Don't Give Up: Keys to Persevere

By Eloy Puga

Our world has been shaken from COVID and its far-reaching effects - shaken to the point that God's people may be tempted to give up in these uncertain times. Still, the Bible gives many exhortations to persevere through these foretold dark days. If you ever felt like giving up because of life's pains, pressures, confusions, and hardships, this book is for you. If you need heart stirring and thought provoking inspiration so that you don't quit, this book is for you. Don't Give Up will help you reach new levels of understanding, faith, and victory! In this timely tool, author Eloy Puga mixes biblical engagement with raw relevant truth to equip the reader with keys to persevere in these challenging times. This refreshing book will motivate you to continue trusting the Lord and His purposes. Don't Give Up will: increase your faith in trusting the Lord, arm you with biblical wisdom to navigate some of life's tender areas, give you understanding of what it takes to persevere in this day and age, unveil certain issues that will soon affect the Christian (including persecution), and present helpful resources which can help keep you informed with the truth.

• Language: English
• Publisher: ELOY PUGA
• Release date: Feb 17, 2024
• ISBN: 9781489735928

Book preview

DON’T GIVE UP

KEYS TO PERSEVERE

E L O Y P U G A

Copyright © 2021 Eloy Puga.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case

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Scripture taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible ® Copyright © 2003, 2002, 2000, 1999 by Holman Bible Publishers. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission. NEW

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ISBN: 978-1-4897-3591-1 (sc)

ISBN:  978-1-4897-3592-8 (e)

Print information available on the last page. LifeRich Publishing rev. date: 05/17/2021

Dedicated to all God seekers

who are awaiting the Lord Jesus’ return. He’s coming for us as He said He would.

John 14.1-3

CONTENTS

Introduction.............................ix

No Matter What, Don’t Give Up...........1

Pain, Don’t Give Up......................17

Pressure, Don’t Give Up..................39

Perplexed, Don’t Give Up................59

Persecution, Don’t Give Up...............73

Hardships, Don’t Give Up................99

A Time To Give Up......................109

A Watchman’s Unscientific Meditation Of Reasonable Random Thoughts  117

A Message Of True Hope: The Gospel Of

Jesus Christ.........................127

Helpful Resources......................131

INTRODUCTION

his message is for the Church of Jesus Christ. It’s based on the time-tested truth of God’s word, the Bible. Don’t give up don’t lose heart.

This word of encouragement was placed on my heart while reading 2 Corinthians, the apostle Paul’s most personal letter concerning his apostolic calling. Paul, knowing that he was commissioned by God to share God’s grace through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, recorded some of the hardships that he and others overcame to fulfill their life’s mission. In verses 1 and 16 of chapter four, Paul wrote, we do not give up. The root of the Greek word translated give up is ekkakeo. It carries the idea of not to fail, lose courage, faint, or grow weary. It’s translated not lose heart in Luke 18.1 and do not grow weary in Ephesians 3.13 and 2 Thessalonians 3.13 (NIV). The main idea is don’t give up, keep going, keep fighting, keep working, keep pressing on.

Now is not the time to give up. Too much is at stake. You, me, and somebody in this world need the encouragement to keep pressing on, life changing

encouragement to keep going. Within our spheres of inf luence, we can build people up and inspire them to continue no matter what. After we ourselves are encouraged with truth, the kind of truth that moves so deeply in us that it stimulates us to make the mental and heart resolution to not give up, then we can inf luence others to do the same. May this word powerfully speak to our hearts and change many lives - it’s for God’s glory and for our good.

Note: This work is not meant to be an exhaustive study of biblical perseverance. This offering is mainly to encourage the Church to keep the faith in these challenging times as our times continue to get worse. As many things in life overlap, a few chapter themes and keys to victory also overlap. This is beneficial as we learn best through repetition.

Lastly, in this work I write mostly from a first-person plural voice, meaning that I’m writing to you (the reader) while including myself, because I also need to be reminded of these truths and principles. I fully recognize that I’m your fellow sojourner as I write using the word we. May we be strengthened and encouraged in the Lord!

He’s coming soon!

Eloy John330

NO MATTER WHAT, DON’T GIVE UP

acing the reality of ultra-foes of Axis Powers (Nazi Germany, Japan, and Italy) during World War II, UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill

urged his audience to never give in no matter what the circumstances were, to never give in to seemingly overwhelming forces, and to be sure that perseverance will lead to victory.1 Within a few years of those heart- stirring courageous words the Axis Powers were defeated, the world forever changed, and victory was achieved.

Everybody experiences times of feeling like they want to give up, call it quits, and throw in the towel. Life is hard. This is brute fact. No matter what socio- economic environment we were born in, from the ghettos of Detroit, Chicago, or Los Angeles, to the posh suburbs all across the U.S. that have million-dollar

1 Paraphrased from Winston Churchill, Never Give In, Never, Never, Never (1941). https://www.nationalchurchillmuseum. org/never-give-in-never-never-never.html.

E l o y P u ga

homes. No matter what our pedigree, from being born to immigrant parents who struggle speaking English to fourth generation citizens of wealthy entrepreneurs, we are people that are frequently faced with adversity and all kinds of challenges.

Yet, without these challenges we would never grow in character, never grow in wisdom, and never grow in understanding. So, life’s difficulties could be seen as being invaluable to one’s personal development.

Some situations are more difficult than others, and certain situations last longer than others. There may be long seasons of testing that we encounter. Seasons of pain, pressure, confusion, and hardships in which we feel like we just can’t keep going. Where we involve both our emotions and our mind as we feel and think: What’s the use in continuing? What’s the point in this mess? Will this gray cloud that I’ve been under for days, weeks, years, ever be lifted? Will things ever change? Does God see me? Does He hear me? Does He care about me? Where in the world is He?

I’m here to tell you don’t give up. God sees you, hears you, cares for you, and is with you. God honors people of faith who trust Him no matter what. The only true God, the God of Scripture, is faithful to His word and therefore He is faithful to His people. He can be completely trusted, and He has all things under control. There are no maverick molecules in the universe, everything is under the administration of an all-wise, all-powerful, all-caring God that has our best interest at heart.

No matter if our spouse is ready to leave us or if we’ve been praying for years to find a godly mate, no matter if

D o n ’ t G i v e U p

we just got laid off from our job or we’re stressed out at work, no matter if we’ve been responsible but the bills keep piling up, no matter if it’s our third time trying to get off drugs, cigarettes, or alcohol, no matter if we don’t know what to do with stressful relationships, no matter if we’re sick, no matter if we keep trying to succeed but it seems like all we do is fail, no matter X, no matter Y, and no matter Z. Don’t give up. In the end it’ll be worth it. Victory is near.

Perseverance, Endurance, and a Reason

Perseverance and Endurance

Before we experience victory, we must add two words to our vocabulary, one is a verb and the other a noun, both are dynamic and work in unison. The first is the verb persevere which means to continue doing something in spite of difficulty or lack of success. Synonyms include: persist, continue, keep on, keep going, don’t take no for an answer, stick to your guns, etc. The perfect antonym to persevere is give up.

The other word is the noun endurance which is the ability to do or cope with something painful or difficult for a long time. Endurance is the quality of lasting a long time before wearing out. Synonyms are: durability, longevity, strength, toughness, and fortitude. The perfect antonym to endurance is weakness. Persevere can be used in the noun form of perseverance and is used interchangeably with endurance which shows how closely they’re related.

E l o y P u ga

One key to effectively not giving up no matter what is to persevere with endurance. However, if we think that all we have to do is simply work hard and stir up our human will to push through a situation or reach a goal, we’re sadly mistaken. Even though human will is a profoundly remarkable thing that can accomplish much, it will sooner than later expose its insufficiencies. Nevertheless, if we go to God, pray and ask Him to grant us strength to persevere and to bless us with His grace of