Prophetic Word – There Is A Temptation To “Give Up” Right Now
Prophetic Word – 18 May 2022
There is a temptation to “give up” right now.
To give up on life, to give up on God’s promises, to give up on following Jesus, to give up on the assignments God gave you to carry out, to give up on faith, to give up on believing that things will turn around and work out etc. This temptation to “give up” has hit many in the body of Christ.
There is much questioning going on: “God where are You?”, “I thought things would look different or turn out differently Lord”, “I have no more strength God, I have nothing left to give”, “Are You ever going to breakthrough for me?”, “Are things ever going to change?”, “Have I heard wrong, misinterpreted what You said Lord?”, “Have I messed up in some way in disobedience, and that is why things are so hard God?”, “What is happening God! I don’t understand any of this?”, “Don’t You care God that I am struggling and suffering right now?”, “I don’t know what to do anymore God or what direction to take”, “why does it seem like You are silent Lord?” etc.
Many are on the verge of “walking away”. Many are looking back to the pathways they were on before, as those old pathways seemed “easier” or more “manageable”. Many are on the verge of making radical and drastic decisions because they have had enough and see no other means of “escape”, and they just want to breathe again. The uncertainty of the hour as to how things will play out has gripped the hearts of many.
Hopelessness, despair, discouragement, doubt, confusion, anger, frustration and sorrow seem to be all the fruit that has come up as a harvest from their previous season of sowing seeds and cultivating and working the “soil”. “How can this be God when this is the fruit that has been produced?”, “where is the good fruit of prosperity, abundance, increase, restoration and promises fulfilled?”; these thoughts keep coming up in many hearts and minds.
If this sounds like you, know that what you are currently experiencing is not unique to you, neither is it unique to the timeframe we are currently in.
Peter accompanied Jesus during His time of ministry on the earth. Peter saw Jesus do amazing miracles. He followed Jesus because he knew that Jesus was the Son of God (Matthew 16:16) and that the words of eternal life was found in Jesus (John 6:68). Peter was 100% convinced who Jesus Christ was and is. Yet we see Peter having a moment of fear and he temporarily shrunk back, denying that he even knew Jesus, when Jesus was about to be crucified. After Jesus died and was raised again, He revealed Himself to His disciples, including Peter. They saw the fulfillment of what Jesus spoke to them regarding His crucifixion and resurrection. Jesus appeared to His disciples multiple times. “Appear” means that He didn’t stay with them constantly during that time.
Things have drastically changed now in the disciples’ lives. They just witnessed the impossible, Jesus rising from the dead, and realized that their world and the world of humanity would never be the same again. It was an unknown and unfamiliar path they were now on. They couldn’t go back to the way they did ministry with Jesus before, as Jesus is not leading that way or operating that way after His resurrection. They haven’t received new instructions from Jesus yet as to what they are to do now.
Between Jesus’ appearing to His disciples there were “lag periods”; “waiting periods”. It was during one of these “waiting periods” that Peter made a decision to go back to “old ways” of operating. Peter would have no doubt felt like a failure for betraying Jesus, he might have thought he “missed the mark” or that he might be punished for what he did and would no longer be qualified for the “call”. He didn’t know what to do. He knew he had to do something. He couldn’t just sit around and not work or be productive in some shape or form. He might have even felt “what was all these 3 years of sacrificing everything to follow Jesus on His ministry for? Where is the fruit? All we have now is a disappearing and reappearing Jesus, with no ministry, with limited believers and disciples, nobody getting healed, nobody getting saved, nobody being delivered from demons, no contributions or support from previous followers”, “What in the world am I going to do now?”, “I gave up everything in my old life including my fishing business, now I have nothing”, “Jesus hasn’t revealed or given me any instructions as to what to do or where to go”, “I am confused, I don’t understand, God this is not what I thought would happen”.
Peter made a call in the waiting. He decided to go back to the one thing that worked previously and seemed to give him results, the place where he would feel comfortable. He returned to fishing. We see that some other disciples joined him. No doubt they might have also been in this crazy chaotic moment in time where nothing made sense, nothing turned out the way they planned and feeling hopeless, discouraged, directionless, fruitless, and unproductive.
But what happened next?
Jesus showed up…
After a period of waiting, giving up and returning to the known, Jesus showed up in Peter’s life suddenly, and brought a complete turnaround, and revealing a completely new pathway that required a lot more faith, a lot more work, a lot more responsibility and a lot more “walking on water” moments. But the pathway wasn’t revealed immediately. It took time.
Jesus asked Peter in John 21:15-17 if Peter loved Jesus. Jesus was testing his heart. After denying Jesus and then looking “back” and going “back” to old ways because of feeling uncertain, Jesus wanted to see if Peter really “got” it now. Because what Jesus was going to instruct Peter to do next, would require a greater degree of “staying” ability, and there was no room for turning back when things looked uncertain or unexpected. Jesus instructed Peter to “feed His sheep” and commissioned him into ministry which looked different from the way Peter has known ministry and operated in ministry. This was something he had never done before or walked out before.
Peter denying Jesus and then going back to familiar ways, still didn’t disqualify him from being used mightily by God or forfeiting his calling. But Peter had to decide then and there, whether he was going to continue catching normal ordinary fish the rest of his life or if he was going to take what he has learned from his experience and follow Jesus now, not knowing what will happen, not fully realizing the cost, effort, or impact, but at least he would be in the center of God’s will.
Are you in the center of God’s will?
Are you willing to continue to wait patiently and believe for Jesus to show up?
Or are you going to go the old familiar path, which may seem comfortable and uncertain, but it only leads to catching fish that will die to feed a stomach rather than catching “fish” for the Kingdom?
Right now, many of you are in the “same boat”, feeling the same way. So, what does this tell me? This tells me that this is not an individual thing but rather a corporate “body of Christ” thing. What this tells me is, that God is going to show up in your circumstances when you least expect and when it looks like nothing makes sense anymore. Is He going to find you in faith? Or is He going to find you in an old place where there is no legacy, no purpose, just the mundane ordinary to just keep going and make it through?
When I look through scripture I see countless times where those who were known as heroes of faith in the Bible, they went through many times where things looked “dry”, “hopeless”, “endless”, “unchangeable”, “confusing”, “uncertain”, “like God was silent”, and yet, they kept their faith and continued moving forward regardless of what it looked like, felt like, or the pain and sufferings they endured.
When I think about Abraham, I often wondered what went through his mind when he and Sarah went to Egypt because of the famine that was severe in his promised land. Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave everything he knew to go to a land he has never been before. God promised Abraham that his offspring would inherit the land of Canaan. We don’t see recorded in the Bible that God told Abraham to go to Egypt. We only read that he and Sarah went there because the famine was severe. Could it be that Abraham might have asked God what to do, and not seem to receive a reply, and then Abraham thinking to himself that he needed to do something. He couldn’t just stay in the land of Canaan and perish because of the famine. He might have thought he and Sarah would return once things seem more favourable or when he receives new or next directions from God.
Even though Abraham at that stage did not receive the promise yet, and things looked like it was impossible for the fulfillment of his promise and even though it might have seemed like God was silent and that God was not miraculously providing for them in their “promised land” with food, Abraham still did not allow that to stop him from having faith and trusting the God whom he came to know. What we learn through this is, there are times when we are asking God for breakthroughs or wisdom as to what to do, and it seems like the breakthroughs and answers don’t come. What do we do in those times?
We simply continue doing the last thing God told us to do, and if we come at a place, like Abraham, where we need to make a choice of either staying where we are at or doing something in the meantime while waiting, I believe that if we commit those decisions to God, asking Him to shut those doors if we should not walk through them, and then walk through them when they seem not to shut, just like Abraham, God will still bless us in “Egypt”, and then will help us get back on track with the promises He gave us so we can continue on His timeline.
Sometimes we just need to move when we feel stuck and paralysed in the waiting. Just make sure that the move or decision won’t be something that will hinder you completing the task or assignment God has given you, or have you forfeit the promise completely.
You see, even though Abraham acquired livestock and servants in Egypt, he didn’t settle there. Egypt was a great civilization those years. It would have made sense to just settle. It would have been easier for sure. But no, Abraham chose to go back to the land where God called him and continued to live like a nomad.
Your situation is temporary. Life is a series of ups and downs, highs and lows, unanswered questions, difficulty, suffering, persecutions, answered questions, moments of hope and joy, miracles and breakthroughs. Every day you will have a choice. A choice as to whether you will continue to move forward with God and in God. Just remember that your choice has no effect on God in the sense that it will stop Him from doing or operating in His Sovereignty. God invites us to do life with Him. To be a part of His plans, with the opportunity to make a difference and leave a legacy. But if we choose not to join Him and do our own thing, that is not going to stop Him. As humans we sometimes try and get back at each other when one has done us wrong by giving them silent treatment or withdrawing from them out of spite in the attempt to try and make the other party feel bad. God does not work that way. He does not allow our pity parties to make Him move or up His timeline for His appointment manifestations and breakthroughs. If you choose this day to stop continuing in your calling or your walk with Him because you are frustrated and angry with your life and circumstances and not happy regarding how God is moving or responding in your life, just know that choice would be something you will regret one day when you stand before Him, giving an account of your life, and seeing the difference you could have made if you only continued in Him and continued to persevere in fighting the good fight of faith.
What if you are at the brink of the greatest breakthrough of your life and if you give up now, you will miss it. Hear me, I am not downplaying your pain. I don’t know what you have been through in life. Every person perceives things differently. But what I can tell you is that our God is the same yesterday, today and forever. And when I look at the lives of those who have gone before us, I see suffering, I see persecution, I see sacrifice, but with that I also see glory, legacy, a footprint left in history, lives changed, people snatched from the clutches of hell, triumphs and victory, and more importantly greater revelation and connection with Jesus.
Life is not about God taking care of all our problems so that we can live trouble-free. That is not Biblical. Life is about humbly committing ourselves to our faithful Creator and continue doing the good works He has prepared in advance for us to do while we pursue greater intimacy and knowledge of Him. Encourage yourself in Jesus. God is not your enemy. Remember who the real enemy is. Get up in the morning and say “Jesus, show me how I can be Your hands and feet today”, and then you just continue doing what He shows you every single day.
God gave me a word in 2019 where He said He was going to bring “shakings” in the earth and that everything will change. We cannot pour new wine in old wineskins otherwise they will burst open. You cannot enter into this new era with the same mindset, ways or wisdom from the past. “Empty” yourself so that the Holy Spirit and lead and guide you without your former “knowledge or understanding” getting in the way.
You will not understand what is happening in the world, in your life, in the lives of the people around you etc. We prophesy in part and know in part. God gives and reveals “puzzle pieces” to us, but ultimately, His ways are too high for us to comprehend. You will only become more frustrated trying to figure things out. God is asking us to act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God in submission, obedience, willingness and faith.
The life you live now is temporary. The life to come is eternal. What you do now matters. Every choice you make daily for the Kingdom has an effect for eternity. Even if we pour out our lives like a drink offering, know that your sacrifices and obedience are never in vain. You cannot take anything in this life with you into eternity. Everything in the earth will pass away. So if you are going to put any effort, any sacrifice, any work, any decision into the things you are doing every day, would you not want to make sure that it will actually count for something and have lasting effect? Don’t let satan fool you. There is nothing this life can offer you that can be compared to the glory that will be revealed on the day we stand before our beautiful Jesus. So, dust yourself off, get back on the horse, even if it is not very joyous or fun, do it with contentment knowing that God will do what He said He will do in His timing.
God bless you.
By Adele Grobler
