Hebrews 12:1-3 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress or trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith from start to finish.[a] He was willing to die a shameful death on the cross bc of the joy he knew would be his afterward. Now he is seated in the place of highest honor beside God’s throne in heaven. Think about all he endured, when sinful people did such terrible things to him, so that you don’t become weary and give up.
I’m reading through the book Unstoppable by Christine Cain right now. It is so good that I wanted to share some of it over the next couple of weeks. In the book she is talking about our race, our faith race, she is comparing it to a relay race. In a relay you must pass the baton to your teammate. This faith race we are in isn’t a solo race. We have partners in this race, we are a team just as the bible says we are one body with many parts. It takes every one of us doing our part to be a fully functioning body. We all must enter the race understanding we all have a part. In the faith race there are no bleachers for spectators, we are ALL in the race. We can’t sit down and miss our part, our opportunity to live out the call God has on our life to pass the baton of faith off to the next generation. We must pass the baton of faith, the Word, to the next generation.
We do not want generations lost in this race. Generations that do not know God. How tragic that we miss this calling. The story of Esther comes to mind when I think of generations being lost or saved. In the story of Esther, generations of Jews were saved because she did what God was calling her to do even though it could have cost her life. A decree had been made to kill every Jew but she stepped up and did what she knew she had to do. Generations saved. Her first response when she found out about the decree was to fast. Is this our first response? I know so many situations would have a different outcome if our first response was to fast and pray and seek the Lord. What situation are you facing right now that maybe you need to fast and pray about? You never know, as Esther had no idea, what the outcome will be. Generations could be saved!
Can you think of who passed the baton of faith to you? I know I had a grandmother that ran her race well. Her family was affected by her life and prayers. I was affected and my children were affected. Generations affected because a grandmother decided to run her race well and live her life running for Jesus, being obedient to Jesus, faithfully praying for her family.
How do we run and endure this race? We run because we know what Jesus did for us on that cross. The love He has for us to die for each of us. That makes me want to run and live my life for Jesus. How do we continue and endure until the end? Jesus endured until the end. We keep our eyes on the cross remembering what He has done, remembering His life and all that He endured up until His last breath. This revelation of what He has done for us gets us started and keeps us running until we hear, well done my good faithful servant.
Are you ready to run for Jesus? Get in position! On your mark, get set, lets go!!
Join me next week for more about running unstoppable for Jesus!!
❤️ Michelle
