"Giving Up--Never An Option"

Don’t let the daily problems overwhelm you to the point of giving up. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus.

2. Quitting Points: STORY: Vacationers were traveling through the Salt River Canyon toward Phoenix and noticed that their gas gauge was about on empty. A few miles down the road the map showed a town called Bensonville. They drove on but there was no sign of this town.

Finally they came to a building with one gas pump in front and pulled in.

“Is this Bensonville?” the driver asked?

“No, this is Nelsonville,” the attendant replied.

“Where’s Bensonville then? It’s right here on the map and we should have passed it.”

The attendant laughed and said, “Oh, Benson, he quit.!

Sometimes we don’t think of quitting even when things are at their toughest. Other times there are quitting points that cause us to give up and fade right off the map.

These quitting points could come in many forms. Maybe we faced embarrassment in front of our friends in the third grade and this has developed into a quitting point even to this day. People laughed at us then, and we won’t let that happen again. We just drop off the team. Maybe we played a piano solo in a recital years ago and we really messed up. The quitting point comes to us that says, “I don’t have any musical talent anyway so I won’t take any more lessons. I just can’t get it.”

Others say I can’t live a Christian life and I don’t want to be a hypocrite so I just won’t try anymore. We quit on God when we do that. Jesus did not quit on God. In Luke 22 before going to the cross He agonized but “an angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.”

What is your quitting point? We must learn to recognize these things and avoid letting the devil trap us in them. What things happen time after time to cause you to check out? It could be fear of failing, feeling as if you are going to look stupid in front of your friends, telling yourself you just can’t do it, being so tired out from being overwhelmed day after day, or any number of things. You don’t have to let these quitting points cause you to be defeated.

3. Standing Up On the Inside: When things look overwhelming to you, ask the Lord to give you the strength and power you need to keep on going. The disciples in the early church had many quitting points. They didn’t quit because they had been given the power of the Holy Spirit. This was a promise that Jesus had given them before He went to the cross. Without the power of the Holy Spirit they would have given up under the pressures and the persecution. They were persistent because they had their eyes fixed on Jesus and the big picture. They were empowered and equipped with the Holy Spirit.

ILLUSTRATION: Persistence is said to be like wrestling a gorilla. You don’t quit when YOU get tired. You quit when the gorilla gets tired.

The woman who needed healing in Matthew persisted until she received healing. What do you need from the Lord today and you have been just on the verge of giving up? Giving up is never an option. Allow the Lord to put something inside you that will give you new strength to bounce back in spite of difficulties and discouragement. Allow His Holy Spirit to fill you with power. Use the armor of God when things try to defeat you. Ephesians 6:10 says, “Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.”