How to Run with Perseverance

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How can we persevere today?

Hebrews 12:1-2

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything

that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked

out for us.  Let 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.

God is for us! 

Our God is in control! 

We see this reminder in Hebrews 12 that He is with us today…”that such a great cloud of witnesses” – men and women who have gone before us and paved the way for us, surrounds us.  I like to look at this as our cheerleaders encouraging us today.

Let us throw off everything that hinders us – WEIGHS US DOWN – and the sin.  It is not just talking about the sin, but the weight and the sin that entangles us and keeps us back from running God’s race for us.

Challenge

What is hindering you from giving your all to the Lord today? 

What barriers are in your way today? 

What weight are you carrying today?

What is keeping you back from running the race God has set for you today?

What are you about to face that is going to be difficult? 

On the spiritual aspect of things, specifically, what sin do you need to confess before the Lord and throw off, or cast away? 

The Lord has a race for us to run today – His race, not our race.  No matter what our desires are for the day with our lists, expectations and more - they have to be put under God’s priority list for the day.  That is a difficult thing to do!! 

What does this race look like?  I do no know, but I am confident it is filled with hope and excitement.  Looking even deeper - this race must be run with perseverance!  There will be some tough hills to climb and some valleys to go through, but we are encouraged to run the race.

How do we run today with perseverance – FIX OUR EYES ON JESUS!  He is our perfect example to follow!  He has gone before us and seen the difficulty of running a race by enduring the cross and experiencing shame.  He endured such opposition, why?  So that you would not lose heart and not be weary, but endure and face adversity with the strength of the Lord.

From the Message Bible - 

12  Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God.

Prayer – What adversity are you experiencing today?  What sin is in your life that is prohibiting you from experiencing the race God has called you to run?  Lord, teach us to fix our eyes on you and run the race in front of us with perseverance. 

The Journey Begins

1 Peter 4:10 - Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.

Devotional 1 - Journey Begins

Setting out on an adventure – we are prepared and equipped, but what is in front of us is unknown.  What are our expectations?  What opposition will we face?  We are excited about the unknown, yet anxious about the unknown.  Are we equipped to do what is in front of us?  Did we do what we were supposed to do to prepare for this moment?  What if something goes wrong or not as planned?

We are feeling all of these emotions – real emotions.  Here is the beautiful thing.  Right now, GOD IS IN CONTROL!  He has orchestrated everything in your life and prepared you for this very moment to face this day and whatever this day presents.  (1 John 5:18-20)

1 John 5:18-20 - ¹⁸ We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him. ¹⁹ We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. ²⁰ We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true—even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

We must understand that God goes before us today!

Deuteronomy 1:30-31 - ³⁰ The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, ³¹ and in the desert. There you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.”   Moses offers even more encouragement to Joshua with these words. Deuteronomy 31:8 - ⁸ The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”  What great words of comfort for us today!

How should we respond to this?  Micah 6:8 – “He has showed you, O man, what is good.  And what does the Lord require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

The only thing required of you and me today is to act justly, love with mercy and walk humbly with the Lord.  The people we meet today are no different than you and me.  We are all created in the image of God.  We are all His children.  Because we have been given a privilege of living in difference circumstances does not give us the right to act unjustly towards anyone.  We are not riding in on a great white horse to save the day.  We do not have all the answers.  We are servants of the Lord sent from God.  Our Goal is to serve those He puts before us. 

To live out this challenge today, we need to understand that it will take an act of total surrender to God.  We must totally surrender our all – everything to Him today.  We must rely on God’s amazing spirit to lead us and to give us power to meet whatever faces us.

Acts 1:8 – “But you will receive power when the Holy Sprit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

We go out today in the power of God through His spirit to serve the widows and orphans that are in need.  (James 1:27)  We are going out today to be the hands and feet of Jesus to those who are literally dying, physically, emotionally and spiritually.  We are going out today to love the unlovable, to care for the broken-hearted and to share hope to the hopeless.  (Matthew 10:42)  We cannot do this on our own, but only through the power of God in and through us.

Micah 6:8 – “He has showed you, O man, what is good.  And what does the Lord require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

James 1:27 - Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Matthew 10:42 – And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.

Isaiah 41:13 - For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.

Deuteronomy 13:4 - It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him.

1 Peter 5:17 – Cast all your anxiety on the Lord, for he cares for you.

We need to move past ourselves and move into the hearts of the men, women, children we will be meeting and reaching out to today.

Prayer for the day:  Acknowledge God as the God who is in control.  Pray for him to lead you to act justly, in mercy and to walk humbly before Him today.  Claim Isaiah 41:13 today, that the Lord, your God, who is with you will help you in any situation today – Do not fear, trust God.  In Jesus Name, Amen

God Loves You - Just the way you are.

Fact – God Loves You!

Fact – God has an amazing plan for your life

Fact – You are fearfully and wonderfully made in God’s IMAGE

Fact – You are beautiful – just the way you are

Fact – Like it or not, you are who you are – unique, silly, quirky, odd and different – yes you cannot run from who you are.

We all struggle to fit in at times in our lives with school, sports, church, family and more.  We have this desire to be accepted for who we are.  Sometimes we desire this so much that we have compromised who we are and be accepted.  I think we have all been in these situations. 

Concern I have for us today - If we are all seeking acceptance from others all the time as our focus, might I challenge us all today with this thought-provoking question…If we are so intent about seeking acceptance, then who are you trying to win over?  What is your motivation to be accepted?

Listen to the struggle this teenager has in her life…

Why am I so obsessed with being accepted by others?

I think that I am less important than other people and I'm always complaining about my appearance and I feel really insecure about how I Iook.  I feel really bad because I will say I look ugly all the time and sometimes when I think that I don't look horrible I will still say that I look bad anyway so people will say 'no you don't look bad' and if they don’t that's because they think I'm ugly and if they say that I'm not ugly they're just lying and the think I'm ugly anyway. I hate that I do it but I can't stop.  I think that I'm a failure at almost anything and all I do is daydream about being pretty and smart and people liking me and then I think that I must be an egomaniac for thinking that. I hate that I live in an imaginary world where everyone likes me.  I really want to stop hating myself and comparing me to other people. I can't stop.  I always compliment people endlessly even if what they did wasn’t good . I hate making people unhappy and I just keep making them want to like me.
please help me stop thinking I'm horrible. I hate myself for dreaming of being superior to others. I'm really full of myself.

She is struggling to be accepted for who she is.  She is seeking self, looks and popularity as her self-worth.  She is placing her dependence on what others think of her more than what God things of her.  Listen to this statement.

“The desire to be accepted by others is a distortion of the desire God has placed in each of us to be accepted and affirmed by God.  REALITY – The ultimate acceptance and affirmation we need can only come from God.”

Why do we feel unacceptable?  Simply – SIN.  Listen to what Isaiah has to say - Isaiah 64:6 says, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.”  Our best effort to be accepted will ALWAYS come up short.  Because of sin, we will never measure up or be good enough.  Comforting thought, huh.

Truth and reality - acceptance can ONLY come through God and understanding the sacrifice His son, Jesus made for us on the cross.  We can continue to seek acceptance in other things, but you will NEVER FIND IT! 

Romans 5:12; 18-19

You know the story of how Adam landed us in the dilemma we’re in—first sin, then death, and no one exempt from either sin or death.  Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another person did it right and got us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble, he got us into life! One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong; one man said yes to God and put many in the right.

Can I encourage you to do a very difficult thing?  Can you train yourself to view yourself through the eyes of God and not the eyes of man?  Allow these verses to help you in your journey with your search for significance.

John 15:5 - “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

2 Corinthians 5:17 - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

Ephesians 1:7-8 - In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.

John 1:12 - Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God

Question – Have you ever given your all and given your life to Jesus to receive eternal acceptance?

Casting Your Cares

1 Peter 5:7 says, "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."

Cast = Throwing out in front of you - away from yourself
All = leaving nothing behind - an entire object leaving nothing behind
Anxiety = worry, bottled up fear, hesitation, fear of letting go
Him = God, the Father and Creator of the universe and man-kind
Cares = to be selfless, to think or serve someone else in a kind way
You = An individual who is in need of a Savior

So, after defining this verse, here is how it reads in the Keith Tyler Version...

Throwing everything out in front of you, leave nothing behind; all your worry, bottled up fear, hesitation of letting go of life or fear of the unknown, and place them on your God, the Father and Creator of the universe and mankind.  You see, this God we speak of, cares for you.  He is a very loving, kind and selfless God and desires for you, an individual who is nothing without Jesus, to trust Him.

God is here for us.  Are you casting all your cares on Him today?

Check Your Attitude

Checking our attitudes can be a very healthy, but difficult thing to do.  Some days our attitudes are so positive and it is easy to deal with life's opportunities, and other days our attitudes can be as sour as biting into a lemon with no reservation!  In either situation, our attitudes make a difference in how we live our life.

Our pastor, John Mark, is beginning a new sermon series this week and the first topic is on ATTITUDE. In order to prepare my heart for this series, I had to take an honest evaluation of my attitude, with myself, my wife, family, friends, work and ministry.  WOW, I can tell you that I struggle at times with my attitude. I want to be positive and on top of my thoughts, emotions and actions, and it all deals with my approach to my attitude.

How can I work to have the right attitude?  Well, of course I turn to the Bible to see the example Christ has taught us about our attitude.  Might we read these words and allow them to encourage us as we follow Him and work on our attitudes today.

Philippians 2:1-11 (Imitating Christ’s Humility)

If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, ² then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. ³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. ⁴ Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. ⁵ Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:⁶ Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,⁷ but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.⁸ And being found in appearance as a man,he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross! ⁹ Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,¹¹ and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

What an amazing example we have for living our lives in true humility and as a result, our attitudes brings Glory to God.  So, how is my attitude?  Is it bringing Glory to God?  Think through that today.