…running in the stepz…

Ok so I've had one of those things that seem to follow you in everything that you hear about God. You hear it in the sermon, read it in your Quiet time, hear it in the words of encouragement from a friend, even accidentally pop up on it in some movie. But this particular one has really struck me because it is leading me on a wonderful journey that I'm encountering with God. It simply tells us to run....


The Scripture:

Heb 12:1-3

(1) Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

(2) Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

(3) For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

 

This verse just tells me something simple: We all running a race that we just can't afford to lose. But of late, I really don't know if it's been just around me or everyone else is feeling it; but there's been a decline in the way we've run. We haven't always given our all to God and we sometimes do the very things he warns us to abstain from. This has cut us off from the Lord, it us cut us off from experiencing the wonderful things that are available when we walking the full measure of his will.


So this is my encouragement, the task I want to leave us all: Look at the finish line and RUN... don't stop for a second. Don't look back. Run the race like your life depended on it: It does! Pray continually, Fall in love with God's word, tell someone about the Lord, encourage a friend: work for the Lord. Because that's what the race is about. That's why we're running. If you were in a 100m dash, you wouldn't be able to afford a second to stare at the audience, tie your laces, change lanes or look at your opponents… definitely not! That's exactly how we gotta run this race. No matter what may happen during the course of it, there's only one thing that should be on our minds: the Finish line with our savior with open arms saying, "Welcome home!!"


Yes, we may fall. I'm not going to say it's the end if you fall. As soon as you fall of the track that God wants you to run, don t sit and wallow in your misery and guilt. Stand up again. As surely as the Lord died for you he will forgive you. But we must bear in mind that there is a limit to God's forgiveness: his forgiveness is limited by our ability to turn from our sins. Our ability to tell him were not gonna turn from him again and then returning to him. We can't keep living in that vicious cycle of "sin-forgive-and-sin-again". Trust me when I say that now is definitely the time to break loose of the sins that entangle us. It's time to take over the promises that God has for us, time to act towards that heavenly goal.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

(24) Surely you know that many runners take part in a race, but only one of them wins the prize. Run, then, in such a way as to win the prize.

(25) Every athlete in training submits to strict discipline, in order to be crowned with a wreath that will not last; but we do it for one that will last forever.

(26) That is why I run straight for the finish line; that is why I am like a boxer who does not waste his punches.

(27) I harden my body with blows and bring it under complete control, to keep myself from being disqualified after having called others to the contest.

 

So until next time… I leave you grace to RUN, in royal stepz…