43. NEVER GIVE UP

43. NEVER GIVE UP

Our topic today is NEVER GIVE UP! And today, I want to talk about Perseverance. I want to challenge you to never give up. Every now and then, everyone in life faces daunting situations. Things get so tough that the natural inclination is to give up, but Perseverance means Persistent determination.

Many situations in life will call for perseverance especially when you have done all you possibly can yet nothing seems to be changing. For example, you might be grappling with a difficult course. It may even be one of those ‘doom’ courses that have attained notoriety for making casualties every session. As tough as some of your academic problems may be, you must never give up. You can overcome that problem. Others have overcome them in times past. Trust me, you too will overcome.

Dealing with discouragement and fear in your academic life

Discouragement and fear prevents people from persevering until their turnaround comes. The way to deal with discouragement and fear is simply by committing your situation to God in prayer. No trouble can ever get too hard for Him to deal with. I take my confidence from God’s word in Psa_50:15 which states, “…Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.” God releases the ability to persevere when you pray. Prayer is a force the world does not understand but whose results the world admires. 

Abraham Lincoln is quoted to have said, “I have been driven to my knees many times by the overwhelming conviction that I had no place else to go. My own wisdom, and that of all about me seemed insufficient for the day.”

During the American Civil War a friend of this same Abraham Lincoln was a visitor at the White House, and he said, "One night I was restless and could not sleep. . . From the private room where the President slept, I heard low tones. Instinctively I wandered in, and there I saw a sight which I have never forgotten. It was the President kneeling before an open Bible. His back was toward me. I shall never forget his prayer: "Oh, Thou God that heard Solomon in the night when he prayed and cried for wisdom, hear me. . . . I cannot guide the affairs of this nation without Thy help. Hear me and save this nation.'"

For where else will we go but to God? He only can give solutions when all we know and can do fails to achieve the desired results. But even when all becomes futile, victory is assured for those who hold on to God. Regardless of the troubles you experience, the bible assures us that with God all things are possible because nothing is too hard for Him to do.

During my final semester exams as an undergraduate, I mistakenly got my exam time-table mixed up and missed a paper. I actually went to the library for some last minute brush-up only to walk into my classmates as they returned from the exam I had just missed. You can’t imagine my confusion and panic. I ran to the faculty but nothing could be done. I would have to re-sit that paper as a second attempt after the session. In addition to that missed paper, I already had one re-sit course from the first semester. That course had been tough for me and I felt my graduation that session being threatened. Naturally there would be concerns and questions of what I could do to save the day. But nothing came to mind. And so I prayed for God’s help. I asked Him to intervene and help me somehow, though I had no idea how.

And so that session closed with the real possibility that I would not graduate that session. I eventually sat for the two re-sit exams trusting God for a miracle beyond my academic ability. I was not too sure how I did for the first semester re-sit course. But when the results were released, my name was on the graduating students’ list. My department had granted amnesty and graduated even those who had one outstanding course, except one person who had to do his graduate project again. For me that was a miracle! God had intervened. It was Benjamin Franklin who said, “I have lived a long time, and the longer I live the more convincing proof I see of this truth—that God governs the affairs of men."

So what is that problem threatening your academic life today? It may be as tall and wide as the wall of Jericho, but God has the answer. Today God says to you in John 14:14, “If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” Why don’t we pray about it together right now? Your case will not be an exception.

Till I come your way again next edition, continue to persevere until you win. 

Expect God to show up when you pray. He has promised to intervene in your academic life and bless you. I hope to hear from you soon. Send your testimonies, questions and prayer requests.

Friends, thank you for joining me. I remain your host Tope banjo and this Intervention. God bless you mightily!

You will succeed. You will make it!

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