Throughout the 45 years I have been a Christian, I have observed large numbers of men and women who have carried charisma, an anointing, exceptional talents, talked of great vision and plans, and generally wanting to do something positive and effective for God. However, as time went on, they somehow disappeared from off the scene and are now no longer to be found serving the Lord in any kind of impacting way. One has to ask, “What went wrong? Why did they not fulfil their destinies?” In short, the answer is they lacked stick- ability. Another word we could use here is endurance. They started well in their desire for Jesus, but were not able to continue to hold to their “first faith,” or first commitment.
To accomplish great things in the will of God today, it is important that we can endure, or stick to that which we commit to. Many do not go on to produce great fruit in the purposes of God because they are not able to hold on to their vision during the seasons of trials and testing. They are easily discouraged and give up too soon. Another factor is that, over time, they demonstrate they were trying to “work for God” rather than become “a worker together with God” (2 Corinthians 6:1). When it comes to endurance and stick-ability, there is a huge difference between “working for” and “working with” God. To “work with” God means we need to know what He has called us for – we need to know His will for our life, and then we co-operate with Him to enable us to bring about that which He has destined for us.
If we look at those who endured in the Scriptures, we soon discover that they were all severely tested in order to produce the promised results. It is no different with us today. None of us were born again of the Holy Spirit of God to become “drop outs.” That is not His will or purpose for any one of us. He wants us to know His will, and then work together with Him to fulfil His will. That takes stick-ability. But stick-ability is something that runs right against the grain of modern living. We are conditioned to want everything “now” (sooner if possible)! However, that is not the way of the Lord Jesus.
“The GFM” Ministry has been in operation for over 40 years. During those years Jean and I have had to endure many things. We have been laughed at, criticized, told on more than one occasion that it should close down, etc. If we had listened to these negative voices, I hate to think where we would be today.On the other hand, because we have endured, we are today reaping the blessings of being used of God to minister to hundreds of thousands of lives worldwide. We continually are hearing of miraculous happenings in the lives of those we minister to. The satisfaction of knowing you are fulfilling the call and will of God is a tremendous assurance that the Lord does want to bless and use us for His glory. But He doesn´t “hand it to us on a plate” so to speak. We haveto grow in our walk with Him. We have to cultivate a listening ear to pick up His ongoing instructions that are necessary to obtain that which He has called us to. Many times throughout our life´s journey we will discover that there are obstacles, opposition and even personal discouragements that will seek to make us want to give up on the call. It is in those times that stick-ability has to “kick in,” otherwise we will give up and the enemy will gain a victory over us – and those we have been called to reach for Christ.
Whoever you are, and wherever you are, are you enduring in the purposes of God for your life right now? Do you need to change anything that you are doing in the Kingdom of God? Do you need to pick up again something that God called you to, but you let it go because of what others said, the journey was too hard, or you became personally discouraged? To accomplish the purposes of God effectively we must endure – we must have stick-ability.
