right thing, let God change your heart and mind where necessary? Will you choose to respond to trials with wisdom and develop godly character; or will you remain the same person, refusing to be conformed to His image?” And our answer at this point will either propel us on to hope and toward promise, or cause us to fall short of hope and promise.
(This is the fourth excerpt from the article “Threshold Wars” by Kathy Gabler.)
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Threshold Wars
Paul said we glory in tribulations. If we do not learn to glory in trials it is probably because we have not persevered down the whole path of Romans 5:4, from tribulation to perseverance to character to hope. For we learn to glory if we do not stop along the way and we reach godly hope that is steadfast and unshakeable. Admittedly that is not an easy lesson. There seems to be a crucial threshold, a line of demarcation drawn between character and hope. That threshold is where the enemy comes in like a flood. Wars flare up there, in that threshold of darkness just before dawn. Wars rage there, on the threshold of our deepest weariness. Standing on that threshold, one step away from godly hope that will get us to promise, we can be overwhelmed and exhausted and become so hopeless that we run or quit. That’s why the enemy wages war at this threshold, to drive us aside into hopelessness; for the hopeless will not persevere, will not pursue promise . . . no matter how close it is.
(This is the third excerpt from the article “Threshold Wars” by Kathy Gabler.)
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