PASTOR’S CORNER: I am not defeated, and I won’t quit

Now this morning, there is a statement that Superman can only make from a physical standpoint; it is a determination to complete something and come off as a victor in an arena. It is the mindset that marathon runners have when they are in a marathon race. They prepare and they dress down for a marathon and not a sprint, but the mindset is never to quit. It is a declaration from an individual that know where they’re going and have a made-up mind concerning a particular thing. You have to have a made up mind if you are going to complete the task; a made-up mind that nothing, nobody will cause them to quit even when the situation or circumstance is extremely negative and the race is grueling. It is resolute that nothing will stop me!

We hear this all the time from athletes when they compete in the Olympics, which are going on now in Paris. At the end of the games those that stand and have gold, silver or bronze medals put around their necks will be the first to say that if they did not have a “no quit” attitude, they would not have made it. They push themselves to the limit; to go when they don’t feel like going, to train when they don’t feel like training. But that’s a good thing when you want to win something and you want something really bad.

I am not defeated, this will not defeat me and I will not quit!

It would be good if married couples together would say this when they make their vows to each other when they get married. “We will not quit!” It would be good if those in school or college would say this when they start school, but it would be even better if those of us who are in Christ Jesus would say this when we accept Christ as our personal savior.“I will not quit!”

God would be pleased if we did.

Now we do know that there are quitters in every arena, people who don’t complete anything. They start a job and three days later they’re back home; “I quit!” At every job they work, it is always something, but it’s never them. I hope we know that laziness is still a sin when a man doesn’t work (1 Thesselonians 3:10).

Some folk give up at the very first time of trouble. When they encounter opposition they can’t take it. Everything that they are in they quit. Christians we have some fight in us. We’ve got to have some resolve, We have to have a made-up mind; once we put our hands to the plow, the devil will test us but we can’t look back! Now anybody can say “I am not defeated…I will not quit” when everything is very positive; anybody cannot say this when things are not extreme; in fact, it is when things are extreme that it shows what we are made of; many folks have said “for God I’ll live; and for God I’ll die!” but everybody doesn’t mean it! To some, it sounds good… but the first wind to come along and blow hard enough, and they fold like a napkin.

Most of us in life have had hardship in one way or another; all of us have come up against brick walls; things that shook our world; we remember when…but we persevered, we didn’t quit, and we’re still standing; somebody said about hardships that “what does not kill me will make me stronger!” but that’s true; but what we don’t realize is that in Christianity what does not kill us makes US stronger IF we allow God to work it in us! Understand, that there is a target on our back Christians; Satan and his demonic spirits are on assignment to disrupt, destroy, frustrate, annihilate, and discourage those who serve the Lord and are committed to their Christian assignment; it is his demonic forces that influence people; for if you didn’t know, the only way that Satan can get to us is through people.

See Satan and his demons do not have human bodies; they can only operate through human beings and objects (Mark 5:1-13); which explains why when folk don’t like us; do mean and ugly things to us it’s not really them; it’s the influence of Satan and his demonic forces working behind the scenes; and it’s their job to discourage, oppress and demonize the children of God; to cause us to give up and quit; to quit on our children, our families, our marriages; to quit on the church; if you see a Christian that is no longer in active duty in the army of the Lord when they use to be on fire for the Lord, ask them why they are not in service; community, Satan wants you and me to quit; like Nehemiah, he wants us to come down off the wall (Neh. 6:3).

But not Paul; Paul was not a quitter; Paul knew that a winner never quits; and a quitter never wins! Paul was all in; it was Christ, or it was nothing! he lived and breathed Christ; his resolve is to never quit his call by God; he saw his trials as light compared to eternity (2 Cor. 4:17,18). Community, if Christ didn’t quit on us, we can’t quit on him. That’s what the devil wants you to do. What we’re going through now is only temporary; glory is waiting for us. We are not defeated, we can’t quit!