FIGHT ON
2 Timothy 4:7
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
Every fall I'm told stories of individuals that have hunted for 20 or 30 years and after all those years they finally took their very first buck. I'm always amazed by those stories
Just a couple of days ago I heard about a man that bought 40 acres in north central Wisconsin with the sole purpose of deer hunting. He's hunted there for over a dozen years and has yet to see a buck, let alone shoot trophy. He hasn't quit, he pushes on. These hunters have far more patience than I do.
In the athletic world, Green Bay Packer wide receiver, Jake Kumerow, had been cut four times, placed on injured reserved twice and spent four years on practice squads, all before actually appearing in his first NFL regular season game. Then finally one Sunday in 2019, after all that time, effort and disappointment, he caught his very first pass from Aaron Rodgers.
Before his 8 year career ended Jake caught 3 touchdown passes and played for 7 teams in the NFL. He never quit... he pushed on.
Jake must have had many times over that four years when he wanted to give up. I'm sure there were times when others suggested he find other work. There had to have been times when he thought, "there must be something else", but he kept going. After each training camp it would have been easier to just quit... but Jake hung in there, he fought on.
As God's children we have all been given gifts to do things for God. Many of us will never stand in front of large crowds and preach or travel to far off countries to do missionary work, but God has work for us to do.
We can be assured that each time we prepare to serve God, Satan will attempt to stop us. He will tells us that we are unqualified and too weak or too young. Satan will do all he can to discourage and defeat us, to get us to walk off the field and give up. Don't let him defeat and discourage you. Fight on.
We can prepare our hearts for battle just as a football player prepares his body for a game or an army prepares for war. For years my mother has written a verse into cards and into Bible's she has gifted.
2nd Timothy 2:15
"Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."
Work hard, never give up, even when Satan himself comes against you to stop you in your work. Remember this one verse as you work and train and then come against opposition.
1 John 4:4,
"You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world."
Winston Churchill, the prime Minister of England once gave a speech in which he said,
"Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."
Remember 1 John 4:4. "Greater is He that is in you"
Satan wants all of God's people defeated. He wants ministries and families and marriages destroyed if they stand for Christ. If you are coming against forces of opposition as you attempt to serve the Lord, count it a blessing because Satan sees something in you that he fears. Fight on.
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