Tag Archives: don’t give up

September 28, 2015 · 5:28 AM

Quiet Place Of Peace

  
Have you ever found yourself looking for a quiet place to get away from it all? In today’s connected world, it’s hard to find a quiet place. We are besieged by emails, texts, and phone calls. Social media calls to us constantly begging for our attention. Our jobs hunt us down after hours to find solutions and our families deserve our time as well. It can be hard to find that place where we find peace among the craziness of life, but it does exist.

David looked for it as well. He didn’t have a cell phone ringing or a boss demanding over time. He had people who were hunting him down to kill him. He lived a lot of his life on the run. He was either being chased or was chasing someone. On top of that, add in that he was running a country. He was a very busy person, yet he longed for that quiet place of peace as well. He wanted a place where he could just rest.

In Psalm 27:3, he describes a little bit of his situation and how it makes him feel. He wrote, “When besieged, I’m calm as a baby. When all hell breaks loose, I’m collected and cool” (MSG). For most of us, we can’t identify with those statements. When we are besieged by our todo list, we are not calm as a baby. We are stressed. When everything seems to come apart at once, we aren’t cool and collected. We become frantic at the situation with no solution. How could David be this way in those situations? He found his quiet place of peace.

In the next few verses, David writes, “I’m asking GOD for one thing, only one thing: To live with him in his house my whole life long. I’ll contemplate his beauty; I’ll study at his feet. That’s the only quiet, secure place in a noisy world, The perfect getaway, far from the buzz of traffic.” He knew that prayer was essential in finding that peace in the storm of life. When we pray, we acknowledge God is in control, even when we aren’t.

He also mentioned meditating on God’s beauty was as well. It’s not enough to just pray. We have to keep our mind on God throughout the day in order to stay in that place. The other thing he did was to study at God’s feet. He made the time to study God’s Word. Knowing what God says and understanding how it applies to your life is critical in finding that place of peace. Stress comes from not being able to balance everything on our plate and losing control of our life. Peace comes from knowing God is in control and then leaving the outcome to Him.

David ends this Psalm with the a way to find confidence in God that comes from the faith that knows God is in control of your life. “I’m sure now I’ll see God’s goodness in the exuberant earth. Stay with GOD! Take heart. Don’t quit. I’ll say it again: Stay with GOD.” He gives himself a reminder in the chaos. He wants his mind to stay with God instead of wandering away to all the what if’s. He also reminds himself not to quit or give up. He knows that if we stick with God in every situation, we will find that quiet place of peace.

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September 2, 2014 · 7:43 AM

Stay On The Path

I recently took my son on a father / son camping trip with other men from our church. On Saturday morning, several kids started walking down a path and my son wanted to go with them. We were a couple of hundred yards behind them, but caught up about 15 minutes later. We crossed streams, logs and hilly terrain. About 30 minutes into it, one of the boys said, “We should go back the way we came.” I pointed out that we could hear the voices of the others and told him that we were close to the camp.

About 30 minutes later, we still hadn’t reached the camp. We could still hear them, but we seemed to be circling them. I couldn’t find a clear path to get to the camp. After going down a steep hill and finding ourselves at yet another stream to cross, I said, “You’re right. Let’s go back the way we came.” As soon as we turned around, I heard some rustling in the bushes not far away. It was his father who had come to look for him. He took us through some bushes to the path we couldn’t seem to find and led us to camp.

I can tell you from personal experience that I feel the same way on the path God has for me. A lot of times, it feels like I’m going nowhere. It’s long, hilly and has me cross some streams. There are times that I feel like I should be on another path or that I should turn around. The advice I get from others tells me to turn around, yet I can hear the voice of God say, “Continue on this path. I’ll lead you to where I’m taking you.” I keep going even though I can’t see where I’m going.

If you’re there with me, I want to share a scripture with you out of Deuteronomy 5. Verse 33 says, “Stay on the path that The Lord your God has commanded you to follow. Then you will live long and prosperous lives in the land you are about to enter and occupy.” If God has put you on a path, don’t let your mind or others tell you to get off of it. I know you may not see the end of it or where it’s going. It may be through some tough terrain, but God has you on that path for a reason. You will get to where He’s leading you when He wants you to get there. You will gain the experience He needs you to have as you follow the path.

In the end, He’s leading you to your promised land. He’s leading you to a place where you will flourish. God has a plan for your life and for the path that He has placed you on. He didn’t promise it would be easy. He promised that He wouldn’t leave you. He didn’t say that there wouldn’t be times where you wanted to give up. He promised to send the Holy Spirit to comfort you. He didn’t say you’d always know what was next. He said that His Word would be a lamp to your feet and a light to your path. Stay on the path God put you on and trust Him to get you where He wants you.

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April 1, 2014 · 6:29 AM

Climbing The Mountain

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As I hiked up a small mountain with a group of people recently, I began to see a lot of parallels spiritually. It wasn’t long before others in the group had moved quickly enough up the mountain side and left a few of us behind. We called out to them to wait until we caught up. We wanted to go up the mountain as a group. Every so often they would get pretty far ahead and then wait for us to catch up. It’s the same in this Christian life. For some, it’s easier than others to live. Some people struggle their whole lives trying to live according to God’s ways. It’s important to stop and help others along the way.

There were times along the path where the rocks were loose and slippery. One wrong move and you would slide backwards, fall down or something worse could happen. As we went through these parts, we talked to each other, encouraged each other and showed them which rocks they needed to avoid. At times the person in front, who had a more sure footed place, would turn around and pull the other person up. In this spiritual journey, there are places where our feet slip and we fall backwards. It’s up to us who are behind them to catch them. It’s also important for those who have been through there to offer advice and a helping hand.

As we got closer to the mountain top, it got harder to climb. We needed breaks more frequently. One person in our group said, “Just go on without me. I’ll stay here for a while.” Too many times in life we give up just before our break through. We quit when things get the hardest. Yet in those times, we don’t realize how close we are to experiencing pure joy. We pushed through the desire to quit. We decided that we weren’t going to stop when we were so close to victory. We pushed through the desire to quit and it was worth it. We have to do the same thing in life. Don’t let others quit when they’re so close to victory.

As we hiked the final bit, there was a church being built up there. Members had hiked up too and were praying over the land, the city and the community around there. They were hungry and thirsty for God to move. They made the journey up in order to pray and sing praises. It was beautiful to stand there and listen to them. I have no idea what they were praying or singing, but I recognized the presence right away. God is calling us to pray over our family, friends, neighborhood, community, city, county, state, nation and world. God desires that none would perish. We need to be praying for others who are looking at the mountain of Christianity and choosing whether to climb it or to stay in bed asleep.

While we made it to the top of that mountain, we have not yet arrived spiritually. There are still twists and turns ahead. There are still difficult paths each of us will have to walk down. There will be times of rest and times of pushing forward. We cannot forget why we are climbing this mountain so that we never become content with how far we’ve come. We must keep climbing, keep helping others who are behind us and keep listening to those ahead. Our journey continues. Victory is close. Don’t give up. Don’t quit. The mountain top will be worth the climb.

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August 30, 2013 · 8:04 AM

Get Up, Don’t Give Up

For the first time in a long time, I watched the movie “Rudy”. If you’ve never seen it, it’s the story of a young kid who wants to play football for Notre Dame. His family laughs when he tells them he’s going to. His high school won’t let him go visit the campus because his grades weren’t good enough. Notre Dame refused to let him in also. None of that stopped him. He finally got accepted and made the practice squad for the football team. Every time he got hit, he got back up for the next play.

The story is really about what someone who has a lot of heart can endure and accomplish. Rudy wasn’t athletic, but he was strong willed. He wasn’t smart, but he was a hard worker. He wasn’t easily dismayed because he had determination. His coaches all wished they could take his heart and put it in someone with athletic ability. He kept pushing for his dream no matter what others said.

Where most people would have given up, he kept getting up. That’s a lesson for each of us today. It’s easy to give up when life keeps hitting us. It’s natural to want to stay down when others think you should just give up. But God put something in each one of us that makes us want to get back up. I know that after a while, that thing that God put in us can get awful quiet compared the thoughts of quitting and giving up. It can seem non-existent when you’re on your back and you have stars going around your head because you’ve just been hit so hard.

Let’s be honest. It’s easy to stay down. The fear of getting hit again tries to talk you into staying down. The embarrassment of the situation and what others think starts to convince you to just give up. It makes me think of a demotivational poster I once saw that said, “At some point, hanging in there just makes you look like an even bigger loser.” Those are the thoughts that the enemy brings to keep you down and to convince you not to get back up. He does that because he knows that each time you get back up, you’re stronger for it.

At some point, he has to quit throwing stuff at you. He knows this is only temporary, but if he can convince you it’s permanent, you’ll stay down and quit. When that happens, he wins. For me, I can’t stand to lose, especially to the enemy. I learned what it took to motivate myself to get back up each day, take a hit and to keep moving forward. It all starts with the mind. You must learn to block the thoughts that tell you to give up. You must learn to motivate yourself with God’s Word. Understand that while you have it bad, someone else has it worse. If they could still stand, I knew I could.

You may have to take several more hits before this is over. Stand strong though. Know that this period of trials and struggles is only temporary. I know that when it keeps coming month after month it doesn’t feel that way. Get back up today, stand your ground and declare that you won’t lose any more ground. Seek God’s strength to help you when yours fails. Know that you are becoming stronger than you ever would have if these things wouldn’t have happened and God will always be able to use that in your future.

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