Discipleship
Do you ever find yourself noticing those people who always seem to succeed at everything they do? Over the past two decades of my life I've had the privilege of working with some amazing leaders, many of whom, from outward appearance, would have seemed to have that "Midas Touch." What I eventually came to discover as I got to know them however was this: the special ability that they seemed to have didn't just happen upon them one day; it was forged in fire.
Something that I have found to be true in life is this: You only fail if you choose to quit.
This is the reality we find tucked away in the story of King David, which he discovered on the road to the high call and dream of God hidden within his heart. In the 30th chapter of 1 Samuel we find David in one of these moments. Having been promised the throne of Israel by God through the prophet Samuel, he is running for his life from his own king and mentor. He is forced to flee and hide out with his men in enemy territory.
After going out to battle alongside the Philistine armies, David is turned away and finds himself returning home feeling defeated only to discover that while he and his men were away, a raiding party of Amalekite warriors had come through their region, plundered their city, burned it to the ground, and taken their wives and children hostage along with all their earthly possessions.
The story tells us that David encouraged himself in the Lord. I believe what that means is that David literally sat down and began to recount to himself all of the things that God had done for him and all of the promises that God had made to him, and made a conscious choice in that moment that he was not going to give up. He would not fail but rather press on and become who God had said he was. And David did just that, and he was rewarded as God helped him recover all of their families and possessions along with even more riches and spoil.
I don't know what trial or failure you are facing today but I do know this: greatness lives within you. It was put there by a great God who has an amazing plan for your life and mine. And if we will just choose, like David did, to press on, if you will pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and rally your spirit, you too will see the same breakthroughs come in your life. This is the power of pursuit.