Don’t Give Up

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Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent. – Marilyn Vos Savant

Maybe life has dealt you defeat.  You don’t know what to do, and you do not know how to pray.  Don’t feel like you are alone.  I too have faced setbacks, and am rebounding from one right now. I’ll be sharing more about this another time.

There is a tendency sometimes for many to run away from their troubles, to just give up. But I know that God will not let you drift too far from Him, for we are like a boat tethered by a short rope to an anchor. We drift only slightly before the line goes taut and God pulls us back towards Him.

Giving up is an admission of defeat, although which can be temporary unless we do not bounce back from the loss. These defeats can be battles or wars of a personal nature.  We fall to our enemies, our emotions, or unanswered prayer, etc. And every one of us, if we are honest with ourselves, has “been there, done that.”

Did you rebound, or did you give up?  Did you pray fervently in the midst of your battle, or did you stop praying?

Was it a bitter divorce? Was it a feeling of rejection?  Was it something you were waiting for that did not happen?

Perhaps you blame God, or maybe you do not believe God hears your cries, or that He cannot or will not answer your prayers as you have not seen any results yet.

Don’t give up! Giving up is what makes your defeat permanent.

Is it possible “for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age” (Hebrews 6:4-6, NIV), to fall away permanently?”  I believe so. I think that some people fall away from grace and go back into the world. Jesus explains in Matthew 13, verses 20 and 21 that they are like seed falling on rocky ground, referring to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy.  But since they do not establish good roots in themselves, they endure for only a short time. When life’s troubles and battles, disappointments, and failed expectations visit upon them, they quickly fall away in defeat.

Here is what a friend shared on her Facebook page, and which inspired me to share Marilyn Vos Savant’s quote.

“At this moment in your life, all evidence may be pointing to drought, but a drought doesn’t have to mean the death of your promise.[1] It may just simply mean delay.

If you’ve been looking for the evidence of what God has promised, don’t give up after the first glance. Go back. Just as Elijah instructed his servant — go back — and keep going back until you see it come to pass.

What God promises, God will do. The question is, will you have the patience to see it?”

So whether or not your defeat is spiritual or emotional, DON’T GIVE UP.

Here’s how:

• Be faithful to spend time with God in His presence, AND God will reveal Himself to you just as He did with Joseph who abandoned by his brothers, was thrown into a hole and sold into slavery. Joseph, however, did not give up. Joseph had the resolve and courage to “shake it off and step up.”  God, in turn, used Joseph’s suffering to prepare him for extraordinary service.

• Return to the Truth, God’s holy Word. Don’t slide along daily without a blessing from Him.  When we stop reading God’s Word and fellowshipping with believers in Christ, we tend to fall away from God.  Don’t let God slip away from you.

• Learn to pray fervently and continue to praise and thank God, whatever your battles might be.

• Say this prayer – “Lord, saving me will bring glory to your name. Bring me out of all this trouble because you are true to your promises.” (Psalm 143:11, TLB)

• AND BE ASSURED THAT GOD WILL HEAR YOU. HE WILL NEVER GIVE UP ON YOU!

 

Copyright 2017 by Bill Hutzel

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FOOTNOTE

[1] Chicago: Elevation Worship on Twitter: “At this moment in your life .., https://twitter.com/elevation_wrshp/status/822535117017116673 (accessed March 22, 2017).