Finishing the Race

     The other day I stopped by to visit with a dear old friend, we spent a couple of hours just talking about old times, how things have changed and what has happened to our loved ones the last twenty years.  There were so many things I wanted to ask him and tell him.  I couldn't bring myself to ask the things that have weighed heavy on my mind about church splits, rumors I had heard, why he made this decision and that one. I wanted to pick his brain, I wanted to know so many things.
He was tired and still plugging along.  This man was so much a part of my past, training me up to be the mature Christian I eventually became, I can still hear his voice repeating sound good advice in my head when the occasion arose that I needed to hear it again.  I love this man and his family.
    I cried on my way home from the visit. I asked the Lord, "please explain to me what has happened and what is happening with this man I love so dearly like a father".

My mind began to flash back to scriptures about running the race of faith.

Acts 20:24 However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.
2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

This man will finish the race, he has touched so many lives and the Lord began to show me the other side of the rumors, he has been betrayed and hurt by those he loved. He has not been understood and has had very few people he could trust and those he trusted betrayed him instead of coming along side of him and giving him a hand up. In the end God will say," Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!"

Its not about winning the race, its about the journey of the race, those of us that have been fighting for a long time might be the last to come in to the winners circle and we may be dragging our feet and out of breathe but we will make it.  Those of us dragging are dragging the heavy load of our fellow brothers and sisters also. 

So why is it that we feel we have to go and tell people what they are doing wrong? Why do we feel that we are better than them and know what they should or shouldn't be doing.  We should be coming along side of them and praying for them and speaking all good things for them so our Heavenly Father will hear and lift them up to a place that they can stand on their own feet once again. 

Galatians 5:7 You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. 
I don't want to be the one who cut in and kept someone from obeying the truth.  Do you?

Pillars of the Temple

Pillars of the temple

2 Chronicles 3:17  He erected the pillars in the front of the temple, one to the south and one to the north. The one to the south he named Jakin and the one to the north Boaz.

Revelation 3:12 The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will they leave it. I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on them my new name.

 

     "Its time for my people to stand up and take their rightful place standing before the Throne calling Me Father." Your shepherds and your intercessors are worn out praying for you.  Time to take up the fight and hold their hands up. "

 

As the church we have been spectators sitting back like watching a TV show on Sunday mornings, leaving the service saying that was a good sermon or I didn't feel it.  We have idolized the leaders of TV ministries or in our own pulpit crying out to our shepherds, help me, fix me, pray for me, feed me, me, me, me, me. 

 

I declare all who read this today that you will take your place and help others, fix others, pray for others, feed others, the lost, the hungry, the broken, the abused, the orphans, the widows, the prostitute, the homeless, the little children. 

"Lord, I pray today that all those reading this their eyes will be opened to the truth of their calling in You and their ears will be opened to hear Your voice and they will understand who they are in You. " In Jesus precious Name

 

I realize this will probably not get a lot of "shares" or comments but I don't write things for attention, I write that you might seek the Father a little deeper or for the first time if you never had before.

God bless you all today and forever.

9-11

  

Annual Tribute in Light tested in New York's Lower Manhattan as a man takes a picture at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, New Jersey, September 9, 2013.

 

  Today is a day of remembering the horrific tragedy that our country suffered. Everyone is asking "where were you when the towers fell?"  Anyone that was at any age of understanding can recall exactly where they were and the emotions they felt. Feelings of total shock, vulnerability, fear, anxiety, even panic were running high on our emotions meter.
     I was working in a call center for an unemployment office and many people called in with questions on their claims just to turn the conversation into "Did you hear what happen?" and everyone wanted to be consoled and know they were not alone in the things they were feeling.  I remember some of the people in the office were terrified and thinking the world was going to end. I did my best to show my faith and my hope in the Lord and I was reminded by my Heavenly Father that there is nothing in this world that happens that can affect who I am in Him.  Physical circumstances do not dictate my destiny.  Only God alone determines my destiny and no matter how dire the situation surrounding me, God is with me and has equipped me with all the weapons and tools that I need to overcome anything.  Even if the body is destroyed, I will live on in eternity worshiping at the foot of the Throne with everyone that has gone before me.  There is a peace and a calmness that comes over me in the midst of tragedy that can only come from my Father who loves me more than anything or anyone could on this earth.  That doesn't mean I don't feel the emotions, but I have learned to not dwell on them, they are meaningless and change constantly and cannot be relied on as a source of truth in my life. 
     I challenge you today to not look at the past through your emotions and seek to find the miracles that came out of the rubbish and the terror.  So many stories of heroic people, God miraculously rescuing people, a renewed pride in being an American, and most of all people coming together to protect and help their fellow man. 

1 Corinthians 16:13  Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.

 

1 Peter 5:9  Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

 

Psalms 56:11 In God I trust and am not afraid. What can man do to me?

 

^{Go out and be a blessing to someone today.}