DON'T GIVE UP (part one)

Hello beloved brethren, I welcome you in the name of the Lord to the month of February. May the glory of God be revealed in you in this awesome month in Jesus name. I’d like to admonish you on the message I titled, ‘Don’t Give Up.”

When we are expecting something from God, sometimes we make mistakes. We often think that what we are expecting will happen when it will happen. We seem to have this mindset that ‘one day my situation is going to change.’ If you have that kind of mindset that ‘God will change it’, you have to change it; it is not true. Whatever you want done in your life by God, you have to make Him do it. In the book of 1st Corinthians 12:10, the Bible talks about one of the gifts of the Spirit, ‘The working of miracles'. If you need a miracle, you have to work it out. Work is another word for labour, you have to labour to have miracle. Just as women labour to give birth, you have to labour to give birth to your miracles. The difference in your labour is light when God is with you. Matthew 11:30 says, “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” But you still have to labour. To have a miracle in your life you must work it out, Philippians 2:12 says, “...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” Nobody can work out your miracles for you, you have to work it out for yourself.

Don’t you ever sit down and think God will meet you where you are, He may not. Imagine God as a big river, that river will never come to you; if you want to quench your thirst you have to go to the river. It doesn’t matter what you come with to fetch from the river. That has nothing to do with the river, that has everything to do with you. The river has enough to give and yet it won’t diminish, but it is your decision, if you will go and get water and how much water you want to get. No matter how hungry or thirsthy you are, the river is not going to relocate to meet you. You are the one to take the journey to get to the river and take as much as you want for your neccessities. That is God for you. Everything you need is in Him, you are to go looking, seeking and searching for Him. Some of us have become so wise that we have decided to relocate and build houses very close to that river because the closer you are to the river, the better it is for you. You have no responsibility being far from the river because you wouldn’t have a maximum enjoyment of His benefits if you are far from Him. Don’t be far from Him. If you need a miracle do everything possible to be close to Him. To work out your miracle, you have to go seeking, searching for Him, don’t think He is going to seek and search for you. God is like the Sun, you can’t hide away from the sun and expect to enjoy the benefits of the sun. What do you do? You expose yourself to the miraclous power of God’s radiation. You can’t hide under a shade and epect to reap His benefits.

You can’t sit and wait for God to meet you, James 4:8 says, “Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you...” Don’t you ever think, he will draw near to you. You are the one to go searching for Him. It is when you are hungry that you look for food to eat. You need to show your hunger by looking for God. Hunger will drive you to do what naturally you wouldn’t do. If you are hungry, you wouldn’t sit down and be comfortable. You want change and you are sitting down? The prodigal son in the book of Luke 15:18 says, “I will arise and go to my Father...” If you need change in your life, you will arise and look for God. You look for God, you seek Him. Those who have alternatives can’t get anything from God. When you have alternatives, you become lukewarm. You search for Him, you bring out your miracle by looking for Him. Matthew 7:8 says, “For everyone that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and him that knocketh it shall be opened.” If you will just look for God, you will find Him. If you seek Him, you will find Him. If you refuse to give up, you will find solution. The problem many have is that they give up easily.

Do you know that if you don’t give up, you will eventually win. Do you know that if you are following God and you refuse to give up, you will eventually succeed. This is the reason why you receive all the opposition to force you to give up because the devil knows that if you don’t relent, you will eventually make it. It is not the reputation of God to fail, Satan knows that so he discourages you and does everything by all means to have you discouraged so that you will not wait; so that you will give up and not have your desires met. James 1:5 says, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him.” You have to seek God, He does not find fault in any one who seeks him, God is not angry with anyone. Don’t qualify God as having the inability to help you by your actions because God is not angry with you. The moment you make up your mind to arise and seek God like the prodigal son, He will respond to you. You’ve got to arise and seek Him early, every great man of God seek Him early. You have to make up your mind to do the right thing at the right time. That's how to make it happen. If you want God to do what He has never done in your life before, you have to do what you have never done in your life before. There is no convenient Christianity, it doesn’t yield anything. When you make up your mind that I am going to God like the prodigal son, He is so joyful. In Matthew 11:28 the Bible says, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” You’ve got to come to Him for God to help you. Don’t wait for Him to meet you. The way to make something good happen in your life is to pursue God, be hungry for Him. Isaiah 55:1-2 says, “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight in fatness.” Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” It is God’s desire for you to prosper and have a great future. How will you make it happen? Look at verse 12 and 13 of Jeremiah 28, “Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” You want a great future? You have to call upon Him in prayer. After praying the next level is for you to seek Him. You have to search for Him with all of your heart. God helps those who does not have alternative other than Him. Don’t you ever think that you are depending on God when you are depending on man. All your focus should be on God if you want to receive from Him. So many people do not receive from God because they make God one of their options. They have a fallback plan if God doesn’t work.

To be continued. See you next month