DON’T GIVE UP

TEXT: LUKE 19:1-10 

I want to preach today about the topic “Don’t Give Up”. Why this topic don’t give up? It means, there will always be something that will want to make you to give up. The word “Don’t give up” is a sweet word to hear, it’s even very cheap to utter. These words have become more of a slogan than an action word. Today when you see someone passing through a hard time or a deep mess it is very easy to tap him at his back and say “Don’t give up” because you don’t really know how deep the mess. 

Therefore if I tell you that you will not find yourself in a situation that will lead to this conclusion “I will give up” then am lying. No matter your level of faith, you will surely have to pass through hardship, unexplainable circumstances, hard times, storm of life hit you, no matter how strong you are, you will feel like giving up, you will surely feel like quitting. 

King David and his men matched out in battle with Achish, when the commanders of the philistines saw him, they refused his support and Achish told him, you have to go back, you won’t be able to join your forces with ours in this war. By the time David and his men got back to Ziklag (Their aboard) the Amalekites had burned Ziklag and took the women and children captive. When David and his man saw what happened they wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep. This was a hard situation they found themselves, they did not immediately went after the Amalakites, their spirits were down, the feelings of “I give up” was strongly felt. 

When Christ was in Gethsemane, three times he called on His Father “If it is possible, may this cup be taken from me”. He prayed because his soul was overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. The feeling of “I will give up” was equally strongly felt by Christ.

Glory be to God, David “encouraged” himself in the Lord and Christ submitted to His “Father’s will” if not both would have given up at that point. 

The feeling of giving up in life is a bus-stop that every man must reach in life. Life is like a journey with many bus-stops and there is a bus stop with the inscription “I give up”. The decision made at this bus-stop determines maybe you are “less than conquers, conqueror or more than conquer.

At this bus-stop, you are left with three choices, going backward, staying put, or moving forward. The choice you make most times is determined by what people say. The bus stop of “I give up” is our time or season of storm, and three things are usually experienced. 

 The rough time.

 The tough time and 

 The frustrating time (the period frustration steps in) 

If one is not very careful desperation comes in and at this period you hear about people committing suicide or eternal errors and mistakes. At the bus-stop of “Give up”, the contributions or words of men are major determinant of how far you will go when you don’t put your hope in God.

When David saw the damage done on Ziklag, his man (warriors) were embittered and was planning to stone him, people that suppose to encourage him were planning on stoning him.

When Christ Jesus was in Gethsemane and his soul was overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death, His disciples were busy sleeping. People that followed him for more than three years were sleeping heavily when he needs them most. 

Most times it is not demonic, or satanic when people that suppose to be your strength neglects you when your storm becomes unbearable, it’s scriptural, it’s a part of your experience during your stormy period.

A man told his daughter to drive the car after a picnic one evening. As they were going home a heavy storm began and the daughter said father I can’t see let me park, but the father said daughter, “keep driving.” When the storm become harder and tougher she told her father twice, “Daddy let me park” and twice the father replied daughter, keep driving. In no time the storm stopped. The father told her to stop the car and asked her, “what lesson did you learn”. The daughter replied, you want me to be courageous but the father said look back what did you see. She said, I saw the storm and many cars are packed inside. The father said my daughter, the storm did not stop you only drove out of it, people that parked are still held by the by the storm.

Equally the storm of life is unstoppable, it kept on coming and coming, but if we keep on moving ahead we shall come out of it. If you chose to give up on your marriage, will that stop the storm or will it stop the storm arising from another area of your life? No.

Listen to this: No ship sinks because of the water around them but ship sinks because of the water that gets in them. 

You are a seed and the devil knows that. If he allows, you will become a plantation or forest with economic value and the best way to destroy that future is to attack your seed from growing. Therefore when you give up on yourself you give up on the seed that needs your nurturing to manifest into a plantation or forest of trees. 

Hear this: as a seed you have an 

 Economic value 

 Political value 

 Spiritual value 

Giving up in life makes you a valueless person, economically, politically, and spiritually you become valueless. Your slogan will now be “I am fed up, I can’t kill myself ooooo”

Stay tunned for the complete episode next week