When I was in junior high, a friend gave me a book whose title still affects me today: Winners Never Quit. The book describes athletes who faced enormous odds and obstacles to achieve success, and takes its theme from the famous words of Coach Vince Lombardi: "Winners never quit-quitters never win."

I thought of that book title again this morning as I read about President Bush's speech yesterday. The Dallas Morning News headlines his remarks: "Bush warns fight may be long one." The president told an audience at a Tampa-area military base, "The path we are taking is not easy and it may be long. Yet we know our destination-we will stay on the path, mile by mile, all the way to Baghdad and all the way to victory." He added, "We cannot know the duration of this war, but we are prepared for the battle ahead. There will be a day of reckoning for the Iraqi regime, and that day is drawing near."

The president and his advisors had warned from the beginning that this war would be longer and more difficult than many were predicting. Saddam Hussein fought in Gulf War I to stay in Kuwait; now he is fighting to stay in Iraq. His own troops appear to be shooting those among the Iraqi military and civilians who will not fight us. The winds and sandstorms our soldiers are facing are unlike any conditions they have known before. We all want this war over as quickly as possible, with the fewest casualties possible. It's hard to be patient with so many lives at stake.

And yet no victory of significance is ever won quickly. What is true in military conflict is equally true in spiritual life. When Paul wrote the Galatians, they were fighting for their spiritual lives. The "Judaizers" had persuaded many of these Gentile converts that they needed to observe Jewish laws and rituals in order to follow Christ. Paul's letter to them confronted directly this issue, the first spiritual battle in Christian history. Near its end the apostle wrote, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up" (Galatians 6:9).

Where are you tempted to quit today? Is there a personal struggle being waged in your soul or life? A sin which continues to plague you? A person with whom you are consistently in conflict? An economic or professional or physical problem you can't seem to overcome? It's a fact: winners never quit, and quitters never win. Coalition forces in Iraq will win this war and free the world of Saddam Hussein's terror. The price will be high and the road long. But our troops will win, so long as they do not quit. We will fight spiritually at their side in daily intercession, so long as we do not quit.

Whatever your battle might be, so long as you are in the Word and will of God, your cause is just and your victory assured. Coach Lombardi was more right than he knew. This is the promise of God.

Copyright © 2003. James C. Denison. All rights reserved.