An Exquisite Reason Not to Give Up

Posted on by Jennifer Arimborgo

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“A man reaps what he sows… the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (Gal. 6:7b-9, NIV).

There was a time in my life when I longed for what I now have. As a teenager, I poured out my heart to God in my journal, frustrated. I yearned to sense His presence close, all the time. However, this was far from what I was experiencing. Many times, He seemed far away. Can you relate to that? Then please, keep reading; there’s something here for you.

Fast forward a couple decades (and a little more), to the present moment. Right now, I am living in the fulfillment of that longing. The presence of Jesus is so near, so sweet. When I open His word, immediately the words come alive. When I set aside time to pray, He comes in and communes exquisitely with me, and I with Him.

Now, it would be entirely false to say that I no longer experience any difficulty in spiritual things. There are still plenty of days –when I’m trying to pray – that I feel like I’m pushing through a thick, heavy fog. However, nearly always, when I keep pushing, He breaks me though into the sunlight of His manifest presence. By and large, there is tremendous grace in the current season of my life. His intimacy takes my breath away.

When I was reflecting on this today, He brought the above verse to mind. “Let’s not get tired of doing what is good.” When I was nine years old, my dad taught me to have a daily quiet time. I haven’t stopped since. There were so many bumps in the road along the way until here. Plenty of dry seasons mixed in with the refreshing ones. Quite a few seasons that felt like they were killing me. Through them all, I have continued to “sow to the Spirit.” Every day of my life, I have sought Jesus with all my heart and all my soul.

I believe I have come into a season of reaping. The glorious closeness that I am enjoying with Him is the harvest that He promised me. He never, ever lies; never, ever exaggerates. When He promises something, it’s because it’s going to happen. Through our verse today, He promises us that we will reap eternal life from the Spirit if we don’t give up.

What does that harvest of eternal life look like? “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3, NKJV). The eternal life that I have begun to reap is the deep, intimate, personal, experiential knowledge of God. This is what I have always longed for. And this is what He has poured out to me in response to all my longing and all my searching. Not because I deserve it. I truly, honestly don’t. It is purely because that’s how lavishly good He is.

Are you hungry and thirsty for more of Him? I share my experience with you because I want to encourage you today, dear one. Don’t ever, ever give up. You will come to know His heart the way your inner being aches and cries out for. You will reap a harvest if you do not give up!

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I’d love to hear from you about your journey too! What have you observed about the benefits that come from sowing to the Spirit?

 

24 thoughts on “An Exquisite Reason Not to Give Up”

  1. Jennifer, thank you for this beautiful post. It is a great testament to perseverance. We can only acquire the abundance if we keep going, especially in the days when it seems God is far away from us. Take care. Scott

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  2. Jennifer, We are so glad you have recovered well and past all this illness. We have prayed and continue to fit you all

    Your message is spot on and in show timing Thank you I love your messages and thought I’d share this was my verse for the day Blessings to you all Karen

    Sent from my iPhone

    >

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    1. Aw, Karen, thank you SO very much for all the prayers and love!! It means so so much to me. And thank you so much for sharing that about your verse of the day. How amazing is our Father!

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  4. Who the seeds
    the soul
    maintains

    who the dream
    takes for inspection
    can do the better
    every day
    translate into action

    who trusts the soul
    he doesn’t have to search

    he serves the soul
    at the time of germination
    at the time of birth
    until death

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      1. Please explain to me
        how a person can lose his soul

        it is not so
        that we mean each other
        we could do them according to our wishes
        make subservient?

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      2. Jesus said those words. He was referring to the eternal existence of the soul, beyond our lives on this earth. That a person may accumulate great wealth here, but it means nothing if they do not enter eternal life with Him.

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      3. The desire to have an eternal life, I can understand that.

        I think the soul is older than a man who died two thousand years ago.

        I can not go with someone somewhere, if I have no relationship with that person.

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      5. When Jesus Christ died for you
        – still lives for you
        – if He has a relationship with you
        — if you recognize yourself as a person who has been gifted by Jesus Christ
        —- if you show your values as a person through Jesus,

        You know that you have been strengthened; wonderful

        I am of indivisible dignity, like all human beings

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  5. Jennifer I loved hearing your story 😀 Thank you for sharing your experience of knowing God. Indeed it encourages me that intimate fellowship with Him is to be found in every day❣️

    We are glad you have recovered so well from the dengue fever. That must have been hard to go through. We thank God you are over it!

    Love, Ann

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    1. Aw thank you so much, Ann, truly! It was uncomfortable but not as bad thankfully as the first time I had dengue, thirteen years ago. And I am SO glad that this post was encouraging for you, thank You Jesus!

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  8. There have been many times in my life when it seems I’m crying out into the darkness of space and I’m hearing nothing back. The problem is, space is so large that for me to hear what God is saying, I have to be listening in the right place. His response is always there, the perfect response, it’s just sometimes I am looking for something else that is of no benefit to me.

    Jesus guides me when I make that time to pray *and* to listen carefully for His loving reply.

    Thank you for the encouragement. 💛

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