Skip to main content

Refusing to Quit

 


One of the devil’s tactics that he uses effectively against Christians is discouragement. He knows that if he can discourage a Christian, he can paralyze him both emotionally and spiritually. The devil has used this tactic against some of God’s strongest people.

We remember the famous story of Elijah who became greatly discouraged. He had just won a mighty victory on Mt. Carmel. Soon after, Jezebel sought his life, and he became discouraged. He prayed to God, “It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!” (1 Kings 19:4)

God gave Elijah a new job task. He assigned his successor. Then, He reminded Elijah that He was still in control (1 Kings 19:17) and that he was not alone. He said, “Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.” (vs. 18)

Think of Jeremiah. He too was ready to quit. His ministry was not popular. No one seemed to listen to the word of God. He was constantly being punished for proclaiming the truth. Despite all the conflict, Jeremiah stated, “I will not make mention of Him, nor speak anymore in His name. But His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, and I could not.” (Jeremiah 20:9)

It is hard to stop one who has the fire of zeal burning deep within their heart. The apostle Paul was like this. There were times when he did not know if he was going to live or die. During these times he put his faith in God who raises the dead (2 Corinthians 1:8-10).

Paul stated, “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21). These were not just mere words, but words that Paul believed in and lived by. When he knew that his death was eminent, his attitude remained unchanged. He said, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge will give to me on that day, and not to me only but to all who have loved His appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:7-8)

We all go through times of discouragement. However, we can always stoke the fire of zeal deep within us. We can view the Christian life as the greatest life a person could ever live. We can renew our focus on the goal ahead. We can renew our love for God and His holy word. We can remember that we are a part of something larger than ourselves. We can rise up and continue moving ahead when we, like many of God’s great people, refuse to quit.

God Bless each of you,

Eric Hicks


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Taking Time to Pray

  We have all had those busy mornings where we rush around trying to get out the door. We scrabble frantically trying to gather everything we know we are going to need for the day. We fly out the door only to remember that the cell phone is still on the dresser. If we are honest with ourselves, we know that we will turn around, go back inside to retrieve our cell phone no matter how late we may be running. While this is all well and good, the question arises, what if we run out the door and remember we had not yet prayed to our heavenly Father. What would be our response. Would we stop dead in our tracks and offer a prayer before God, or continue in moving toward our daily pursuits with the intention of praying when we have more time? Our great example of a prayer life is Christ. He too had a busy schedule to maintain. Mark records, “And He said to them, ‘Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.’ For there were many coming and going, and they did not even have
Post a Comment
Read more

Walk Worthy

  The Christian life has been compared to a variety of things. One in particular is that of a walk. A walk in the context of the Christian faith involves the way we live and conduct ourselves throughout our lives. The manor in which we live will either reflect Christ or it will reflect the ways of the world. Paul wrote, “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called” (Ephesians 4:1). There are a multitude of ways we must walk to be pleasing unto the Lord. We will consider a few. Bearing with one another. Walking worthy before the Lord strongly involves our conduct with one another. Paul continued, “ with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love” (Ephesians 4:2). Bearing with one another is not possible apart from a humble mindset. It is the humble mindset that keeps us from thinking too highly of ourselves. It also enables us to focus on the needs of others rather than our
Post a Comment
Read more

Take Careful Aim

       In the book of Proverbs, we read that where there is no vision the people perish. Vision is an absolute necessity if one is to accomplish anything worthwhile in life. Without vision, there is no goal. Without a goal, there is no purpose. Having a vision for the future is like having a target you do not intend to miss. Like a marksman taking careful aim at his target, we too must take careful aim if we are to accomplish great things for the Lord. There are various goals we should take careful aim at. One is increasing our relationships with one another. The only way this can be accomplished is through effective communication with each other. We can do this in a variety of ways including phone calls, personal visits, and through the positive side of social media. Equally, we grow in our relationship with one another through worshipping God together. The Hebrew writer stated, “…not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one anoth
Post a Comment
Read more