As I slept last night, a portion of the chorus from “Through the Fire,” kept running through my mind. I kept singing over and over … “Just remember when you’re standing in the valley of decision, and the adversary says give in, Just hold on. Our Lord will show up, and He will take you through the fire again.”
One of the enemy’s favorite themes is “Give In!”
This morning, I was reminded of a famous Churchill speech given at Harrow School on October 29, 1941. “Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never in nothing, great or small, large or petty never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparent overwhelming might of the enemy.”
Long before Churchill uttered that speech, Paul wrote a similar one to the Corinthian Church. Chapter 3 speaks of the New Covenant and the freedom we have in Christ Jesus. Chapter 4, however, speaks of the treasure of this new freedom and power in Christ, and begins and ends with “never give up.”
“Therefore, since God in his mercy has given us this new way [New Covenant], we never give up.” [4:1 NLT]
“That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” [4:16-18 NLT]
I don’t know what you may be facing today. I know what I am facing. I know the adversary is shouting “Give in!” But, like Churchill and Paul, “We never give up!” no matter the “apparent overwhelming might of the enemy.” (And the key word there is ‘apparent’!)
(2 Corinthians, Chapter 4 is a great read! Spend some time in it today.)
