Now Is Not the Time To Quit

Watching my childhood friends and me playing, it was always possible that right in the middle of a game someone would walk away, go home, and quit.  I’ve seen my own children want to quit when they were kids.  We always tried to encourage them to stay the course.  The grandchildren are no different. If the game is especially hard it’s easy to just quit.

There are times as an adult that I’ve felt like quitting. I imagine you have too. Whether it’s a relationship, a job, a heart issue, or something else, that feeling of wanting to throw in the towel seems like a great solution, at least temporarily.  Frustration mounts when things don’t go just right. Perfectionism tries to rear its ugly head and make us feel that we’re not good enough, haven’t done enough or have no natural talent. You’ve heard the lies in your head I am sure. Each of us has our own set of quit buttons – those things that make us want to run. To be sure, there are times when God directs us to make a change and that change is necessary; but that should never be decided because we want to quit. There are also those times when another may tell you that you’re done and God knows. He will revive your spirit and take you to another level when you let Him do the leading.

I love dictionaries and definitions so I like to look up synonyms and antonyms for words. I find that to quit means resign, abandon or vacate. When I see those words I hear God speak. These words denote that you are involved in something. To quit you will have to vacate your place of My blessing. To abandon what you are doing speaks that you are willing to entertain thoughts of ditching your place in the Kingdom of God. When you think about vacating a place or a position, you are literally leaving an empty place, often the very place I want you to be. This is not the same as moving with God’s Spirit into another place of service. Quitting means to desert and often pessimism and defeat come right along with it.

God’s Word gives us the sure antidotes for feelings of defeat and resignation that might come our way. While we cannot control what others do to us and with us, we can control our own feelings. The only way to live a life that is thriving even in the midst of pain is to rely fully on God’s Word.  God tells us in His Word that our success does not lie in our natural talents. Yes, we have natural abilities, but God says He takes those things that seem foolish to the world confound the wise.

Oh beloved, your call from God is supernatural! The way you see yourself needs to come into focus the way God sees you. His words to you are successful, achieving, thriving and overcoming. He speaks love songs into your heart that say keep on keeping on, abide in Me, rest in My promises, I AM your strength. As you rehearse the truth that you are called of God, not of man, to do the work of God, not man, then you can continue even when the going gets tough. Every word of God to you will speak love, consideration, comfort and care. You may hear other things from other areas, but God only speaks love, even when He is correcting you it’s in love. He never speaks rejection to His own. He never puts down His own or makes them feel humiliated. Yes, there are times when you will be humbled by the situation you are in, but God will comfort you and wrap His arms around you and speak strength to your mind and heart.

Keep on keeping on Beloved. The end to the troubled time may be just around the corner. The answer to your prayers is on the way. The strength for your weakness is always available. You have been selected by God to do what is intended for your best life now and He will enable you to stay the course. He loves you and He’s for you and that will keep you going all the way to heaven.

Philippians 4:13  I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Psalm 71:16  I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD; I will make mention of Your righteousness, of Yours only.

Zechariah 4:6 Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the LORD of hosts.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 Each time He said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.”  So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.  That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Haggai 1:13 Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, gave the people this message from the Lord: “I am with you, says the Lord!”

I Corinthians 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.

Time to Open the Jewelry Box

I have a lot of old jewelry and last year I decided I’d take it to a “gold party” and see what I could get out of it. The pieces I took were not sentimental, just twisted necklaces and broken rings. Some necklaces had wadded up together in an old box, but I took them as well. I couldn’t begin to tell what they were.

At the party the hostess laid everything I brought out on a cloth. She sifted through them and sorted them out. Then she pulled out a small magnet. Each magnetic piece was placed to the left in a big pile. Then the non-magnetic pieces were laid in a smaller pile to the right.

Turns out that many of the things I thought were gold and silver were simply base metals. They held no real worth. It was only the gold and silver pieces that brought money.

God speaks. I am reminded of two things. First, we have such a huge load of stuff in life that we think is important. We can’t do without them. They’re ours. They’re vital to our own personal worth. They take up time, dusting, sorting, placing, using, throwing in the corner, polishing, buffing, shining, wearing and back again. Much time is spent caring about things that are not worth a dime.

Then there are the valuable things. The truly priceless and treasured things are small in the big scheme of life. They are the things that will bring eternal value. And they are the things that, when pushed on the trash heap and set fire will be found beneath the ashes. With each fire they go through they are only more refined.

Oh beloved, take your precious, important things to the Lord and let Him sift through them for you. He will gently and generously separate them out so that you can see more clearly what is truly valuable. He knows your heart, and He knows how you want to hold on to things. Sometimes it’s for fear that you’ll be totally without. Sometimes it’s because you’ve held them so long that you don’t know if you can make it. But God says if you will give Him everything, both piles – the precious and worthless – He will make something wonderful and use you for His glory. He is able to separate out everything, even the tangled messes, and prove which things are worth holding onto.

Just open the jewelry box of your heart and hand it all over to Him today. He loves you and He’s for you so He can always be trusted to let you keep that which is most precious to Him, just as you are most precious beloved.

2 Timothy 1:14 Through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us, carefully guard the precious truth that has been entrusted to you.

I Corinthians 3:11-13 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ. Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value.

1 Peter 1:7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

Psalm 19:9, 10 Reverence for the Lord is pure, lasting forever. The laws of the Lord are true; each one is fair. They are more desirable than gold, even the finest gold. They are sweeter than honey, even honey dripping from the comb.

Psalm 119:37 Turn my eyes from worthless things, and give me life through Your word.

Jeremiah 15:19 Therefore, thus says the LORD, “If you return, then I will restore you— Before Me you will stand; and if you extract the precious from the worthless, you will become My spokesman. They for their part may turn to you, but as for you, you must not turn to them.