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Friends, greetings in Jesus Name! Last week we dealt extensively what I titled, “Knowing When To Quit”. Really, in life you must know when to put a stop to certain things that are not working in your favour. Today, I will be sharing with you what I title, “Knowing When Not To Quit”. Beloved, each and every one of us are “work in progress” in the hand of God. The Lord wants us to be thoroughly trained before reigning in life. Unfortunately, going through life process is never sweet or rosy. Like they say, “No pain no gain.” What is a process? A process is a series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end. When God has a higher dimension of calling and assignment for your life, he takes you through a rigorous process that is not palatable. According to Micah Cartee, “Before God accomplishes his promises for our lives, He takes us through a process that builds our character, faith, trust, and our ability.” Usually, this is the time the flesh will be nudging most people to quit and do something else. If you make the mistake to obey such fleshly appeal, you abort the process of what God is about to accomplish in your life.

Let me give an illustration using the life story of a butterfly. Butterflies go through a life cycle. There are four stages. The first stage is the eggs. This is where a female butterfly lays egg. The eggs are laid on a leaf. The second stage is the caterpillar. This is where the eggs hatch. It takes about five days for the eggs to hatch. A caterpillar then comes out. At this stage, the caterpillar eats all the time. It also grows really fast. Once it is all the way grown, the third stage starts. This stage is the chrysalis. The caterpillar makes a chrysalis and wraps itself on the inside. Inside the chrysalis, it starts to change. It soon changes into a butterfly. Once the caterpillar has changed into a butterfly, the fourth stage starts. At this last stage, the butterfly emerges out of the chrysalis. It can now learn to fly. It can also find a mate. When it finds a mate, it lays eggs. Then the life cycle process starts all over again. What lesson can we learn from this story? Indeed, if any of the stages is aborted, there can never be a butterfly. For instance, if the caterpillar decides to eat and eat, and refuses to make chrysalis, the process will be aborted. Really, I have come across many caterpillars that got trampled upon and died without turning into a butterfly. Like the caterpillar that quit being metamorphosed into a butterfly, there are so many people like that today, who quit and abort the process of fulfilling their destiny.

Unlike King Saul, King David was a man who knew how to follow through a process without aborting it or quitting along the way. One major undoing of King Saul was impatience. Many people today, especially this younger generation of youths do not want to go through process. Their level of quitting and aborting life process is alarmingly high. Tell me, what in the world could drive a final year Engineering student in the university to abort or quit finishing his degree, before embarking on a fruitless journey to Europe in search of greener pasture that is not green. As we often see on CNN and other news media, many of our youths in the hope of getting to Europe, trek through the Sahara Desert or sail through the Atlantic Ocean in an open balloon boat that ends up capsizing. They end up not getting to the destination. Most of the African youths today, especially Nigerians, are impatient. They want to hit the jackpot and become rich over-night. No wonder we have too many lotto houses springing up on every corner of our streets – betnaija, naijabet, baba ijebu, betking – and so on. Why? They are there to fast-track and satisfy the longings and cravings of these young folks that are aborting their life process and destiny in search of quick money.

Now, the Lord spoke to King Saul through Prophet Samuel saying, stay in Gilgal and I will be with you in seven days and shall offer sacrifice unto the Lord. And the Philistines gathered themselves in large numbers against Israel. The people became afraid, and so was Saul. Saul waited for Prophet Samuel, but because he was impatient, he decided to offer the sacrifice himself on the seventh day. As soon as he finished offering the sacrifice, Prophet Samuel came in. Unfortunately, he had aborted the process (1 Samuel 13). Please read the entire scripture above during your bible study. Listen, the moment you abort a process, especially as it concerns your destiny, it can only take the grace and the mercy of God to get you back on track. At this point, some people never make it again to the finish line. This was what happened to King Saul, and God rejected him, and he lost his kingdom to David. The Lord anointed David, a man who understood the power of being focused and following through to his destiny. May you never abort God’s plan and purpose for your life. You will not quit but finish strong in Jesus Mighty Name. Have a glorious week. With love, Elvis!