Don’t Quit Before It Works

0:00:00 – (Steve Gray): Are you going through some tough times and situations and trials? Well, there’s a reason for it, and it will produce something good in your life if you’ll follow the plan of God. And I’ll tell you about it on the next More Faith, More Life podcast. Hello, everyone, and welcome to another More Faith, More Life podcast, your voice of revival to the world. And we are excited that there are signs of revival. There’s good things happening. But one thing I noticed with people today, church people particularly, is they do not give me the impression. So maybe it’s just me that they understand there’s a lot going on that requires them to keep the faith, keep going, persevere. We’re going to talk about that today.

0:00:42 – (Steve Gray): But they kind of go to church like there’s nothing going on outside of their world or their circumstances or their situation. On the other hand, then we have political people, other religious people of other religions that are very, very adamant right now, very adamant. And, you know, they’re pushing and shoving their ideas hard. They’re pushing and shoving hard their ideas into our country, into our cities, into our governments, while the Christians kind of give me the impression, maybe it’s just me, that there’s really nothing going on that I need to be concerned about other than my own life.

0:01:24 – (Steve Gray): So we get swept away by our own circumstances, our own situations, how we feel and what’s going on right here, what’s going on in our home, what’s going on in our job or whatever, and not realize the big picture of where Christianity fits in the big picture through prayer and perseverance and love and loving God and worship and all that things. So. So today I want to talk about that a little bit. I want to talk about perseverance because it’s more than just perseverance is not the same as just deciding to keep going.

0:01:58 – (Steve Gray): Right. Deciding to keep going is one thing, but perseverance has a depth to it that you know. Why? Why you’re persevering. Well, let’s just look at it here. From James, chapter one. This is a hard one for a lot of people. Consider it pure joy. My brothers and sisters, this is new international version. Whenever you face trials of many kinds. Okay? So if you just take that at the surface, that’s difficult for most people to say. Okay, I suppose I’m supposed to be joyful when I go through troubles, trials, so I should be joyful. And you go, well, not exactly what this means, but the joy of it is not going through the trouble.

0:02:43 – (Steve Gray): You don’t have to be joyful about that trials, troubles, difficulties. That’s not the joy of it. The joy is what it produces in you by going through things. What it produces where you don’t give up, you don’t step aside, right? You don’t quit believing. You don’t doubt. You know, you persevere in your faith. You persevere in who you are. And that perseverance, then, is a producer. Perseverance produces something.

0:03:12 – (Steve Gray): Okay, Giving up doesn’t. Right? Giving up doesn’t produce anything. Giving in to your fear does not produce anything. I was talking to some people the other day and trying to help them understand that the battle between faith and fear. I was riding. I rode, I don’t know, 45 minutes in the car with Kenneth Copeland one time. And he was. You know, he talks about faith. And he asked me, he said, you know, when you get into situations, where’s the battle?

0:03:43 – (Steve Gray): Is the battle that is the battle to have faith or is the battle not to have fear? And I thought about it for a minute, and both of them are important. But the real battle is to keep the fear out. You don’t let it in. And so you don’t want to let fear have a place. You make a decision as you dedicate yourself to the Lord. If you submit to the word of God, then fear tries to get in. And that’s when you say, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. Not going to let it in. Not going to let it in. I’m going to choose faith.

0:04:15 – (Steve Gray): I’m going to choose faith. And so these are the kinds of things that we’re talking about. Whenever you face many trials, you’re not enjoying the trial necessarily, but you’re producing something, okay? Something is being produced in you. When you endure, when you keep going and you face these things. Because this says. Because you know that your faith, the testing of your faith, the testing of your faith.

0:04:46 – (Steve Gray): You know, I was talking the other day like that. It said, Paul said, I’ve kept the faith. I’ve kept the faith. And so he persevered in his faith. He did not persevere in the trial. Cause that’s what we try to do. We try to stand up against trials and troubles or whatever circumstances. But that’s not what we’re. We’re standing up to in our faith, in our faith. And as we do that, then it says that testing. It tests your faith. Because people are people. We want to give in. We want to give in to our fear. We are naturally, easily to get trained by humanity to give in to fear. All right?

0:05:28 – (Steve Gray): That’s the natural response of humanity, is be afraid. Give in to fear. But this says, no, no, we’re not going to do that. We’re going to let. The testing of our faith is going to produce something. So the joy is not going through whatever you’re going through, okay? You don’t have to try to say, well, I’m going to try to get some joy. I’m going to squeeze some joy out of this thing. I’m dealing with this situation I’m dealing with. The joy is what the trial produces when you continue to trust God, when you continue to have perseverance. That’s where the joy is, all right?

0:06:03 – (Steve Gray): The joy is I’m going through something, but I’m persevering. I’m believing in faith, right? It’s testing my faith. It’s. It’s a trial of my faith. But I’m going to stick with this because it produces something in me, something I want. Now, a lot of people don’t know what it produces, so we’re going to tell you in a minute. But it is something that you’re going to want. You’re going to want this in the years to come. So you go through life, you’re younger, in 20s and 30s and 40s or whatever. And as you progress through those ages, you face many trials.

0:06:37 – (Steve Gray): And as you persevere through those trials and through those things, that then it produces something in your life, all right? And so consider it joy. Because when you go through these things, the testing, your faith produces perseverance. Okay? Got it. All right. And perseverance then has to keep going too, because it has something it needs to finish. Perseverance produces. And when you’re finished with that, you pass the test of that.

0:07:10 – (Steve Gray): Then it produces something. All right? Let perseverance finish its work. How do you let perseverance finish its work? It’s by counting it all. Joy you’re going through, and you’re going to persevere. You’re going to stay with God, going to stay in the faith and let it finish its work, okay? So when you go through these things, don’t look at the situation, don’t look at the circumstances, and try to. Try to figure out, why am I going through this?

0:07:36 – (Steve Gray): Look at the perseverance. I’m going through this because I’m developing perseverance. I’m developing the keep going attitude. And keep going in faith. Let perseverance finish its work. Don’t give up before perseverance is finished. No, you keep going. So who’s ever listening today that’s going through something. You know, you just pay attention to what I’m saying. Stay with it persevere. Keep the faith, trust God.

0:08:04 – (Steve Gray): Because perseverance produces. And you have to go long enough. It’s not perseverance if you don’t go long enough and let it finish its work. So this says, so that you may be mature and complete. Okay? Not lacking anything. So 20, 30, 40, you go, keep going with this. And. And if you’ll stick with it, you’ll get to the point where you won’t be lacking maturity, you won’t be lacking strength, you won’t be lacking, obviously, perseverance, but you won’t be lacking anything.

0:08:40 – (Steve Gray): That’s the joy. That’s the joy of being in something and staying with it and persevering. Cause I said, well, I’m persevering. Cause I’m heading down this road. That’s called not lacking anything. That’s the road I’m on. I’m on the road of not lacking anything. I’m not on the road of enjoying trials. I’m not on the road of enjoying troubles. No. I’m on the road of not lacking anything. So I’ve got to have perseverance. Why? Cause perseverance will finish its work.

0:09:11 – (Steve Gray): When it finishes it, you’re mature, you make it through it, and you don’t lack anything. Are you getting this? Yeah. This is the way the Christian walk goes. And Paul, when he was at the end of his life, he said that. He said, you know, he’s persevered, right? And he says, I’ve kept the faith, right? I’ve kept the faith. He wrote to Timothy, fight the good fight of faith. And I realized that when I saw that scripture the other day, that a lot of people don’t have any fight in them.

0:09:48 – (Steve Gray): He said, a good fight, well, they know how to fight a bad fight. They can argue and fight and quarrel and criticize, but that’s not the good fight. The good fight is to stay in the faith. So he told Timothy, fight the good fight of faith, right? And he did. He said, I’m running this race. I finished it. I finished the race. I. I kept the faith. And therefore it said he laid up for him as the crown of righteousness.

0:10:18 – (Steve Gray): But not just for him. He said, for anybody that enjoys, looks forward to his appearing, right? His appearing. And so there’s a test of your faith. Cause here the Bible tells us how wonderful it’s going to be when Jesus returns and, and he’s going to appear to us, and all the things of the earth are going to change. And yet we want to keep things like they are right now. What we’re going through. We’re fighting to keep our trials rather than looking forward to his appearing.

0:10:53 – (Steve Gray): Okay. So anyway, Paul was. He said it’s better that he goes away. And he stayed to teach. And then he says, now my time is at the end. He sees the end near. And Rome, of course, is going to execute him. Tradition says they’re going to cut his head off. That’s probably true. Probably behead him for what? For keeping the faith? Maybe. Yeah. For persevering, keeping his message. So that doesn’t seem very great.

0:11:24 – (Steve Gray): But at the end, he is so full of God, not lacking anything. He can just give his life over. He can just. He says the end is near. You know, I’ve run the race, kept the faith, you know, and so now he’s not lacking anything. He’s got all that he needs in the Lord to where he can say, okay, my time of departure is here. I’m ready to go. I’m ready to go. He didn’t go by sickness or disease or anything like that. He went voluntarily.

0:11:55 – (Steve Gray): He volunteered to be in. He wanted to be in Rome to affect Rome, and he did. And now he’s ready to go. So when this gets down to then it says, so let perseverance finish its work so you’ll be mature and complete. So what do you think the goal is here? Is the goal that you don’t lack anything? Or is the goal that you be mature and complete? And when you’re mature and complete, you know how to operate, you persevere, you know how to operate in the faith, you know how to operate in the things of God to where you don’t lack anything, the maturity and the completeness.

0:12:37 – (Steve Gray): But, you know, you got to set a goal. That’s, that’s. You got to set a goal. This is a lifetime goal there. You know, you’re not going to. You’re not getting in this with the option of quitting. Take that option away. There is no option here of quitting. You keep going and going and going and you keep the faith. Right. And so I like too that Paul uses other examples too, of physical. He uses the physical side to express the spiritual side.

0:13:08 – (Steve Gray): I like this. Cause he says I’m a boxer. He says he’s talking about himself. He’s like a boxer, but he says, I just don’t come out swinging and swinging at the air and hitting nothing. No, I target. I know what I’m doing. I’m like a boxer. And he also describes himself as a runner running a race. And I think you think of Yourself and think of other people that, you know, church folks and those like, do they give the idea this person is really a go getter, is a go getter runner?

0:13:43 – (Steve Gray): No. Most people kind of skip through life, right? Whatever happens, happens. And we’re just going to make the best of it, make do, right? And so he said he’s a boxer. He doesn’t just swing in the air, he’s a runner. And then he writes to Timothy and he says, timothy, you need to be like a good soldier. A soldier lives to please his officer, his commanding officer. And you need to have that attitude. I’m living to please my commanding officer. I’m like a soldier, okay?

0:14:22 – (Steve Gray): So all these different things that he describes is like running and boxing and a soldier and fighting and fight, the good fight of faith. All these, these are attitudes that are lacking in Christianity today. So in most of the places you go, everybody just sort of. They just let things go and whatever happens, happens. I’ll just, you know, believe God’s going to turn good out of it and they just go their merry way.

0:14:49 – (Steve Gray): And so for us and for them, we need to have these characteristics, right? Perseverance, like a boxer, like a trainer, like a runner, like a soldier. We have these things. And what is it going to do? Well, it’s going to produce things in our life, right? It’s going to produce things in our life and give us so that we don’t lack anything. And I think that some people that’s too hard to believe that they can get to the point in their life where they don’t have lack.

0:15:17 – (Steve Gray): But that’s what it says. And it’s been that way in my life. I’ve seen it and lived it and still living it. And, you know, so I want you to be able to live it too. Well, let me bring up the book. I should have had it in front of me here. Pretend I have a book in front of me. But Revival or Ruin, you can get it on Amazon, but the easiest would be just to go to https://revivaloruin.com There are people who are talking about this book.

0:15:43 – (Steve Gray): I’m getting comments about it, of how eye opening it is. And it’s very eye opening to say, where are we now in God’s timetable? And it’s not going to be a book on, you know, the Antichrist and we’re going to fly away, so don’t worry about it. You’re going to fly away anyway, and beasts coming out of the sea, 666 and all that, nothing to do with that. All right? It has to do with where we exactly are politically, and in our world and spiritually, to put the two together.

0:16:22 – (Steve Gray): I was at a thing last night where there was some politicians there and got a chance to share with them just privately about. I said this is what I’m about. I am not being political. I might mention politics, but I’m not being political, I’m being spiritual. Because the spirit needs to come before the politics. And what we’ve got now we got an opposite. The politics of are dominating our country. Politics dominate the news, right?

0:16:50 – (Steve Gray): And where’s the spiritual? Where is the news of the spiritual? Where are those that are affecting politicians? Decisions are being affected by spiritual people or by pastors or by leaders or by teachers. And that’s how it was when they wrote the Constitution, is they wrote the Constitution so that it had the basis of faith and scripture and Bible and that gave them the basic balance to then write the rest of our laws and Bill of Rights and all those things.

0:17:26 – (Steve Gray): We don’t have that today, do we? No. So that’s why we have to return to the spiritual. That’s why the book called Revival or Ruin says we’re not going to be able to stand up against the spirits but that are being loosed into our country. And you can tell that they’re not new spirits, but you can tell they’re new to some people because they’re not able to stand up to them. They’re falling for them. And so anyway, this is where perseverance comes in. Let perseverance finish its work, have its work, get it done so that you can be the person that lacks nothing and can stand and keep on standing.

0:18:06 – (Steve Gray): Stand and keep on standing against the fiery darts of the enemy. Stand and keep on standing and bring forth the kingdom of God that affects and influences the politicians who make the laws or we vote for them to make the laws or influences the voters. So we’ve got it backwards. And so we have a lot of Christians that are relying on politics and to make this country right rather than a spiritual breakthrough of revival.

0:18:38 – (Steve Gray): That’s why we’re talking about revival today. We need a revival of the spirit of God so badly. We need the presence of God to be part of our churches. We need to get to the point where talking about God is not embarrassing, right? It’s not embarrassing everybody till everybody’s talking about God, everybody’s talking about the spirit of God, everybody’s talking about what God is saying and what God’s doing. And then they go in and we vote or we go in and our politicians vote. They go in the legislature, whatever. And that spirit of God is hanging over them. And that’s how they make the decisions how to vote. Or the Supreme Court makes the decisions how to vote. We need that today, don’t we? Yeah.

0:19:17 – (Steve Gray): So anyway, that’s where I am right now. Perseverance must finish its work. So when you get into trouble, trials or situations, count it all, Joy. Not because it’s fun. Count it joy, because if you do it right, it will produce something in your life. And you’re heading down that road of not lacking anything. Be sure and check out the book and other things on https://stevegrayministries.com. Until next time. Bye-bye.