The Heart of a Quitter (Part 3): The Quitter Who Couldn't Quit

Continued from...
The Heart of a Quitter Part 1
The Heart of a Quitter Part 2

Wouldn't it be great if their was some way to inject ourselves with a vaccine for quitting? Actually, there is...

Jeremiah 20:9 "Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak

any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a

burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay."

Jeremiah had a tough ministry! Imagine being called to a people that God told you would not repent. If God told our family ahead of time that no one in the village of Sangla would ever be saved, I would struggle to faithfully minister there with my family! But Jeremiah obeyed God. Then Jeremiah's frustration mounted. For preaching to the people, he got the grand prize of... 

drum roll...

being mocked, persecuted, laughed at, scorned, and ridiculed. He was there to help them! It would have been nice if they would have at least said, "Thanks, but no thanks." It would have been nice to have just one person appreciate him or to see his labor pay off with just one convert. That's it! He quits!

7. The heart of a quitter is discouraged by lack of results or appreciation.

But Jeremiah couldn't quit. There was one problem with his quitting. He treasured God's Word so much that it burned in him like a fire. He was a man of faith. He knew God's Word was precious and true! It was true even if no one believed it! He had to preach it!

Oh, to stop measuring our success by results! Success for us isn't defined so cheaply as to be measured by numbers.

Joshua 1:8 "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth;

but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe

to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy

way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success."

Our success is defined by our love and obedience to God and His Word! The results of our labors are God's business, not ours. And we should seek the approval of our Father... not the world or other people.

If we want to protect ourselves from the sin of quitting,

we must learn to define success by God's definition of success and learn to treasure God's Word more every day.

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Are you faced with the fear of being a quitter?

Are you tempted to quit?

1.   Root out any and all unbelief.

2.  Do not allow your emotions to control you, but be committed no matter the circumstances are.

3.  Do not allow fear to control your decisions.

4.  Do not neglect a period of coming apart from ministry to be ministered to by the Lord in rest.

5.  Realize that God is enough, and that you are never alone.

6.  Guard your heart from treasuring the things of the world and in this world and anything that would steal away your eternal focus.

7.  Learn to define success by God's definition of success and treasure God's Word.

by Charity, Southern Asia