In this 125th post of this blog and 3rd post with the tag 'Give Up' we want to insist on the same idea because we often forget essential things about our faith. Many of us forget that faith needs to be nourished so it doesn't die, that life on the face of the earth is a battle (cf. Job 7:1) and that as long as we are with God we will be targets of the devil's attack.

"Be sober and vigilant. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that your brothers and sisters throughout the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering." (1 Pt 5:8-9)

But our reasons to continue, to persevere, to insist, persist and never give up, to resist even unto blood will always be greater and superior to any reason that might impel us to give up. If we are with God, the victory is ours!

Even if we cannot see, feel, hear, perceive, understand, comprehend, welcome, take possession and embrace, believe or have faith, we need to remain firm until the end, until the last consequences, following Christ's example, for this is a certainty of faith.

Even if you are at such a difficult point that you cannot even believe there is a way out or a solution, let the Word of God illuminate the dark tunnel you may be passing through and generate hope in your heart.

"What then shall we say to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all, how will he not also give us everything else along with him? Who will bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who acquits us. Who will condemn? Christ Jesus it is who died—or, rather, was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom 8:31-35, 37-39)

It may be that hearing people say that God loves you, that His mercy is infinite, that Jesus' love overcomes everything, that His blood was shed for you on a cross, that God does everything for humanity, for your family; that He has done, is doing, and will yet do many things in you, may sound like a litany you are tired of hearing.

BUT THEREIN LIES THE SECRET AND THE KEY WE WANT TO USE TODAY: YOU DON'T NEED TO BE TOLD THE SAME THING AGAIN, YOU DON'T NEED TO BE TAUGHT WHAT YOU ALREADY KNOW, YOU DON'T NEED TO KEEP HEARING OR READING THAT GOD DOESN'T GIVE UP ON YOU AND THAT YOU CAN'T GIVE UP, BUT YOU NEED TO EXPERIENCE HIS POWER, HIS PRESENCE, HIS LOVE!

Without this experience, everything falls into discredit sooner or later. Without God's strength, you won't go far, regardless of where you are or where you have arrived; without His grace and His anointing, everything is just theory. That's why we invite you to access the posts about experience (by clicking here).

Saint Paul draws our attention to this theme in his letter, when he instructed the community of Corinth about food offered to idols:

"Now in regard to meat sacrificed to idols: We know that 'all of us possess knowledge.' Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by him." (1 Cor 8:1-3)

What Saint Paul writes is nothing more than the will of God, which was greatly manifested in the person of Christ Jesus. When He taught people about the Kingdom of God, He always or almost always came into conflict with the Pharisees and scribes because they were fundamentalists and hypocrites (they pretended to live everything they knew).

True knowledge is not what we have in our heads but in our hearts! That is why God does not give up on us: He knows that we were made for heaven, for holiness, for happiness, for joy, for great things, and when He sees us wasting time with trivial things that distance us from the purpose for which we were made, He continues to believe in us, because He knows what is within us.

Many people spend their whole lives deluding themselves and trying to escape from what is obvious, from what is before their eyes, from what gives meaning to life, from what can truly fill the heart, which is the presence of God... But how many fools out there try to fill their hearts with things and people and therefore live their whole lives trying to fill this void that will always remain!

NO MATTER HOW FAR YOU STRAY FROM GOD, HE WILL ALWAYS BE CLOSE TO YOU! NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU FORGET GOD, HE NEVER FORGETS YOU! NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU DON'T BELIEVE IN GOD, HE CONTINUES TO BELIEVE IN YOU! NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU GIVE UP ON HIM, HE WILL NEVER GIVE UP ON YOU!

Therefore, let the grace of the Lord be poured out upon you as you read this post; allow God to speak to you and show you where you went wrong; consent to what the Holy Spirit reveals to you and asks you to do, for He will always want your good and your personal fulfillment.

Fighting against God is useless! Resisting Him is foolish. His love will always be above anything that can happen, in heaven, on earth, or in hell. Of course, He will always respect your free will, but allow yourself to be attracted and seduced by His presence.

We surrender to the Lord and want to lose ourselves in Him. With Toca de Assis, we invite you to do the same and let yourself be conquered in this "Unequal Fight".

God did not make us for sadness. That is why the Holy Scriptures teach us that there is no usefulness in sadness, because besides not helping, it only kills us and makes us waste time.

"Do not give your soul to sadness, do not torment yourself in your thoughts. The joy of the heart is the life of man, and an inexhaustible treasure of holiness. The joy of man lengthens his life. Have compassion on your soul, make yourself pleasing to God, and be firm; concentrate your heart on holiness, and cast sadness far from you, for sadness has killed many, and there is no usefulness in it. Envy and anger shorten days, and anxiety brings on old age before its time. A kind and noble heart feasts continually, for its feasts are prepared with solicitude." (Sir 30:22-27)

Why does the sacred author speak of joy associated with holiness, firmness, a kind heart, nobility, pleasant things, while sadness is associated with envy, anger, anxiety, premature aging, death?

Because each person chooses how they want to live! If you do it out of ignorance and live a life of sadness because you made the wrong choice, there's no turning back... But you can start choosing joy from now on.

We will always have before us what we seek, what we desire, what we choose! If you chose to turn away from God because you couldn't take it anymore, did you solve anything by deluding yourself in sin, by indulging in what the world offers and then falling into depression for losing the meaning of life?

If you are planting death, sadness, sin, misery, violence, infidelity, disgrace, poverty, laziness, wretchedness, envy, and everything that comes into your head (which the devil has filled so much that you have become accustomed to everything in the world), do not think that you will reap anything good.

If you repent, you have the love and mercy from God who welcomes you, but you also have the justice and reparation that you are called to make (access posts on this topic by clicking here).

"Do not be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that he will also reap." (Gal 6:7)

God always asks us to make the right choice, but He always gives us the opportunity to choose whatever we want: blessing or curse, joy or sadness, death or life. He does not abandon us and does not stop loving us because of our wrong choices, but He does not intervene if He is not called.

"For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, 'Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?' Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, 'Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?' But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it. See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil." (Dt 30:11-15)

THE TRUTH IS THAT MANY OF US, OUT OF PURE WICKEDNESS, ALWAYS CHOOSE WHAT IS WRONG AND ACCUMULATE SIN UNTIL WE LOSE SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS AND DULL OUR SENSES WITH WHAT DOES NOT PLEASE GOD! AND THEN WE COMPLAIN THAT GOD NO LONGER HEARS PRAYER AND DOES NOTHING MORE!

We recommend some posts on spiritual growth, so that you may learn from your mistakes and stop being a spoiled child in faith (access by clicking here) and also a special series on the healing of the senses (which you can access by clicking here)

God never judges us and knows the main reason that led us to stray from His love. Sin is always an evil that accumulates and strengthens, keeping us deprived of grace and captive in its chain of death (cf. Rom 3:23; 6:23). Sin is never good! (access posts about sin by clicking here).

However, God is so powerful that from every evil and every sin He can draw good and transform it into grace, as Saint Augustine teaches us. But this is no reason for us to become complacent and live a life of any kind, for we know well, from our own experience, that a life of sin does not pay off.

It is only with the passage of time that we realize the harm that such a wrong choice did to us and how difficult it was for us to return to God, to persevere, to renounce it and to detach ourselves once and for all from all the evil with which we were contaminated.

ONCE WE RECEIVE AN INJECTION OF THE BLOOD OF CHRIST, A POWERFUL DOSE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, A REINFORCEMENT OF BLESSING AND GRACE, WE ARE STRENGTHENED AGAINST EVIL, BUT THE POISON OF SIN THAT IS INOCULATED IN US NEEDS TO BE EXPELLED, OTHERWISE IT WILL RETURN TO DO HARM.

Brothers and sisters, this is very serious and many times we do not pay as much attention to it as we should, something similar to what many do with the health of the body. We can get vaccinated, take the necessary precautions and take care of ourselves in every possible way, but the flu virus mutates every year and we always remain vulnerable to it.

Evil, sin, sadness, the things of the world and of the devil that are offered to us every day, always take on a different form so as not to be recognized and are presented to us as if they were not very harmful, that they will not do any harm to health, etc. But they are always the same lies clothed in good things. The poison in medicine jars that we always mention here on the blog.

Someone only reaches the point of walking with God, of doing few or many things at any time, if they let things accumulate within themselves. It is never something that happens overnight. It is always the result of many things that were not assimilated, were not overcome, were not renounced, and at an unhappy moment weigh too much to continue to be carried.

"Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent." (Rev 2:5)

God's mercy is infinite and will never cease; it will be we who stop trusting in it, believing that it can completely envelop us no matter what we have done, allowing it to act in our favor, and we only think of giving up and want to abandon everything because we stopped asking for it.

The most idiotic thing someone does is to get lost for an instant, drown in sin, and stop praying. And this doesn't only happen to those with great functions, great responsibilities, and an image of holiness and very important person, no, but it happens to anyone. But the problem seems bigger, not because of what happened, but because of what goes through the person's mind.

Many are still living in illusion and have a vision of holiness for people who never make mistakes, who do not commit sins, who do not do wrong things, who are not capable of erring even if they wanted to... Ahhhhhh, but you have to stop being foolish like that and grow up! Many give up walking with God because of idiocies like this!

All human beings fall, all sin, all make many mistakes (except spectacular exceptions like Jesus, Mary, etc.). But thank God we had such a wonderful Pope who taught us the secret of holiness: 'A saint is a sinner who never gives up' (Saint John Paul II).

OPEN YOUR MIND, EXPAND YOUR HORIZONS, LET GOD MOLD AND FORM YOU, STOP BEING A CLOSED AND IGNORANT PERSON! STOP BEING BOTHERED BY THE MISTAKES OF OTHERS AND START NOTICING YOUR OWN. STOP WORRYING ABOUT SINS AND WORRY ABOUT HOLINESS, ABOUT THE LOVE OF GOD. IF GOD CALLED YOU, IT IS BECAUSE HE KNOWS YOU!

We believe that many give up because they have never deeply experienced the love of God. Because whoever experiences this love knows that it covers a multitude of sins (cf. 1 Pet 4:8), that it gives strength, that it surpasses even hope and faith. It is charity, love, the greatest gift of God!

Let this passage stir something within you so that we may unite in prayer afterwards!

"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not charity, I have become as sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not charity, it profits me nothing. Charity suffers long and is kind; charity does not envy; charity does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Charity never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity." (1 Cor 13:1-13)

The only thing that is capable of keeping you with God no matter what, no matter what happens, no matter how difficult it may be, is the certainty of this perfect, infinite, wonderful, gigantic, infinite love... We lack words to describe the natural and supernatural love of God!

IT IS BECAUSE HE LOVES YOU SO MUCH THAT GOD DOES NOT GIVE UP ON YOU! YOU ARE VERY IMPORTANT TO HIM! YOU COST ALL THE BLOOD OF CHRIST SHED ON THE CROSS. THE 5,480 BLOWS THAT CHRIST RECEIVED. ALL THE SUFFERING OF THE SON OF GOD AND ALL THE WORLD CANNOT COMPARE TO WHAT YOU ARE IN THE EYES OF GOD!

If God does not give up on you because He loves you so much, when you love God with a spark, a flicker of this infinite fire of love, you will also not give up on Him. Shall we pray?

"God of love and mercy... I surrender before the cross! How poor, miserable, sinful, unfaithful, inconstant, a betrayer of your love, and unworthy of it I am. I come to acknowledge my poverty and confess my sins.

It is true that I began to drift away when that happened (tell the Lord in detail what hurt you most, disappointed you, or made you think about or actually give up on being God's). But today I want to return. I want to restart my life in you, Lord! I want to make amends for whatever is necessary and never again think of turning back.

How bad it was to be far from you, far from your love, far from your grace, your presence, your goodness, your tenderness. How could I have lived without experiencing such wonderful love from the Lord? Now I don't want to spend even one day of my life far from your love, Lord!

Jesus, embrace me now and give me your love! Make your heart beat in my heart. Pour over me the blood that washes the earth and inaugurates heaven through your wounds. Heal me, Lord! Touch my pains and ailments with your wounds and dispel all darkness that remained in me. Uproot the spiritual viruses that are in me now! Give me a powerful antidote: make an effusion of power and grace pour over my whole being now through your Holy Spirit.

Oh sweet Spirit of God, come upon me! Occupy in me the place that is yours, from where I should never have expelled you by my sin. Come fill my whole being, O Paraclete! Come advocate on my behalf against the accusations of the devil. Pour over me the gift of repentance, of spiritual sensitivity. Come convince me how much I am loved and fill me with the strength of God's love that wants to knock me off the horse of pride and vanity that I mounted when I thought of giving up. Like the murderer Saul who was transformed by encountering you and became the great apostle of the Gentiles, Saint Paul, come give me such an impactful experience that leads me to convert... Take from me the hunger, thirst, and desire for anything of the world! Make me blind to the pleasures and fleeting fashions of this world of darkness and open my eyes, my ears, and my heart to the things from above, that which the Lord has had for me for so long but I was not interested in.

Now I want, Lord: you can give me in abundance life, love, grace, joy, blessing, strength, holiness... Everything the Lord wants to give me: I am open!!

Alleluia! I want to give you thanks, my God, for giving me so many good things and for giving me the grace to return, to reconcile with you, to settle accounts and wash my life at the foot of the cross. Glories for your sacrifice, for all that the Lord went through to save me. It was not in vain and I want to make it worthwhile. Now it's for real, Lord! I will not turn back! Praised be our Lord Jesus Christ, exalted be his name. To you be honor, glory, and adoration forever. Amen!'

God will fulfill everything He promised in His word and in your life. Let us trust in our Lord and with Ítalo Villar let us believe with all our heart, for "He will fulfill".

Diego Fernandes reveals to us through this song the love and care of God for us, giving us a command: "Don't give up on living".

Let us embrace this truth prophesying with Abner Santos: "I won't give up".

"Thanks to the tenderness and mercy of our God, who will bring us from on high the visit of the rising Sun, who will enlighten those who lie in darkness and in the shadow of death and direct our steps in the way of peace." (Lk 1:78-79)

May we, in the strength of God's love, embrace each day the grace that Christ won for each of us on the cross. Let us not be discouraged by adversities, tribulations, pressures, oppressions, or any type of depression, but may the certainty of this love lead us to establish heaven here on earth, even without understanding...

May God bless us and give us strength to continue until the end!