Prize fighter James Corbett was once asked: ‘What’s the most important thing for a man to do to become a champion?’ He replied, ‘Fight one more round.’

Successful people have different talents, but they all have these qualities: perseverance, tenacity and stick-to-it-iveness.

Thomas Grey wrote seventy-five drafts of ‘Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard’ before he was satisfied with his poetic masterpiece.

S.N. Behrman, the American playwright, wrote plays for eleven years before he sold a single one. Somerset Maugham earned only five hundred dollars in his first ten years as a writer.

While working full time in a factory, Enrico Caruso studied voice for twelve years before becoming a successful performer. George Gershwin composed almost one hundred melodies before he sold his first one – for five dollars.

There’s an important lesson for you in each of these stories: if your dream doesn’t come true immediately, don’t get discouraged.

Continue to pursue your craft and develop your talent. Study and learn. Grow by experience. Keep working. Victory goes to the man or woman who is willing to ‘fight one more round’.

When you quit, God can do no more for you. But when you persevere, he will come to your aid. Note what his Word says:

‘The Lord God will help me; therefore I will not be disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I will not be ashamed’ (Isaiah 50:7 NKJV).

When does God promise to help you? When you set your face like a flint.

That’s our Word for today!