[Faith-talk] Emailing: Last Days Ministries Do You Feel Like Giving Up

Tue Nov 11 01:07:32 UTC 2008

I sometimes feel like giving up when I don't see enough young men out
there who are actually close to my age, so I felt for a while I was
stuck with guys like my friend who I don't curently talk to.
Beth

On 11/10/08, WESLEY BURDEN <wesley.burden at verizon.net> wrote:
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> <http://lastdaysministries.org/Images/content/1000000028/1000037556.jpg> Do
> You Feel Like Giving Up?
>
>
>
> David Wilkerson
>
> A growing number of ministers have been writing to me in recent months,
> telling of their concern for those in their flock who are simply giving up.
> Today, more and more Christians are at the breaking point. None of the talk
> about giving up has to do with the Lord. Few Christians would even dare
> entertain thoughts of quitting on their love for Jesus. Most despairing
> Christians think only of giving up on themselves. You hear it so often now,
> "I can't go on anymore. I just can't make it. It's totally hopeless! Why
> try?"
>
> I hear some ministers today who continually preach only a positive message.
> To hear them tell it, every Christian is receiving miracles-everybody is
> getting instant answers to prayer-everybody's feeling good, living good, and
> the whole world is bright and rosy. I really wish all those good and healthy
> things for God's people, but that's not the way things are for a great
> number of very honest and sincere Christians. How sad to hear such shallow
> theology being pushed from pulpits today. It's an insult to a lowly Jesus
> who became poor, who died a failure in the eyes of the world. It is this
> kind of materialistic preaching that has so ill-prepared an entire
> generation of Christians to endure any kind of pain. They have not learned
> to be content with such things as they have-to be abased and not always
> abounding. Serving God becomes a kind of Olympic race in which everyone must
> strive for gold medals.
>
> No wonder our young people give up in defeat. They can't live up to the
> image created by the religion of a happy-go-lucky, rich, successful, always
> positive-thinking Christian. Their world is not that idealistic. They look
> in a mirror reflecting a face covered with ugly pimples. They live with
> heartbreaks, hour-by-hour crises, and horrible family problems. They look
> into the uncertain future, frightened and worried.
>
> Positive thinking won't make their problems go away. Confessing that these
> problems don't really exist doesn't change a thing. These "apostles of the
> positive" should not exclude the Gethsemane experiences of life. The cup of
> pain, the hour of isolation, and the night of confusion were all part of the
> Master's lifestyle. Our great achievements, our successes, ought to take
> place at Gethsemane, not Fort Knox!
>
> The sawdust trail for many has become the gold dust trail. The Bible has
> become a catalog, with unlimited order blanks for life's goodies. Anything
> having to do with Job-like pain and suffering is considered negative. God is
> good and one should always think on good and honest reports-but pain,
> poverty, and suffering have befallen some of the saintliest of God's
> people-just like righteous Job.
>
>
> Marriage
>
> What do you say to that wife whose home is breaking up and she seems
> powerless to stop it? She's been advised by her friends, counseled by her
> pastor, and has been exhorted over and over again to "stay on your knees and
> believe God for a miracle." So she fasts, and she prays. She bends over
> backwards, to the point of crawling on her knees to her husband. She
> exercises faith with every ability she possesses. But in spite of all her
> honest efforts, he grows hard and bitter, demanding a divorce.
>
> Not all marriages are healed through prayer or good intentions. It takes two
> to make a marriage work, and even though prayer may bring down the power of
> Holy Ghost conviction upon a straying mate, that mate can resist all God's
> efforts and abort the solution.
>
> Some may be wondering why I've spent so much time lately talking about
> marriage, divorce, and the home. The reason is simple enough. In my
> crusades, I talk to so many kids on the brink of suicide. An overwhelming
> majority tell me their depression stems from trouble at home. Their parents
> are having trouble, or they have already gotten a divorce.
>
> Multitudes of husbands and wives are giving up on their marriages. A
> successful marriage counselor took me to lunch recently, and before the
> entree was served, he confessed his own marriage had been in jeopardy. "You
> just can't take any good marriage for granted anymore," he said. "I'm
> convinced Satan is determined to break up my marriage-and every good
> Christian marriage. It's a well-planned attack on the best of marriages. If
> Satan can get the strongest, most admired marriages broken up-then weaker
> ones will be tempted to quit struggling and give up."
>
> The secret struggles in the Christian's personal life are just as critical.
> The inner battles of the average Christian today are staggering in intensity
> and proportion. Multitudes are involved in situations too hard to
> comprehend.
>
> Paul said, "For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened.
> "(II Cor. 5:4) I doubt we could even count the great numbers of Christians
> who groan in secret because of the burdens they carry. Paul also talked
> about "...affliction which came to us...we were burdened excessively, beyond
> our strength, so that we despaired even of life." (II Cor. 1:8)
>
> If you pulled back the facade from every great preacher and every admired
> personality, you would find moments of deep depression. You would find the
> same infirmities you find in any normal Christian. We all have seasons of
> despair accompanied by feelings of failure. At times, we have all thought of
> quitting. We have all had thoughts of giving up. Why do we feel like giving
> up at times? Mostly because we act like God has forsaken the earth. We don't
> doubt His existence or His reality. But our prayers seem to go unanswered.
> We cry out for His help in such desperation, and He seems not to hear. We
> struggle along, making one mistake after another. We make promises to do
> better, we get into the Bible, we cry and pray, and stay busy helping others
> and doing good. But we are so often left with an empty, unfulfilled
> sensation. The promises of God haunt us. We hold onto those promises-in what
> we believe is honest, childlike faith-but time after time we fail to receive
> what we ask for. In the hour of temptation-down we go!
>
> Doubt creeps in and Satan whispers, "Nothing works. Faith in God doesn't
> produce results. In spite of your tears, prayers, and trust in God's
> Word-nothing really changes. Days, weeks, and even years go by, and your
> prayers, hopes, and dreams are still unanswered and unfulfilled. Quit! Give
> up!"
>
> Every Christian on this planet reaches that crisis point at one time or
> another in life. And in that moment, when the walls seem to be caving in and
> the roof appears to be collapsing, when everything seems to be coming apart,
> a voice deep within cries out, "Walk away from it all ... Pack it in!
> Escape! Why put up with it? Run away . . . you don't have to take it. Do
> something drastic!"
>
> David, overwhelmed by the evil in his heart, cried out to God, "Awake, why
> do you sleep? Cast me not off...why do you hide? Why do you forget?" (Psalm
> 44:23-24)
>
> Christian-does it amaze you that great men of old faced the same battles you
> and I face today? The Bible says, "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery
> ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some
> strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the
> sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of
> His glory, you may rejoice with exultation." (I Peter 4:12-13)
>
> How can we learn to hold on and live one day at a time? You can begin by
> forgetting all short cuts and magic cures. The Christian doesn't need a
> supposed demon of despair cast out, as if his going would make life easier.
> Nor will God come down and do our living for us. The tempter will not be
> destroyed until that day God casts him into prison. Satan will always be
> here, deceiving, accusing, and trying to rob every believer of his faith.
>
> The longer I live for Christ, the more difficult it is for me to accept
> easy, cure-all solutions. But in my own struggles, I've found great comfort
> and help in two wonderful absolutes.
>
> The first absolute is: God really loves me. God is not in the business of
> condemning His children-failures or not. He yearns over us as a loving
> father, wanting only to lift us out of our weaknesses.
>
> I caught a glimpse of that love recently while walking in the woods around
> our ranch. Suddenly, there on the ground just ahead flopped a crippled
> little bird. I stooped to pick it up. It was then a familiar Scripture came
> flashing through my mind. "Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not
> one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father." (Matt. 10:29)
>
> God is with us, even when we fall. He does not abandon us on our way down.
> Our Lord never gives up on any of us!
>
> Have you also fallen? Do you relate to that crippled sparrow, flopping
> helplessly in the dust? Are you wounded, hurting, and feeling lost and
> lonely? Do you ever think to yourself, "How can God put up with someone like
> me? How can He still love me when I've failed Him so badly?"
>
> Often, we can recognize His great love only when we have hit bottom. Don't
> panic. Deliverance will come. God answers us by showing His love. And when
> we have learned how weak we are and have learned to trust His love and
> forgiveness-He will stoop down and gently help us back to the nest.
>
> The second absolute is: It is my faith that pleases Him the most! "Without
> faith it is impossible to please Him." (Heb. 11:6) God wants so much to be
> trusted. That trust He counts as righteousness. (Rom. 4:3)
>
> What do I do when temptation rolls over me like a flood? When my
> inadequacies overwhelm me and I see the reality of my weaknesses? Give up?
> Quit? Never!! I bring to God all I've got left-my faith in Him! I may not
> understand why He seems to take such a long time to intervene, but I know He
> will. He will keep His word to me.
>
> I am convinced Satan wants to rob me of only one thing-my faith. He really
> doesn't want my morals or good deeds or my dreams. He wants to destroy my
> faith and make me believe God has forsaken this earth.
>
> A fall is never fatal to those who keep their faith intact. In spite of
> despair and pressures that bog the mind and sap the strength, I believe God.
> I believe He will "keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the
> presence of His glory blameless with great joy." (Jude 24)
>
>
>
> Reprinted by permission from David Wilkerson Crusades; excerpted from Mr.
> Wilkerson's book, "Have You Felt Like Giving Up Lately?", Fleming H. Revell,
> Publishers.
>
>
>
>
>
> David Wilkerson, 2/21/2007
>
>  	
>
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>
>
> Mary
> <http://lastdaysministries.org/Articles/1000030834/Last_Days_Ministries/LDM/
> Discipleship_Teachings/Mary_of_Nazareth.aspx> of Nazareth	
> Article of the life of Mary More
> <http://lastdaysministries.org/Articles/1000030834/Last_Days_Ministries/LDM/
> Discipleship_Teachings/Mary_of_Nazareth.aspx> ... 	
> Melody Green	
>
> Zeal:
> <http://lastdaysministries.org/Articles/1000008658/Last_Days_Ministries/LDM/
> Discipleship_Teachings/Zeal_Love_Ablaze.aspx> Love Ablaze!	
> Enoch had prophesied, saying, "Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of
> His holy ones." I More
> <http://lastdaysministries.org/Articles/1000008658/Last_Days_Ministries/LDM/
> Discipleship_Teachings/Zeal_Love_Ablaze.aspx> ... 	
> Leonard Ravenhill	
>
> Your
> <http://lastdaysministries.org/Articles/1000008657/Last_Days_Ministries/LDM/
> Discipleship_Teachings/Your_Day_In.aspx> Day In Court	
> In a very brief and very brilliant biography of a famous English preacher,
> one of the greatest preachers that ever preached in America or England, it
> says that he had some very strange habits. More
> <http://lastdaysministries.org/Articles/1000008657/Last_Days_Ministries/LDM/
> Discipleship_Teachings/Your_Day_In.aspx> ... 	
> Leonard Ravenhill	
>
> You
> <http://lastdaysministries.org/Articles/1000008656/Last_Days_Ministries/LDM/
> Discipleship_Teachings/You_Are_A.aspx> Are A Dangerous Generation	
> So it is with your generation. More
> <http://lastdaysministries.org/Articles/1000008656/Last_Days_Ministries/LDM/
> Discipleship_Teachings/You_Are_A.aspx> ... 	
> Melody Green	
>
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