“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

Failure is never final. You’re never a failure until you quit, and it’s always too soon to quit!

You don’t determine the greatness of pastors by their talent or the breadth of their ministry. You determine their greatness by what it takes to discourage them.

So what does it take to discourage you from going after your ministry dream? It may be as simple as a church member or fellow pastor telling you, “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

The Bible says in Galatians 6:9, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (NIV).

Even the most effective pastors wake up every Monday morning thinking, “God, surely somebody could have done a better job than I did yesterday.”

But God says, “Just keep on keeping on.” The key to perseverance is to simply not know when to quit.

God works in your ministry according to your faith. The Bible says, “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6 NIV) and “Anything that is not based on faith is sin” (Romans 14:23 GNV) and “According to your faith . . . it will be done to you” (Matthew 9:29 AMP).

So what are you doing in faith? You need to ask every day when you get up, “God, what can I do today that will require faith?” Spend your day listening for and obeying God’s answer to that question, and your ministry will be pleasing to him.

There are a lot of things in your church you don’t have control over. You can’t control who responds to your ministry. You can’t make people grow. You can’t force people to follow the vision God has given you. 

But you do have complete control over how much you choose to believe God.

God uses people who expect him to act, who never give up, who take risks in faith—who get his dream and go after it. It’s your choice whether you want to be the kind of person God uses to accomplish his purpose.