8/26/13 – “DON’T EVER QUIT!”

Gal. 6:9 So we must not grow weary in doing good, for in due time we will reap, if we do not give up.

When you think about the difference between victory or defeat, seeing your God-given dreams come true or falling short of them, experiencing what God wants in your life or not getting all God has for you, the difference most often comes down to one thing. Those who don’t quit are going to see results. Those who don’t quit are going to experience what God had planned for them all along. Those who don’t quit cannot be defeated and will walk in victory because of Who is on their side.

I can remember from years back a story my Pastor Dr. Barclay told me about one of his fathers in the faith, Dr. Lester Sumrall. He was without a doubt was a mighty man of God. God used this man and did many great things through his life and the ministry God called him to. Dr. Barclay was at a meeting with Dr. Sumrall and in the back room a young minister came up to Dr. Sumrall and asked him what the secret of his success in ministry was. Dr. Sumrall with a loud voice declared to this young minister, “I didn’t quit!”

2 Cor. 4:14 We know that the same God who raised our Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself along with you.
2 Cor. 4:15 All of these things are for your benefit. And as God’s grace brings more and more people to Christ, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory.
2 Cor. 4:16 That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day.
2 Cor. 4:17 For our present troubles are quite small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us an immeasurably great glory that will last forever!
2 Cor. 4:18 So we don’t look at the troubles we can see right now; rather, we look forward to what we have not yet seen. For the troubles we see will soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever.
2 Cor. 5:1  For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down—when we die and leave these bodies—we will have a home in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands.
2 Cor. 5:2 We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long for the day when we will put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing.

So often we here of the great testimonies from such men of faith, hearing about the victories they have seen as God has worked through their life, but what you don’t hear shared very often by others who speak of these godly people is the challenges and trials and battles they faced and went through. This is what the apostle Paul himself was talking about here in these verses of scripture above. If anyone had an opportunity to quit it was the apostle Paul.

Look at verse 16 above and you will see the primary key to Paul’s success in God. He never gave up. It is quite interesting that in verse 17 Paul states that the troubles he faced were quite small. Yet when you read 2 Corinthians 11 verses 23-27 Paul talks about being beaten with rods and whips, imprisoned, stoned, shipwrecked and left at sea, robbed, weary, in toil, sleeplessness often, in hunger, thirst, fastings, cold, and nakedness. These things Paul considered quite small troubles. Wow! So what is it that helped Paul to not quit? There were several factors, one which is revealed in verse 18 above.

He tells us that the disciples did not look at the troubles that were currently in front of them; instead they kept looking to the joys that were to come in eternity knowing that what he would face in this natural life was only temporary. The truth is when you get your focus off of the troubles of this life, the disappointments and trials; you will see those things change. But it is not just important to get your eyes off of what is facing you in the natural, but you must get your focus set squarely on the promises of God and what God has given to you as your assignment here on earth.

I wonder how many people who started out wanting to fulfill God’s will for their life never made it? Far to often I have seen believers who began to head down the path that God had for their life knowing that they were headed into what God has gifted them to do, but they allowed what they saw in the natural to get them to quit. It takes no effort to quit. Anyone can quit. It takes faith, courage, and conviction in God to not be a quitter and to continue to pursue what God has for your life. If the devil can get you through circumstances to give up on God then it won’t take him long to get you sidetracked and sitting on the side lines missing out on what God has for your life.

Col. 2:8 Don’t let anyone lead you astray with empty philosophy and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the evil powers of this world, and not from Christ.

One of the most detrimental things to lead people out of what God has for them is other people. If you are not careful they will talk you out of walking by faith and tell you all the reasons why you cannot do what God says you can do. They focus totally on human reasoning and nothing else. Doing so gets you into one of satan’s playgrounds where human reason will begin to destroy your faith and get you to walk away from what God desires for your life.

This will not only keep you from fulfilling your calling, it will rob you of what Christ paid for you to have as well. I have seen more people talked out of healing, God’s provision, deliverance, and God’s power working in their life all because of what someone else said. I have seen people come for prayer asking for you to pray for them to be healed. When you do afterward you hear them begin to speak about what their doctor said. Before you know it they are now agreeing totally with their doctor and no longer agreeing with the Word of God.

I have nothing against doctors by any means, but they are limited in what they can and can’t do. I am grateful for everything they do to help people get well, yet because they are limited to medicines there are often reports that nothing can be done for the person they are trying to help. But what is impossible for man is possible for God. So again, I greatly appreciate the medical community and all they do to help people, but when it comes to faith in God beyond what man can do you must believe God to see results.

Just think about how many people have accepted the words of a “doubting Thomas” who rob people of what God desired for their life. The doubting Thomas’s of the world won’t believe unless they can see. You need to get around some Abraham’s who did not waver at the promise of God, even when everything in the natural said what God had promised was not possible. You can’t get Abraham’s blessing with the Thomas kind of faith. The Thomas kind of faith will lead you to be a quitter.

So as Colossians 2:8 declares you must beware of people who through their philosophy, reasoning things out from a human perspective only and not based on the Word of God, and people with high sounding nonsense, based on anything but what Christ has said and done for them, try to crush your dreams, plans, and all that God has for you. Just realize that walking out what God has for your life must be based on the Word of God, and the leading of the Holy Spirit bearing witness with you spirit, and in line with the Word. That is the deciding factor, not money, people, nor circumstances going exactly the way you want it to.

Just imagine if Joseph would have given up on God. After being sold as a slave and taken to Egypt, and then sold to Potiphar what if Joseph would have said this isn’t fair? Evidently God must not have known what He was thinking when He revealed that he would see his father and brothers bow down before him. Then after Potiphar’s wife tried to have him and he still would not give in to the ways of the world he gets falsely accused of doing something he ran from. How many people do you think at that point thrown into prison unjustly would have quit on God?

Joseph just kept on serving his God. Because He did not quit Joseph not only wound up where God had shown him with his brothers and father coming to bow down before him, Joseph is the one who was responsible for sparing the children of Israel and the people of Egypt through a time of severe famine. I assure you things did not work out the way Joseph thought they would, but what God had shown him because He did not quit came to pass.

There are so many stories all throughout the Bible of people who did not quit. They would not give up on the dreams God gave them no matter what. They went through some very challenging situations but their faith brought them through. People like Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David, Ester, Mary, Peter, Paul, and on goes the list. Child of God the only thing that can keep you from seeing what God has for your life not come to pass is to sit down and quit on God. Anybody can quit; it doesn’t take any effort at all. But you were not called to be a quitter, but in fact you were called to be more than a conqueror. Stop allowing what you see in the natural to keep you from obeying God. As my Pastor Dr. Mark Barclay has said many times, “Thank God you didn’t quit!”

See You Again Next Week For More “Weekly Wisdom”

May God’s Best Be Yours!

Pastor Darryl Baker