Keep on, keeping on

When Daniel learned of the edict designed to trap him, he immediately prayed to God. That is, he had trained himself to remain faithful when pressure came. To “stand firm in faith” means that we must also train ourselves to be faithful when pressures come.

For me, the challenge comes after a failure of some sort—maybe a spat with my wife—all my fault, of course. It’s frustrating and discouraging. It’s not like the first time it’s ever happened. Right? Should I just give up on being a Christian at this point? What would you do?

The Bible says in Proverbs 24:16a, “for though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again”. We are not to give up, but we are to be faithful. Philippians 2:12-13 says, “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”

There is a boxing scene in the movie Cool Hand Luke, where Paul Newman (Luke) gets repeatedly knocked down by George Kennedy (Dragline), but time and time again, he keeps getting up. Show a clip of that scene from the movie and discuss how "fighting to stand firm in faith" is a knock down, drag out business.

There is a similar “don’t give up” fight scene in Last Samurai with Tom Cruise—where eventually, Cruise learns to fight like a samurai. That added element can be used to illustrate that a Christian must keep on, keeping on in order to learn to stand firm in faith.