Steve Lyston | Giving up is not an option!

Regardless of everyone's status, the struggles of life affects everyone, and there are times you will feel like giving up. Sometimes you feel so discouraged that you don't have the strength to try anymore.

Problems come in many ways - sometimes it is a lack of opportunities, sickness, hardship, no employment. A person may even be highly qualified but can't even find food to eat. Each time they try to get an interview, they end up disappointed and feel unsuccessful.

Sometimes you pray and it seems as if your situation is getting worse. Meanwhile, there may be an inner voice saying, "It doesn't make sense, give up." The fact that you are alive, despite the struggles, means you are still in the game.

The temptation may come for you to indulge in certain activities to get a job - or keep a job - but you know deep down that you must not do it, simply because it is wrong.

When you are discouraged and feel like giving up, it is a distraction, and that is the time when one of your greatest blessings is about to come into your life. Even when your situation seems dead to the point that it stinks, know that there is always a time for resurrection.

God is able to roll away the stone, remove the grave clothes and cause you to come alive. God can remove the bondage from your feet. Some may be sabotaged, but God is able to roll away your stone and set you up for a mighty comeback.

Never forget the power of persistence in prayer. Our problems, at times, exist to help us to develop spiritual muscles, and so all the glory will be given to Him for your breakthrough.

There are many who are discouraged, but this is a distraction for you not to focus on the bigger picture. Distraction blinds us from seeing what God wants us to see. It could be a revelation that will bring you into billions of dollars the next invention, solutions for governance and leadership.

We are in the greatest time, where the Babylonian/secular system is no longer relevant and cannot work in this era. Sometimes the hardships we go through is to change our mindsets.

Jesus outlines in Matthew 6 that worry brings stress, anxiety and pressure. If God can take care of the birds of the air and other animals, what can't He do for you?

When a woman is close to giving birth, she goes through a time of anxiety and a myriad of emotions. Then comes the prize. So birthing comes with pain, but then there come the blessings.

Failure is not your stop sign, but your green light for greater things. Failure is a set-up for success.

There are many people that some considered to be failures. Read about Mr Walt Disney - he was a newspaper editor that was fired for having a lack of creativity. Today, Walt Disney's company is in seven locations on four continents and employs more than 62,000 people with more than 44,000 visitors per day in their Lake Buena Vista (Florida) location alone.

Sir Winston Churchill's successes came through several failures. His famous quote said: "Never give in - never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."

In your time of struggle, you will find your best gifts coming out. You know your greatest friend. It brings the greatest creativity out of you. Speak positive things on a daily basis within your environment. Surround yourself with positive people of faith. Your present circumstances don't determine your future.

The emotional battle is real, but if God did it for others, He will do it for you! If He brought you out before, He will do it again. Every great person came through failure and fire.

If you are experiencing a lack of success in your life, or if others are telling you that you are a failure or not creative enough, then that is your indication of the untapped greatness that is yet to come out of you. Keep going.