I came across a wonderful article by Jentezen Franklin talking about removing the quit option from life.
Have you ever felt like giving up and just throwing in the towel? Maybe you have grown tired of the battles and struggles. Life presents plenty of opportunities to quit. But before you quit, you need to understand that the battle is not about what you’re facing. The battle is not with your family or marriage, a financial problem, or an illness. The real battle is in your mind. The enemy wants you to get to the point where you think you can’t take it anymore and you quit. The way to overcome is to totally remove the quit option. When you do that, the real battle is already won.
Hebrews 10:39 (CEV) says, “We are not like those people who turn back and get destroyed. We will keep on having faith until we are saved.” We do not turn back! So many start out strong but somewhere along the way they encounter trouble. That’s when they start looking for ways to turn back. It doesn’t matter how strong you start if quitting is always an option. You make every battle easier when you decide that there is no quit option. You overcome when you make up your mind that you are not turning back.
Jesus understands the temptation to quit. He was tempted to quit when he was fasting in the desert for 40 days. In the garden praying, Jesus could have called for angels to deliver Him from the cross. Yet He pressed on. He didn’t quit. When you set your mind on things above, you set your mind on Christ and His example. And Jesus never quit!
The determination to never give up needs to settle deep in your spirit, in your thoughts and in your words. If you start thinking about quitting, you start talking about quitting. If you start talking about quitting, you will eventually quit. Instead, start thinking and speaking words that remove the quit option: “I am never going to quit. I am never going to walk away from God. I am never going to quit Encounter. I am never going to quit my marriage. I am never going to give up on my kids. I am never going to let my dream die. I am never going to quit before the miracle happens. I am never going to quit before I am healed of my hurts, habits, and hang-ups. I am never going to quit living for Jesus.”
Even if all your life you’ve been a quitter, today is the time to remove the quit option once and for all. Our God is not a quitter – He’s a finisher! Philippians 1:6 (NLT) says this, “And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.” God will never quit you. He will finish you! As you pray, determine that you will never quit God. Remove the quit option from your life once and for all!
https://www.jentezenfranklin.org/posts/christian-quit-option
Some of you have quit Encounter for good reasons. You have moved. You have been made well and you are serving in other areas and that is a great thing! But many of you have quit Encounter because you didn’t remove the quit option in your life. The enemy convinced you to quit before you started seeing positive results. The enemy convinced you to quit because he made you compare yourself to other people and by doing so you took your eye off the prize. The enemy made you too busy and you put your health, growth and recovery on hold and played right into his hands of keeping you stuck. The enemy wanted you to get bitter at someone, complain about something, gossip about someone, all for the one purpose of getting you ticked off and leaving all because you did not remove the quit option in your life.
Please accept this invite from your Encounter Pastor; Your Encounter Family has not quit on you and we eagerly await your return with open arms. We look forward to seeing you come back and removing the quit option in your life!
We had an awesome night with a packed house this past Friday. Let’s do that again as we are meeting in the UTURN Building this Friday. We have a great dinner planned, an awesome worship set, and a great lesson on our 12 Anchors of Hope!
Be Blessed and Encouraged
Bill Rieser
Encounter Pastor
bill@thehopeencounter.org