Joyce Meyer - Never Give Up!: Relentless Determination to Overcome Lifes Challenges

Unless otherwise indicated, Scriptures are taken from the Amplified Bible. Copyright 1954, 1962, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scriptures noted The Message are taken from The Message. Copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Copyright 2008 by Joyce Meyer

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

FaithWords

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First eBook Edition: March 2009

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ISBN: 978-0-446-54449-8

M ore than anything else, I want you to know you can have a deep, intimate, personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ and the very best life has to offer. God is no respecter of persons (see Acts 10:34) and His promises apply equally to everyone. Yes, you can have the very best God offers, but you will have to be determined to never give up until you have succeeded in every area of life.

I believe God has a great purpose for you, and I urge you to not settle for anything less. He wants to bless you and give you a life that will not only thrill you, fulfill you, and bring you deep joy and sweet satisfaction but also challenge you, stretch you, frustrate you at times, and even lead you to moments when you are tempted to give up.

Think of this book as a manual to use as you pursue the best in every area of your life. It will give you the inspiration you need to keep putting one foot in front of the other when you grow weary on your journey and remind you over and over again, in a variety of ways: You can do it if you never give up. It will give you strength to soar above lifes tests and trials like a majestic eagle, increase your determination, and teach you how to turn adversities into opportunities. It will empower you to persevere, and build your confidence in Gods ability to see you through to the achievement of the goals He has given you. It will strengthen your faith in His desire to fulfill the dreams He has put in your heart.

As you walk through the pages of this book, you will become acquainted with amazing people, people who refused to settle for less than the best and whose stories will inspire you and astound you. With every word you read, I will be cheering you on, reminding you God is on your side, and urging you to never give up.

One of the primary reasons people give up is that they try things, dont succeed, and feel like a failure. The truth is that we are never a failure unless we give up. When we dont succeed at something, many times we do not have the courage to try again, and we settle for less than we could achieve or enjoy if we would simply keep trying. The fact is, we all have times when things just dont work out the way we hope they will, even though we do our best. We may fail at one thing, or even a few things, but that certainly does not make us a failure in life. I believe these temporary setbacks are part of life and we must experience them in order for us to ever be truly successful. Failing at some things on our way to success humbles us and teaches us lessons we need to learn. For people who never give up, failure is simply the fuel for greater determination and success in the future.

Some of the most successful people in history failed and, instead of being discouraged, refused to give up. For example, consider the following:

Henry Ford, who invented the automobile, went broke five times before he succeeded in business.

The great dancer and movie star Fred Astaire took a screen test at MGM studios in 1933. A studio memo reported he was slightly bald, could not act, and could dance a little.

The family of Louisa May Alcott, the great author who wrote the popular book Little Women, thought she should abandon the idea of being a writer and become a seamstress instead.

A newspaper fired Walt Disney for lack of ideas, and he went bankrupt several times before building Disneyland.

Enrico Carusos parents believed a voice teacher who said he had no future in musiche simply could not sing at all. He did not believe the teacher and became one of the most famous opera singers in the world.

Theodore Roosevelt suffered the deaths of both his mother and his wife on the same day in 1884 before he became a war hero and a very effective president of the United States.

John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, was often asked to not return to churches after preaching in them once. When he preached on the streets, townspeople kicked him out. When he preached in a meadow, people turned a bull loose on him. But later, because he refused to give up, he preached in a pasture and ten thousand people came to hear him.

The story of Abraham Lincoln also amazes me. In the face of many defeats, he had reason to believe there was no way he could succeed in life or be president of the United States. At twenty-two years old, he failed in business. One year later, he ran for the legislature and lost. When he was twenty-four, he experienced a second business failure. At twenty-six, the woman he loved passed away, and he suffered a nervous breakdown the next year. When he was twenty-nine, he lost another political race, and at thirty-four he made an unsuccessful run for Congress. At thirty-seven, he did get elected to Congress, only to be defeated again two years later. At forty-six, he lost his bid for the Senate, and the next year, he failed in his attempt to become vice president. When he was forty-nine, he was defeated for the Senate again. He had four sons, but only one lived to adulthood. But, at fifty-one years of age, Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States, and successfully led the country through one of its most difficult periods. Many people would have said, No way, but not Lincoln. He never gave up.

In addition to the well-known people who had to persevere, there have been countless others whose names we do not know, but whose failures or mistakes became some of the best-known, best-selling products in the world today.

For example, Ivory soap was never intended to float. It floats because of a manufacturing errorand its buoyancy is the quality that distinguishes it from every other soap on the market.

Similarly, the material used to manufacture Kleenex tissues was originally intended to be used to make filters in gas masks during World War I, but it did not work. It also failed as a cold cream remover. But when someone decided to package and market it in the form of disposable handkerchiefs... well, you know the rest of the story.

I believe you are destined to do great things. God created you for a purpose. He has opportunities He wants to give you and assignments with which He wants to entrust you. Im sure you have realized by this point in your life that you will face opposition as you follow God. People who are called to greatness meet great challenges. He never promised us it would be easy. In fact, He guarantees us adversities in His Word. He also promises to be with us through difficulties, to fight on our behalf, to strengthen us to overcome any obstacle we confront, and to give us the ability to overcome them under one conditionthat we never give up.