I am too positive to be doubtful,
Too optimistic to be fearful,
And too determined to be defeated.
Unknown
Determination is a quality that will make you continue trying to do or achieve something that is difficult, or the act of officially deciding to do something. Leonardo da Vinci said, “It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.”10 Determined people are rare, but nothing in the world can take the place of determination and persistence. Talent doesn’t take its place, education doesn’t take its place, and neither does any level of genius. The world is filled with common men and women who have done uncommon things, and all of them had determination. I am of the opinion that nothing good happens accidently.
Determination triumphs over any deficit we can name. Anyone who wants to have determination can have it. It doesn’t belong to a privileged few. You might say, “Well, I am just not aggressive,” but making progress in life does not require a naturally aggressive personality. It simply requires that you be determined to make your life count.
Life is challenging, unpredictable, and busy. Life throws us curve balls, and we swing hoping to make contact. So how do we live an “on-purpose” life in a world full of distractions? The answer is one word: determination! Determination keeps us going when the going gets tough. It helps us keep our eyes on the prize, not being easily distracted by the things that are painful and frustrating. It helps us practice good habits until they become a natural part of us.
Determination keeps us going when the going gets tough.
As believers in God and His good plan for our lives, our determination is driven by something far greater than our own sheer will. We must have the help of the Holy Spirit, and that help is always available to those who will ask and believe. This is our greatest source of strength and power, and it enables us to overcome the obstacles in our path and achieve a life of purpose. If you have very little determination and tend to give up easily, then at least begin making a change by praying that God will work determination in you. Believe that He has heard and answered you, and then step out in faith, trusting that the feelings you desire will come as you go forward. The excuse that we don’t feel like doing a thing that is right is a pitiful excuse. I doubt seriously that Jesus “felt” like going to the cross and dying for the sins of mankind, but He did it, relying on something much deeper than His feelings. He relied on the power of God to enable Him, and looked forward to the joy that was on the other side of the pain.
It is often a mystery to me why some people are so determined and others are not, but I think I have found one reason, at least. Some people don’t believe in themselves! They have a bargain-basement view of who they are and what they can be with God on their side. If you are a Christian and you have very little or no confidence, it is because you have failed to realize what God has done in you through a new birth in Christ. When we receive Jesus as our Savior, we are born again, and we receive a new nature. The nature we receive is that of God! He places His qualities in us as seeds that carry unbelievable promise of harvest in our lives if we will water them with His Word and nurture them by working with the Holy Spirit to keep the weeds of worldliness from choking them.
Any born-again person is a new creature, and nothing from the past has any power over him unless he allows it to.
Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!
II Corinthians 5:17 (AMPC)
Our new life with God cannot truly begin until we understand this Scripture verse. Without it, we will always see ourselves the way we were. We have a book of remembrance of all our failures recorded in our memory, and detailed records of everything anyone has ever told us we could not do. The simplicity of it is that we don’t see what God sees. He believes in us, but we don’t always believe in us. We either don’t know, or we don’t believe that God lives in us through the Holy Spirit, and we don’t see what we are capable of through Him.
I was a churchgoing Christian for many years before I knew this truth. I had a sad past, and was on my way to a future with even more sorrow, but I began to study God’s Word seriously and made the decision to take the promises I found and apply them to my life. Once I believed them for myself, I was unstoppable! My journey has been long, and at times very difficult, but when we have faith, it motivates us to keep going. Faith sees in the Spirit what the eye cannot see in the natural. Faith does not rely on feeling or emotion, but it relies on God, Who is faithful and true.
God is faithful (reliable, trustworthy, and therefore ever true to His promise, and He can be depended on); by Him you were called into companionship and participation with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
I Corinthians 1:9 (AMPC)
You can believe that “you can,” or you can believe that “you can’t,” and either way you will be right. No matter how many wonderful things God wants for us, or our family and friends want for us, unless we want them and are determined to have them, they will pass us by. We will drift through life very often being jealous of people who have what we want but being unwilling to do what they did to get it.
You can believe that “you can,” or you can believe that “you can’t,” and either way you will be right.
God’s plan for everyone is not the same, but His plan for all of us is good! We can’t all do the same thing, but we can all do something amazing. We can live the best life we can possibly live. Believe it and receive it! That is a spiritual law of the Kingdom of God. We believe His promises, we ask for them, being ready to wait for His timing in faith, and we will receive them. We receive them by faith, and we will see them manifest in our life at the proper time.
Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe (trust and be confident) that it is granted to you, and you will [get it].
Mark 11:24 (AMPC)
It is very difficult for us to believe what we cannot see or feel, but faith is the assurance of what we cannot see. We take the promises of God as fact, and we decide to live according to them. I cannot see gravity, but I believe in it because I am not floating in the air right now. Sitting in my home today, looking out my window, I cannot see the wind, but I am aware that it is blowing because I see the trees moving. We cannot see God, but we can see the things He does in our lives, and even if those things are small, they encourage us to believe for better things. Do you see the things that God has done in your life, or do you stay busy seeing what He has not done yet? If you do that, you will become quickly discouraged and give up. Take time every day to thank God for every tiny thing He has provided for you, and as you do it will increase your faith. Even in the midst of great difficulty, we can continue thanking God, believing that He can and will work good out of it.
There is a woman in the Bible named Ruth. She was at one time an idol worshipper, but she decided to make a change and believe in the one true God. Ruth had desperate circumstances, but God had a good plan for her. There was a man named Boaz who was a very wealthy man with a great deal of farming land. His field-workers were reaping in the fields, and Ruth had come to glean in those same fields. She was there to pick up the leftovers that the reapers missed, but Boaz noticed her. Have you ever felt like all you have had in life were the hand-me-downs and the leftovers? Even so, if you put your faith in God, He will do something amazing in your life. If you feel like Ruth, God can cause a Boaz to notice you, too. In other words, God can give you favor and lift you up out of the ash pit of life. He gives us beauty for ashes (see Isaiah 61:3) and lifts us out of the pit we find ourselves in (see Psalm 40:2).
God put it in Boaz’s heart to tell the reapers to leave handfuls of grain for Ruth on purpose. What she found in the fields was perhaps not a lot, but it was enough for the time being. Eventually, she married Boaz and things changed dramatically in her life. God will also leave “handfuls on purpose” for you, but you cannot complain about them as if they are of no account. Perhaps you don’t have as much as someone else you know, or as much as you want, but you can be thankful and excited about what you do have.
Further study of Ruth’s life shows great determination as she made the choice to remain with her widowed mother-in-law instead of returning to her homeland, where she would have had plenty. She chose the more difficult path because she believed it was the right thing to do. Initially it seemed to cost her, but eventually it brought a harvest into her life. (For the whole story read the book of Ruth in the Bible.)
If we don’t disrespect the handfuls God leaves us on purpose, we will someday be the one leaving handfuls for others. God will bless you and make you a blessing!
We always need some degree of determination. It takes some determination just to get out of bed in the morning, but there are times when we need more determination than other times. What are those times?
When our way in life is hard, it requires more determination to keep going than when the way is easy. It is easy to begin a thing, but God is looking for finishers! Anyone who intends to have anything good, to be good, or to do any good will be attacked by the devil. We often say that if the devil isn’t bothering you, then perhaps you are not bothering him. According to Scripture, he roams about like a lion roaring in fierce hunger, seeking whom he may seize and devour.
If the devil isn’t bothering you, then perhaps you are not bothering him.
Withstand him; be firm in faith [against his onset—rooted, established, strong, immovable, and determined].
I Peter 5:9 (AMPC)
We may encounter hard things, but we never encounter things that are impossible with God. He promises not to allow more to come to us than what we can bear. He knows each of us intimately, and one of the ways He makes us strong is by permitting us to go through difficulty. The only way a bodybuilder can build more muscle is by lifting heavier weight. God allows us to be in places and situations that require us to stretch our faith.
When you are facing a difficulty, don’t say, “This is too hard; I just cannot take it.” Instead, agree with God’s Word and say, “Through Christ, I can do this. I am determined to do the will of God and go all the way through every difficulty and into the best life God has for me.” Trust me when I say that the words you speak are important to your future success. God calls those things that do not exist yet as if they already do. (See Romans 4:17.)
To trust God only when things are easy is not the way to spiritual growth. Growth requires challenge. Even as children grow from their teen years into being young adults, they face what to them seem like insurmountable challenges. A friend of mine has a grandson who has just started college, and he has a girlfriend he adores. He also has a variety of things he loves to do that would come under the heading of “entertainment.” He is finding it difficult to work part time and do all of these other things, and is having difficulty understanding why he has to give up some of the things he “likes” to do in order to do what he “needs” to do. His parents see very plainly what he needs to do, but this is a new road for him to walk, and it is challenging. It sounds simple to us, but to him it is hard! Little does he realize that these types of choices will continue throughout his life, and they will prepare him for new levels of promotion.
His parents are tired of arguing with him, so they told him that he didn’t have to work, but they would not be giving him any money. They are, of course, not trying to be unkind to him, but they have to teach him that he cannot merely do what he feels like doing throughout his life and still have the kind of life he wants to have.
This sounds like a simple thing that everyone should realize, but the world is filled with millions of adults who still have not faced this truth. God works with us at all times trying to help us mature, and the sooner we cooperate the faster we will get good results.
Here is the bottom line: We will go through hard things, and when we do, we can determine not to give up, but to press through. We can do so with a thankful heart and a good attitude, trusting God every step of the way.
God rarely moves according to our timetable, but what we count as slowness is not that way to God (see II Peter 3:9). He is much more interested in excellence than speed. He is turning us into individuals who can represent Him in an excellent manner. He wants vessels that are always available to Him and ready to do as He asks at all times. This being the case, we absolutely cannot be in a hurry. A masterpiece is never created in a hurry.
A masterpiece is never created in a hurry.
Learning patience is one of the prerequisites for spiritual maturity. When we accept an inferior product rather than waiting for an excellent one, we always make a mistake. Slow down, enjoy the journey, and don’t rush. Life is short, and rushing only makes it shorter!
Focusing on what we want is the thing that makes waiting so difficult. We can choose instead to focus on God and use the extra time we have while waiting to grow in Him. God is good, and He will not withhold anything good from us unless it is for a good reason. I spent years frustrated because my ministry grew so pitifully slowly, and at times I even felt that it went backward for a season. I could not understand why God wasn’t doing what I was asking Him to do. No matter what I did, God didn’t move any faster.
Of course, now I look back and understand all too well that I wanted something that I was not spiritually mature enough to have, and God in His mercy withheld it. The attitude I had while waiting was in itself proof that I wasn’t ready for more. Why should God ever give us “more” of anything if we are not thankful for the things He has already given us, no matter how small they are? Always remember that a delay is not a denial, and when God seems slow, be determined to stand firm.
I have often found that following God can be lonely. The people we depend on the most for support and encouragement can disappoint us. They often misunderstand us, and may even criticize us for the path we have chosen. Even in this, God has purpose. It is important that we look to God and not to people. We all love approval, but we must not need it in order to obey God. If we do, we will surely be defeated.
Jesus must have been lonely at times. There even came a point when He was suffering on the cross that, in his humanity, He felt forsaken by His Father. Yet, even that didn’t cause Him to give up. He had already made the quality decision that He would do God’s will no matter what it cost Him.
The pain we endure at various seasons in life is temporary, and it is very important to remember that when we are going through it. “This too shall pass,” is one of my favorite sayings. The sun always shines after the storm!
No matter what might be causing us to want to give up, we can be determined to press on. If we give up, it will only mean we have to start again at another time. We’ll still need to face what we ran from the first time!
• Nothing in the world can take the place of determination and persistence.
• Determination helps you practice good habits until they become a natural part of your life.
• Confidence and determination come by knowing who you are in Christ Jesus and the promise of new life God has given you.
• Faith is the assurance of what we can’t see. It fuels our determination to stand on God’s promises and accomplish His plan for our lives.
• You may encounter difficulties, but choose not to give up. Nothing is impossible with God.