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Archives: November 2010
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Archives: November 2010
'Fighting spirit'
By Beth Croft
Can you measure how competitive someone is? I find board games can be pretty revealing! Have you noticed that it’s usually the winning team that gets the most competitive? If you’re on the losing team, it’s tempting to not even try and to give up altogether.
This is so true for me. I’ll be the most driven, competitive person when I have a good chance of ‘success’ but I can be so quick to resign myself and to give up at the first sight of failure. Whether it’s in leading worship, praying for the sick, or bringing friends to know Jesus, it seems that success spurs me on and failure holds me back.
But what if, each time we faced ‘failure’, it spurred us on even more to win the prize?
A little while ago, I seemed to be going through a dry patch in my worship leading; it felt like God’s anointing had dried up. Each time I led worship it just felt like I was singing one song after another, rather than heaven touching earth! I felt pretty discouraged and found myself saying:
“Right, well my time’s probably up then. God is obviously done with me leading worship. It’s time to hang up my guitar, raise up the next generation and concentrate on them instead.”
God spoke to me straight away:
“Beth, where’s your fighting spirit gone? You’re just giving up as soon as it gets tough?”
I love that God was so quick to challenge me on that! After all, life isn’t about ’singing when we’re winning’. Anyone can do that. The real test of character is how we respond when things don’t go to plan, when we face disappointments and failures.
How hard are we willing to fight for the things God is calling us to do? Are we too scared of failure to step out in faith? Are we too tired to persevere with something we find difficult? God calls us to be fighters:
“for God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power”
2 Timothy 1.7
He wants us to have a fighting spirit that’s willing to obey Him; I don’t think He is actually that concerned with whether we succeed or fail. He knows we will certainly crash and burn at times but He uses those situations to shape and mould us. What a gracious God we have!
I love this quote as it highlights what I'm getting at:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly… who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who have never known neither victory nor defeat.”
Teddy Roosevelt
Without a shadow of a doubt, the people who inspire me the most are those who have kept fighting through the tough times, seeing ‘failures’ as part of the journey. They haven’t lost their focus along the way; instead, they have become more and more persistent with every blow they’ve received.
In the 19th century, there was a guy called Abraham who had a true fighting spirit. Here is his story:
In 1831, he failed in a business venture
In 1832, he was defeated as a candidate for the state legislature
In 1833, he failed once again in another business venture
In 1835, his fiancée died, shattering him
In 1836, he suffered a nervous breakdown
In 1843, he was defeated as a candidate for the U.S. Congress
In 1848, he was once again defeated as a candidate for the U.S. Congress
In 1855, he was defeated as a candidate for the U.S. Senate
In 1856, he was defeated as a candidate for U.S. Vice President
In 1859, he was once again defeated as a candidate for the U.S. Senate
In 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected the 16th President of the United States of America
Wow. I want to be like that. I don’t want to give up at the first hurdle, play it safe or be dismissive when things aren’t going my way. I want to take the words of the Bible seriously:
"Be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded."
2 Chronicles 15.7
"
Do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised."
Hebrews 10.35-36
When we step out in faith and it goes horribly wrong, let’s choose to grow and learn. When God seems to be silent in times of prayer, let’s press in to Him even more. Let’s not view life as a series of successes and failures. Life is a journey. Let’s keep going and enjoy the ride!
About the author
Beth works at Soul Survivor and helps head up all things related to worship... This article is an extended version of a blog post that she's written for femaleworshipleader.com
Soul Survivor is a Christian charity that puts on events for young people. Our registered charity no. is 1080720. We are also a company limited by guarantee in England & Wales. Our company registered number is 03991111, which is nice. Thanks for caring.
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