When You’re Tempted to QUIT!
by Jerry Savelle
Everyone experiences failure. But I learned a long time ago, even in the midst of failure, don’t quit. When you get knocked down, get right back up—every time! It’s a lesson I’ve learned well. In fact, it’s become the theme of my life.
Years ago, right after I started my ministry, a church invited me to preach at a ranch in Hot Springs, Ark. The members sat on lawn chairs in front of a makeshift platform so small the church’s drummer had to sit on the ground beside it.
Nonetheless, I was so excited to have the opportunity to preach that I preached as hard as I could—everything from Kenneth Copeland, Kenneth Hagin, Oral Roberts and T.L. Osborn all rolled together. As I ran back and forth across that platform, fired up, I stepped too close to the edge and fell off the stage—right into the bass drum.
Can you imagine? There I was, the preacher, my bottom in the bass drum and my arms and legs sticking out! Everyone in the audience stood wide-eyed, looking to see where I had gone.
“Lord, what do I do?”
'Get up quick,' He said. 'Do a Micah 7:8: When I fall, I shall arise. Don’t even mention the fall. Just get up, take up right where you left off, and act like this is the way you preach all the time.'
I did just as He said. I didn’t quit. I got up, stepped back on the platform and kept preaching. It turned out to be a great service.
Afterward, a lady approached me. “Brother Jerry, why did you fall off the platform?”
“It was an accident,” I admitted, “but did you see the getting up? That was quite a recovery!”
“Do you fall often?” she asked.
“No. Did you see the getting up?” I repeated.
“Is there something wrong with you?” she pressed. “Do you need prayer?”
“I don’t want to talk about the fall,” I said. “Did you see the getting up?”
Many people are like that woman. They spend their entire lives talking about the fall. They think God’s teaching them something down there, but God doesn’t want us to focus on the fall. He wants us to get back up and talk about the recovery.
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BVOV : 23
