Keep On Keepin’ On!
My son, give attention to my words;
Incline your ear to my sayings.
Do not let them depart from your eyes;
Keep them in the midst of your heart;
For they are life to those who find them,
And health to all their flesh. Proverbs 4:20-22
What do you do when you are lining your life up to the Word of God, purposefully choosing to do His will, and life still seems to be not working right? We all have been there. We’ve made our decisions to get sin out of our lives, to ‘do it God’s way’, thinking it will bring us victory and success; yet, nothing changes – or worse, it gets more unpleasant.
Some real-life examples:
You’ve made a decision to tithe based on the Word – Malachi 3:8-12, Matthew 23:23 and Luke 11:42. You’ve heard the testimonies from so many who said, “The moment we decided to tithe, blessings came pouring in!” The Word promises that you will be blessed if you tithe and you believe it. Yet, you tithe and the refrigerator, the washing machine, and the car all break down the same week! The money you tithed would have covered all the repairs.
You decided to dedicate your business, or your job, to the Lord based on the Word – Proverbs 3:6, Deuteronomy 28:3-13, Deuteronomy 8:18 and Matthew 21:22. You believe fully that God has your back and that He will prosper the work you do, giving you the power to get wealth, just like it says in the bible! But, you lose three clients, you lose a big contract, your hours are cut at your job or you are laid off, and you are now wondering, “If this is prospering, I wonder what failing is?”
After hearing so much about what must be done in the natural to restore good health, and based on the Word – 1 Corinthians 6:19, 1 Corinthians 9:27, Jeremiah 33:6 and 1 John 2, you chose to drastically make better choices in your diet and lifestyle. You felt confident that, once you began honoring the temple of the Lord, you would feel terrific and be full of energy. Instead, you don’t feel that same bountiful level of health others say they obtained when they did the same thing. You feel blah and are left wondering if all the sacrifice of the foods you love and the pain of exercise are worth it.
You wonder, “Where the heck is God in all of this? I thought He said there was a reward for doing the right thing?” Psalm 18:12 says, “The Lord rewarded me for doing right….”
So, what do you do? You have a few choices, actually. You can give up and throw in the towel saying, “Why did I even bother? I should’ve known God would not come through for me.” Or, you can go numb because it hurts too much to keep trying to do the right thing and never get the prize. You could even choose to determine that this Christianity stuff really IS a hoax, created for those who don’t have a brain!
The only real choice you have is to keep on keepin’ on! One of my favorite preachers talks about what to do between the “Amen” and the “There-It-Is”. He says, “Having done all you can to stand, stand some more!” Ephesians 6:13. In other words, don’t give up!
At the same time, you cannot get into murmuring and complaining, moaning and groaning about it. Yes, there is a time to be honest with the Lord. Tell Him you are in a quandary. Tell Him you don’t understand why His Word says one thing but another is happening. You can share your struggle with a like-minded close friend or mentor, but don’t share it with the world. Afterward, you must choose to buck up, and endure like a good soldier.
Submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee. James 4:7
We must make a choice to base our lives on the Word, not on the circumstances our senses can see, hear and feel. Another one of my wonderful teachers always says, “The power is in consistency”. We didn’t get where we are at overnight; God rarely gets us out of where we are overnight. As it was with the Israelites when they finally entered the promised land, it is with us: “Little by little I will drive them out before you….” Exodus 23:30 Slow and steady wins the race! Consistency has power.
Don’t give up! Hang on tight! Keep on keepin’ on!
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