Never give up

22 May 2009

Father, I honour You, Jesus I worship You and Holy Spirit I adore You. You are my life! Amen!

So here we are in the middle of May 2009 and it somehow feels as if it should have been November already. When I wrote my first article for 2009, namely Fasten your seatbelts, I mentioned that the Lord had showed me that 2009 will not only be a year of great challenges, but also a year of great victory. Subsequently in my life, it has been just that. I personally have been challenged like never before. Our finances, transport, the health of our kids, my work and also my marriage. This year it all seemed different, as if the challenges have grown stronger and deeper, hence requiring more fasting and prayer in order to see these challenges through. So how are you doing reader? How has the first 5 months of 2009 been treating you?

During the past couple of months, my marriage has been challenged in ways I can’t explain. My husband and I are celebrating our 19^th wedding anniversary this year and others have always looked at us saying that this marriage is so strong, with good communication and understanding from both sides. Well, in the last couple of months we have been under great attack to the degree that I sometimes wondered whether I still wanted to be married. If it wasn’t a lack of communication, it was a lack of understanding. If not a lack of understanding, it was a lack of quality time and if not a lack of time, it was something else again. And so we have been going around in circles.

Now let me first of all make one thing clear. In all of this we both knew that Jesus is our Saviour and that He was the only way to see these challenges through. However, when you start feeling empty and far away from the one you love, you start thinking and doing things you rather should have avoided. Here I am not referring to moving out, sleeping on a different bed or having an affair, although these are the things satan wants you to do. I am referring to keeping back your emotions, not sharing special things anymore, not having a bath together, not making jokes and not doing anything together anymore. You choose to rather be silent, rather than say anything, for the fear of it all ending up in a fight.

I then realised that one day when I actually just wanted out, God said to me that I should never give up. You see reader, when things are tough, we sometimes forget all the good things that we have shared and instead of focussing on how to solve the challenge, we get stuck on the actual challenge and the emotions that go with it. Satan then moves in with guilt, anger, rudeness and envy. These things in turn all contribute to you feeling like love has died within you. But the good news dear reader is that God’s Word is true! Amen! Listen to what the Message translation says in 1 Corinthians 13 “Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut, doesn’t have a swelled head, doesn’t force itself on others, isn’t always “me first”, doesn’t fly off the handle, doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, doesn’t revel when others grovel, takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, puts up with anything, trusts God always, always looks for the best, never looks back, but keeps going to the end. Love never dies.”

So after I read these verses, which by the way was the scripture reading at my wedding, I again realised that if I give up on love, it is me dying inside and not the love, because love never dies! So I fell to my knees and asked God to forgive me for becoming so self-seeking in my needs that I forgot that I had a partner, who also have needs. I realised that it starts with me being humble (James 4 verse 10), forgiving and most importantly showing love through the way I act, think and speak.

Dear reader, how are you being challenged in your marriage or relationship with others? Have you been thinking of giving up, or perhaps you have already decided to walk away? Think again, think hard. The love of Jesus was made visible on a cross. Yes, His love was shown through the suffering, beating and ultimately the dying on the cross. That is true love! Amen! However, it did not stop at the dying of the cross. When Jesus gave up His life in obedience through love, He then overcame death and opened the doors for us to eternal life. Wow! Reader, do you realise what this means. By continuing to show love will mean that the end result can only be life and not death!

So, now the moment of truth. Where are you now? Having the knowledge of the truth that love never dies, what are you going to do? Are you going to fight for what you want or allow satan to tell you the lie that love gives up, that love dies? I challenge you to go think all of this through again. Jesus hung on the cross and didn’t give up on His love for you, so why should you give up on love in this world we are living in. Yes, the challenges are there and sometimes it feels too much, but as it says in a song of Casting Crowns “the voice of truth says do not be afraid.” You will not be alone in these challenges for the promise of God is in Joshua 1 verse 5 which says “I will never leave you nor forsake you” and 1 Corinthians 10 verse 13 that says “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” Amen!

Don’t give up reader! NEVER GIVE UP!

With lots of love in Jesus Name

Princess K