Recovery Christian Center Daily Meditation - 4/15/12 - Don't Give Up 5 Minutes Before The Miracle

"As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing." 2 Timothy 4:6-8

Unfortunately one of the assurances of living a life in Christ and in recovery is that we will be tempted on occasion to give up. The reality is the enemy will do all he can do to confuse us, distract us, to get us to turn away from God and buy into defeat. He will try his best to make us think we have made the wrong choice by following Christ and entering recovery. His job is to make us suffer but we can overcome the suffering and temptation if we keep pressing, if we keep our focus on God, IF we PERSEVERE!

Perseverance is one of the keys to walking with Christ and ongoing recovery. Our old life was one of self gratification and that led to near self destruction. So now we find as we begin to deny self and begin living for God we can't fall off at the first sign of trouble. There will be times that we may not be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel but we just have to trust God that it's there. We have already seen the light in our lives because once we are no longer caught up in our self destructive patterns our lives got better. Now the Apostle Paul is reminding us that there is a greater prize awaiting us, eternal life.

We have to keep pressing until we enter our rest and like Paul we can say, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have remained faithful." No matter how tough the temptation gets, we can't leave 5 minutes before the miracle. As much as the enemy may try to make us think we are, we are not alone. God is with us. As Kirk Franklin said, "If your heart is broke, lift your hands and say I know that I can make it. I know that I can stand. With Jesus I can make, with Him I can stand. Now matter what comes my way, my life is in Your hands."