“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Phil. 3:12-14…………
“What am I going to do, Lord?” I asked Him as I sat in my favorite little deli-style restaurant with my bag-full of blueberry and banana nut muffins, a special treat, yum.
“You’re going to persevere,” He told me immediately.
I was weary. Worn out. Tired. Exhausted. The funny thing was that less than a week later, when I returned to this little message to see where I had left off, I had already forgotten what it was I had been writing about. What had made me so weary, worn out, tired, exhausted. But whatever it had been, obviously it had been important to me at the time. And obviously I needed to not only write the message I had been given, but I had needed to hear it! And though I couldn’t recall what had gotten me so worn out, and could only have guessed, to be perfectly honest, the message the Lord had given me was loud and clear.
“You’re going to persevere,” He had told me.
And there it was. One of the most important messages I have ever learned, and ever felt compelled to share with others. Because we ALL need to hear it.
When it comes to following the Lord Jesus Christ, and to following His will for our lives, we MUST persevere. We MUST not give up. We MUST not draw back. We MUST not quit. We must CARRY ON. We must ENDURE. We must PRESS FORWARD. We must KEEP GOING FORWARD. We must IN THE STRENGTH OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD, FOR THE GLORY OF GOD, KEEP FOLLOWING JESUS.
Sometimes everything in us is screaming, “Quit! Just quit! I can’t do this anymore!” And sometimes the world around us seems to be screaming, “You can’t do it! Just give up!” And sometimes the devil is screaming, “You’ll never make it! Quit right now!” And sometimes the only thing in the world we feel we can do, and think we should do, is QUIT.
Friend, if you are sure God is calling you somewhere, to do something, to something, is wanting you to continue, is wanting you to carry on, is wanting you to hang in there, then PLEASE DON’T QUIT. PLEASE PERSEVERE.
But how? Seek Him. Hear Him. Obey Him. Do it in His strength. Cry out to Him for help! For strength! For endurance! Reach out to His followers to help you, to love and encourage you, to pray for you! Study His Word and spend time with the Lord every single day, draw close to Him, closer to Him, and closer still. And please, friend, DON’T GIVE UP. PERSEVERE. YOU CAN DO IT – if it’s His will, if you’re doing it for Him, if you look to Him, if you will give Him the glory, YOU CAN DO IT. For the glory of the Lord, amen!