When the Spirit of Quit Comes Knocking

She dabbed her eyes with a tissue as she handed me a piece of paper. “I am sorry, but I have too much going on and I am going to have to step down as Lighthouse President. I love Aglow and the people in it, but I have so much going on right now…” her voice trailed off as I looked at the paper. “That is my formal letter of resignation…” she dissolved into tears again.

We spoke about what she felt was weighing her down in life. She shared of all the time consuming things she had going on, mostly things that had no eternal impact. I asked her if she felt the Lord was moving her into something new; if she had a release from Him from this season of leadership. She hesitated. “Well, not really. But I’m so frustrated...”

Ahh. The key word. Frustration. This was a demand from the flesh, not a brooding of the Holy Spirit. When the old man is squeezed, he squeals like a pig in the chute. He whines. He demands recourse and relief. And that is a good way to tell the difference between what is the old man trying to resurrect himself and have a pity party, and what is an authentic move of God into a new season: does it make you run away from circumstances or run deeper into God?

When we run into challenging circumstances through the old man, the spirit of quit is quick to come and demand to be entertained. Self-pity is the bosom buddy of the spirit of quit. The old man feeds on them. He wants people to cluck their tongues in sympathy at how the challenge is pressing him and he sings a song of agreement with the pity. The new man, on the other hand, pushes in even more intensely to God, to hear His voice, to align himself with God’s peace, to sing a song of agreement with God’s plans and purposes.

Quitting something as a response to stress and frustration will only leave you more frustrated, stressed, and dissatisfied. Be still before the Lord. Get into His Presence and shovel more dirt on the grave of the old man. There are seasons in our lives with a beginning and an end, but a move of the Lord will never cause you to walk away from something that is unfinished. His remedy to a challenge is never to succumb to the spirit of quit, but to learn in the challenge, to move even higher in His calling upon you.

Graham Cooke says, “It is not an adventure until you are challenged by something bigger than you. So He understands that story and journey are messy affairs... He knows you.”

And that Lighthouse President who thought she needed to resign? She is now an Area Team member, joyfully serving God as she walks in His plans and purposes. And you? You are cut from the new cloth and you have new wine and new wineskins. Never revert back to the old.

Luke 35:36- 39: And He was also telling them a parable. ‘No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and puts it on an old garment, otherwise he will both tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old, and no one puts new wine into old wine skins, otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and it will burst out and the skins will be ruined, but new wine must be put into fresh new wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine wishes for new for he says the old is good enough.