BE DETERMINED

I have not blogged in a while, but I wanted to share a lesson that I prepared for a women’s bible study. Determination is defined as a fixed purpose or intention; firmness of purpose, or perseverance.  There are many people in the Bible who exhibited this important quality, and I would like to take a look at three of them.

The first one is the lady with the issue of blood.  Her story is found in Mark 5:25-32.  This no-named lady was in a desperate situation, and oftentimes, desperation breeds determination.  She had an issue of blood for twelve years, she had spent all of her money on doctors, and instead of being healed, she had gotten worse. She made up her mind that she would touch the hem of Jesus’ robe and receive her healing. However, in order to accomplish this, she had a couple of very real hindrances to face. She had to break the law that was forbidding her from touching another person because she was considered unclean (Leviticus 15:25-27).  In addition to that, she had to press her way through a crowd.  It would have been easy for her to give up after so many years of disappointment, but she was determined that she would not give up until she touched Jesus!

What can we learn about determination from her story? First, don’t let what happened in the past stop you.  Just because it didn’t work before doesn’t mean it won’t work now.  That reminds me of the story in I Kings 18:41-45 when Elijah spoke to his servant to go up and look because he had declared to Ahab that there was a sound of an abundance of rain.  The servant looked six times and kept returning and saying, “there is nothing.”  But on the seventh time, he came back and said he saw a cloud like a man’s hand and then the rain came.  The servant could have gotten frustrated with going up doing the same thing with no change, but he was persistent.  That’s the way we must be even when it seems like there is no breakthrough on the horizon.  The second thing we can learn from this lady is not to let present conditions hold us back. 

The next person I want to look at who demonstrated determination is blind Bartimaeus in Mark 10:46-52.  Bartimaeus heard that Jesus was passing by, and he began to cry out.  Even though the crowd told him to be quiet, he cried out even more.  He didn’t let them hinder what he was determined to receive.  When Jesus called him, the act of throwing aside his beggar’s garment showed how determined he was to be healed.  That act showed that he confidently believed he would no longer need to sit on it and be dependent on others as a blind man.  What can we learn from his story? Number one, don’t let what people say stop you.  It may not make sense to them what God is telling you to do, but that doesn’t matter when you’ve heard from God.  Secondly, when you are determined, you prepare to accommodate what you are believing for. Just like Bartimaeus made preparation for what he was believing for, what do you need to cast off (or take) on to prepare for what you are believing God to do?

The last person we will look at is the paralytic in Mark 2:1-5. I actually want to focus on the actions of his friends. They were so determined to get him to Jesus that they didn’t let the fact that they couldn’t get near Jesus stop them. They uncovered the roof and let him down where Jesus was.  I want people with this kind of determination around my life who won’t take no for an answer and won’t give up when the answer doesn’t come easily. What can we learn about determination from this story? Don’t let limitations stop you, and don’t let what appears to be an impossibility cause you to give up.

I hope that these examples from the Bible encourage you to press in and be determined to receive all that God has for you!

Follow my blog page on Facebook at https://facebook.com/wordbasedliving.