Are you weary and worn out?
Do you feel like giving up?
Why is it so hard to keep going?
Will you cop out or cope?
Read and discover some of the reasons you feel like giving up and what you can do TODAY to persevere…
There will be times in your Christian Life that you will feel like quitting. You will get tired and weary and impatient. You will begin to wonder if it is really worth it all. Discouragement will move in and Satan will begin to make you tempting offers and alternatives. The Faith Walk is not an easy walk. The way into Life is Narrow and Straight and only a few will find it according to Jesus. Sometimes, the way out seems to be just to quit. To forget it. To retreat. To back down. It is always easier to cop out than to cope. The greatest temptation any Believer faces is the temptation to quit. The grass may look greener on the other side of the fence. The pressures and stresses of maintaining your Victory Stand may build to the point of breaking. Situations and circumstances may develop that will press you beyond measure and push you “over the edge”. How are believers to handle such situations? What are we to do when we feel like quitting? Where can we go to get some “relief?” Is there a way out when we are at the breaking point? What are our alternatives?
1. You can Quit. This is not hard to do and it is always a temptation especially when things really get tough. It is the easiest and offers the least resistance. Anybody can quit. You can quit. We can quit. Many have and others will. What about you? Has Satan “got your number?” What will it take to make you quit? How much more “can you stand?” Is quitting a real temptation for you this morning? Some who are listening are right at the “giving up” and “quitting” stage.
2. You can compromise. Satan may be saying to you “if you will back off, I will back off!” “If you will ease up, i will ease up…” You can back down and ease up and let off. You can stop and get stuck where you are. You can retreat and give up ground that you have fought for and won. Compromise is an alternative. You can slip back and fall back and go back.
3. You can feel sorry for yourself and give in to self-pity. You can compare yourself with others and get mad at God. You can begin to wonder about the wicked being blessed and you can get jealous and pout. You can play on the sympathy of others and complain and grumble.
4. OR… you can turn your problems into Opportunities to trust God! You can make your “situations” a test track for the Word of God. You can stand and sing and shout and refuse to accept defeat. You can endure and count it all joy when you come into temptations and trials. You can see every impossible situation as an opportunity to defeat the devil. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO QUIT!!!
Ok… so you have decided not to quit. You have decided not to compromise. You have decided not to feel sorry for yourself. You have decided to turn your problems into Opportunities to trust God… NOW: HOW do you do it?
FIRST…. Understand that you are not the only Believer facing a tough situation. There are literally thousands of other saints who have not bowed their knee to Baal in the thick of the battle! The very fact that you are tempted to Quit is a good sign… If nothing is happening to you then you are doing nothing for the Kingdom!! “Many are the afflictions of the Righteous, but the Lord delivereth them out of them all!!…” “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man… but God is faithful who will not suffer (allow) you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it…”
SECOND... never expect your Faith Walk to be easy. You have not chosen an easy way of life! To live by the Word is the most disciplined life a man or woman can know. All the forces of darkness are set in array against you… demon powers have zeroed in on you because you have become a threat to them…. REJOICE and be EXCEEDINGLY GLAD!!
THIRD... Review your Contract with God. If you will, you will see that there is no provision for quitting in it!! When you got saved, you made a Life Commitment to God with no strings attached. There were no “what ifs” or “just in cases” or other conditional clauses in the Contract. God did His part. Jesus did His part. The Holy Ghost did His part. The Salvation Contract calls for you to do your part. You are
expected to ENDURE. You are required to STAND and not WAVER. You are bound by your Contract with God not to QUIT no matter what!!
Matt. 10:22 … but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
Hebr. 12:3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
Eph. 6:13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Ps. 91:1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
FOURTH... Remember your victories in the past. See how God delivered you from the “hand of the lion and the hand of the bear…” That is what David did as he faced the Uncircumcised Heathen Giant. Remember and recall and relive the many victories in your past Christian Life. I remember:
(1) How God instantly healed our daughter Melinda while on the way to the hospital. She had every symptom of spinal meningitis and was hallucinating. She even saw into heaven and told me that Jesus said: “Tell your dad that I’m coming very soon.”
(2) How God stood with us and delivered us and gave us a successful ministry in the midst of controversy over the Baptism of the Holy Ghost as a Baptist Preacher.
(3) How God provided for us and fed us and paid our bills during the early years of our ministry. We were earning 25.00 a week salary. We held part time jobs while pastoring and carrying a full academic load in college.
(4) How God met our need in every building project in spite of vicious and relentless attacks of the enemy against our integrity and honesty. How we Won every Battle and came out stronger and bigger and better.
(5) How in 33 years of ministering in Mobile we have weathered the storm and stood the test and won the victory. In spite of criticism and scandalizing and gossip and lies and threats and intimidations..
WE ARE STILL HERE and WE ARE BIGGER AND WE ARE BETTER AND WE ARE STRONGER!!!
We have endured dishonest building contractors and thieving con men. We have maintained our honesty and refused to bow to criticism. We have lived down lies and resisted the devil and watched him run. We have held our head high we have bowed our knee to no man and we have refused to compromise our convictions. WE WON. WE ARE STILL WINNING. The WORD will always WIN!!! If you are considering Quitting… STOP right now and REMEMBER YOUR PAST VICTORIES!!
FIFTH… You need to REPENT for even considering quitting!! It is a sin and an affront to your faith to even think about going back!!
2Pet. 2:20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
2Pet. 2:21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
2Pet. 2:22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
You do not have the RIGHT to quit!! You cannot legally cancel your commitment to God!! You are bound by your Promise!! If you have quit, REPENT and come back. If you are considering quitting REPENT and stop considering it!! Quitters are Apostates. Quitters are Backsliders. Quitters are those who “fall away.”
SIXTH… Rededicate your efforts to Keep on Keeping on!! Renew your mind so that you can think right in the middle of your tight situation. If you allow your situation to dictate how you think and how you feel you will fail and you will quit. If you allow your mind to be renewed by the Word of God so that you will think like God thinks then you will not quit. God did not Quit. Jesus did not Quit. The Holy Ghost did not Quit. The Word did not Quit. Aren’t you glad they didn’t!! Be a non-conformist. Be a radical. Be different. Don’t yield to the pressures and allow them to make you back down. Make your boldest confession in the midst of your darkest trial. You do not have to be like everybody else!! Say this with me right now: “Jesus, forgive me for even considering quitting. I repent of the sin of turning back and slowing down and backing down and giving up. I vow this day to never quit! I will stand and I will not yield to the pressures of satanic powers. I decide today to keep on keeping on… no matter what!! I will not be moved!!! Hallelujah!!” Be as persistent as the 3 Hebrew Children: “I will not bow I will not bend… go ahead and heat the furnace and throw us in… God will deliver us out of the fire and out of your hand, devil!!!” Be as unwavering as David when he faced his giant (we all have our giants to face, amen?)
1Sam. 17:45 Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.
(your situations have defied the Lord God Most High!!)
1Sam. 17:45 Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.
1Sam. 17:46 This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.
1Sam. 17:47 And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give you into our hands.
2Chr. 20:15 And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s.
Isa. 54:17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.
FINALLY… Rejoice and praise God for the Victory even before it comes!! Sing and shout. Leap and dance. Run and jump. Rejoice and praise God right where you are before you see any signs of relief. Get you some banners and flags. Paint you some posters. Hang out some ribbons. Advertise your victory before you get it. Buy you a billboard!! Let God see that you are committed to winning and overcoming. You can never embarrass God with your Faith. Persist. Press through. Stretch. See your victory in the eyes of your spirit. See it so real that you can shout about it. Sincere, heart-felt praise always precedes victory!! I command you right now in the Name of Jesus to REFUSE DEFEAT and to CHOOSE VICTORY!!
Deut. 30:19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: