Running the Race
April 4, 2023
Running the Race
Hebrews 12:1
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,
The race is not to the swift and few, it is to the faithful and true. The race of life is not a sprint, it is a marathon. It is ran over the course of a lifetime, over all manner of terrain, weather, and obstacles. It is a race in which there may be times we grow weary and we want to give up, quit and just be like everyone else. Somewhere, down in the depths of our soul, there is a strength, a power and a voice that urges us on. It is that Spirit of Christ within us that compels us to keep running the race even when we are in agony and pain. There may even be those times when we fall hard and everything around is screaming, “the race is over, you’ve failed, you can’t win now.” Yet, there is the voice and Spirit of God’s grace that compels us on. It reminds us that His grace is sufficient and that His blood has covered our failures and shortcomings. When others have judged us and found us flawed; even when others have disqualified us in their condemnations, the Spirit of the Lord is able to raise us up. He is able to put us back on our feet and tells us keep on running. The ones who really lose the race are the one’s who quit, drop out or become the antagonists to those who are still running.
We know that this race is our life of faith in Christ Jesus. The one who is able to run the fastest is the one who is unencumbered. All he may have is his running shoes, shorts and shirt. So many of us have not quit the race, but we’ve picked up all of this baggage along the way that has so weighed and slowed us down. All of these encumbrances are the cares and distractions that take our eyes and attention off of the finish line and even the race it self. Often sin moves in like a fog, making it difficult for us to even see the course, let alone run on it. All of the demands of work, family, maintaining a lifestyle, recreation and sports, mortgages and car payments cause us to lose our way and are like balls and chains around our ankles.
Hebrew 12:2-6 goes on to say, “2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. 4In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons:
“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 6because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.” Hebrews 11 has just tutored us on what faith is, “the substance of the things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.” It has encouraged us with example after example of saints who ran before us, not having yet received the promise, they pressed into it with a life of faith and obedience even unto death. Now we are told how we might persevere to win our race. It is in fixing our eyes upon Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. What we could never accomplish in ourselves, He is able to work within us as we hold fast our faith and confidence in Him and His strength. Is there going to be opposition, obstacles, resistance, hills to climb and rivers to ford? Yes. Are we going to be inclined to grow weary and lose heart in our struggle against sin? Yes. Yet in all that we endure, it does not compare with what Christ endured and overcame for us. He is the Hero of our faith, the Champion upon which we look and fashion our lives in the likeness of. He ran the course, He endured the gauntlet of temptation, ridicule, judgements, condemnation, persecution, affliction and finally death. Yet, He held true to the course. He ran the race with patience, and He ended it by saying, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”
Maybe it is time again for us to take an inventory of our lives and assess what kind of weights and sins we are trying to run with. Maybe we have become so burdened down that we have quit running. It is time for us to get rid of our baggage and our sin issues and get back into the race. You can never finish and win what you do not run. Remember this race is our destiny and its prize we will realize throughout our eternity. This is no small thing. This is the race of life and all our eternity is at stake. We cannot take it lightly and we cannot afford to drop out or give up. Summon all of our faith, gird up your loins and continue to run with all of your heart and mind, soul and strength, looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of your faith.
Blessings,
#kent
Walk with Me
October 31, 2014
Philippians 3:14
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Walk with Me
Walk with me a little while
Comfort my troubled heart with your smile.
It is in your presence I experience love and grace.
I need your perspective as I run this race.
I covet your fellowship in the early dawn,
As I come to you in prayer and feel your holy bond.
It is your strength I covet in this challenging hour,
It is in identity with your life that I find my power.
The grade is getting steep as we travel on.
The way is more narrow and straight than where I’ve gone.
Those I once called friends now scorn my path.
Because I don’t hold the world’s views I incur their wrath.
So it must be as I look up and see the cross before,
I still believe that you alone are the only door,
That leads to life and the Father I seek.
You are the good shepherd that leads your sheep.
Help me Lord to be all that I must,
Forsaking the world, its vanity and lust.
Setting my eye on the prize that is before,
I press on to the high calling of Christ Jesus my Lord.
Walk with me a little while,
Comfort my troubled heart with your smile.
If so be that I suffer for You I will be glorified with You,
My peace and rest is in You, oh Lord, faithful and true.
Kent Stuck
Blessings!
Spirit Prayer
September 8, 2014
John 17:20-26
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 24″Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. 25″Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
Spirit Prayer
Sweet Spirit whisper into my heart,
Move through every part.
Dear voice of God, instruct me in my way,
Even help me as I pray.
Gentle Spirit Breeze,
Move me how You please.
Living in what is pure and true,
Moving and having my being in You.
Mighty Spirit of fire and power,
Transform me in this final hour,
Expression of God in me,
Instrument to set creation free.
Spirit manifest and Christ revealed,
Jesus break this final seal.
Bring forth your life from this broken earth,
Bring to maturity this second birth.
Spirit that raised Christ from the dead,
Join us now in the fullness of the Head.
Make our body of one mind,
That, which we travail for, let us find.
Spirit of God and power in me,
There is no longer me, but only Thee.
You are the righteousness, by which I stand,
I am the expression of Your hand.
Spirit full of love and grace,
Cause me now to see your face.
Beholding only You as I walk my course,
You are my everlasting power and source.
Amen
Kent Stuck
Blessings,
#kent
Longsuffering
January 31, 2014
Longsuffering
Ephesians 4:1-3
I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Longsuffering, patience, forbearance are all attributes of our heavenly Father and those that are to be a part of our nature and behavior as we walk in the Spirit. Many of us might have to admit that longsuffering and patience is not one of our stronger areas. We have goals, agendas, deadlines and most of us are in the rat race of moving a hundred miles an hour through life trying to get as effectively and quickly from one point to the next in the shortest amount of time. Time is a commodity that is precious to us. There never seems to be enough of it. We are usually rushing from the time our feet hit the floor until, exhausted, we fall into bed. Invariably in our race through life there are the slow pokes, the obstacles, the things that don’t go right, the obstructions to what we have our eyes fixed on as our next destination. Those are the things that raise our blood pressure, push our buttons and often cause us to get very irritable and impatient. Without realizing it we want everyone to be patient with us when we take our slow sweet time, or impede the procession of life in some way, but we have a hard time dealing with being on the other end. All of these objectives we have and time crunches we are in make it very hard for us to be patient and longsuffering. The human element and personalities of others often just drive us up the wall, because they aren’t meeting our expectations.
We can even see the frustration of God’s heart when He deals with us time after time, after time with areas of our lives and we don’t seem to want to change or lay hold of it. We read the rebukes of Jesus sometimes, even with the disciples, because what should be plain, they don’t get. Yet Jesus doesn’t scream and shout, throw up His hands and walk away, He forbears with them. All of us are aware in dealing with the dynamics of human relationships we can all become frustrated, which can lead to impatience and anger. Then we end up acting and saying things that latter we feel like a horse’s rear end for having done.
Think about Sunday morning, you’re trying to get ready and get to church on time, but somebody is in slow mode. You hate walking in after things have already started, but its looking like you are going to be late again. Frustration is building, you continue to ask if they are about ready, the other person begins to get irritated with your irritation and impatience, words start to be exchanged and before you know it war has broken out. The trip to church is an exchange of angry words, frustrations and by the time you arrive, you at your spiritual best.
The enemy is at work to always rob our peace and rest in Christ. Sometimes our longsuffering is brought about through a lot of prayer and tongue biting. The flesh, emotions and feelings are often hard to contain and maintain. Isn’t it wonderful that we get so many opportunities to practice? Most all of us struggle in these areas, but we must always be reminded that our position is that of the servant and putting others before ourselves. It is often these surface issues of impatience that cause us to miss the deeper needs of people and how God would have us to minister to them. We always have to remind ourselves that God’s business is our priority and not our own. Sometimes I think God puts obstacles in our way to force us to slow down. I’m convicted that I don’t want to become and be like God’s people of old, “For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and [their] ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with [their] eyes, and hear with [their] ears, and should understand with [their] heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them (Matthew 13:15).” Where would you and I be today without the longsuffering of our Father? We wouldn’t even exist.
Sometimes the one I get most impatient with is myself, for all the stupid mistakes I make and all of the things I forget, but then, if it does nothing else, it should serve to give me patience and longsuffering with others; being as forbearing with them as I must be with myself. As the Australian’s say, “ No worries mate.” Let’s slow done and be aware of how God wants to move in us and though us, even in those often frustrating times and events that touch our lives. We are learning to be His expression and that can only come through longsuffering and patience.