Finish the Race

14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.— Phil. 3:14 NLT

Phil. 3:12-16 NLT


None of us will achieve perfection while we are clothed in this tent of flesh. However, we can never use that as an excuse for not trying to do better every day. We must keep our eyes and mind focused on Jesus. We must keep pressing onward and upward. Jesus tells us that once we have started the journey with Him, we should never look back.

 Luke 9;61-62 NLT.

Forget the past or satan will use it to beat you up mentally and spiritually every day. God has already forgotten our sinful past. When we grow weary, we should pray and wait upon the Lord, He will give us renewed strength to press on.

Psalm 40:28-31 NLT

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” – Anonymous

Post 09-21-2019

Advertisement

Our God Is God!!

even-smaller-bug-light1

31 “God’s way is perfect.  All the Lord’s promises prove true.
He is a shield for all who look to him for protection.
32  For who is God except the Lord?    Who but our God is a solid rock?
33  God is my strong fortress,    and he makes my way perfect.– 2 Samuel 22:31-33 NLT


2 Samuel 22:31-37

What a mighty God we serve!  No religion can make the claim that we Christians can make about our God.  No religion can make the claim that they have a God who loved them enough to send His only Son to die for them and  redeem them from the curse of sin. There are other so-called gods but they are all dead and buried or if they were only idols having no life, they have been destroyed.  We serve a living God, a risen Savior and we are guided by an indwelling Holy Spirit.  That is why Christianity is not a religion, it is a relationship with a living Lord.  The Bible is a book about our God and what our relationship with Him should be.  How many times have you read a book and wished that you could sit down and talk with the author?  Well, we can do that everyday with the Author and the Finisher of our Bible.  Every day of our lives, we can sit at the feet of Jesus and learn about Him from Him.  When we do that faithfully and obediently, we learn that all of His promises are true.  He is our protector, our Solid Rock, our fortress, our Banner, our Physician and the list goes on and on.  Our God is everything we need when we need it the most.  He cannot and will not fail us.  He is able to deliver us and bring us home to His glory! Praise His Name!!


Jude 24, 25

 

Post 04-25-2016

The Evidence of Things Not Seen

even smaller bug light

1 Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. 2 Through their faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation.​ 3 By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.​ 4 It was by faith that Abel brought a more acceptable offering to God than Cain did. Abel’s offering gave evidence that he was a righteous man, and God showed his approval of his gifts. Although Abel is long dead, he still speaks to us by his example of faith.​ 5 It was by faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying—“he disappeared, because God took him.” For before he was taken up, he was known as a person who pleased God. 6 And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him–Hebrews 11:1-6 (NLT)
Hebrews, Chapter 11, is known as the great faith chapter. It lists those that are in God’s Hall of Fame for the Faithful. We must stay grounded in the Word and continue to ask God to make us more faithful. Our prayer should be like the cry of the Father of the boy possessed by a demon. He said, “I do believe, but help me over come my unbelief” (Mark 9:24). Unbelief or no faith is the sin that caused Jesus to die on the cross for us. All of our sins are just outward expressions of our unbelief. We fear because we do not believe that God can and will take care of us. Over and over in the Bible, God tells us “do not fear”, yet, we fear anyway. He tells us “do not worry” about physical needs, yet we spend a lot of time stressing out over whether we will have enough of this or that. Think about this: “If we can’t trust God to provide the little things, how can we possibly believe that He can save our soul”? What part of “do not” do we not understand? When Jesus, while on the cross, said “It is finished”, He was serious. Our part is to “seek you first the Kingdom of God and all its righteousness”….. The rest of that verse (Matt. 6:33) is God’s business and He is always faithful to take care of His business.
Post 06-17-2015

Don’t Give Up!!!

God is waiting to show you the Way.

God is waiting to show you the Way.

​​1 “I have told you these things to keep you from giving up. 2 People will put you out of their synagogues. Yes, the time is coming when those who kill you will think they are offering service to God. 3 They will do this because they have not known the Father and they have not known me. 4 I have told you these things now so that when the time comes you will remember that I warned you. “I did not tell you these things at the beginning, because I was with you then. 5 Now I am going back to the One who sent me. But none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?–John 16:1-5 NCV
​Jesus is warning His disciples and us th​at there will be times when the path will not be so smooth. There will be times when we are mistreated and offended for the Gospel’s sake, but we need to press on. Paul thought he was doing a service for God when he was persecuting and killing Christians. He was walking in darkness but he encountered a powerful Light that changed his life. As long as Jesus was here with the disciples He knew that He would be the target for all the abuse. But now that He was leaving, He knew that He had to reinforce the things He had been teaching them. We need that same encouragement every day in our lives. It is easy for us to become frustrated and want to give up, but we have a friend that sticks closer to us than a brother. He is always with us. As Paul learned after his life-changing event, we must suffer with Christ. There is a cross for each of us to bear. But we must remember and hang onto the conclusion that Paul came to in his journey.
18 The sufferings we have now are nothing compared to the great glory that will be shown to us. 19 Everything God made is waiting with excitement for God to show his children’s glory completely.—Romans 8:18,19 NCV
6 God began doing a good work in you, and I am sure he will continue it until it is finished when Jesus Christ comes again–Philippians 1:6 NCV

Post 02-10-2015

Run With Courage and Endurance

God is waiting to show you the way.

God is waiting to show you the way.

1​ ​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 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.​ ​Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. 3 Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up. 4 After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin.–Hebrews 12:1-4 (NLT)
The people we read about in Chapter 11, successfully completed the course Jesus had laid out for them. Now, they are in heaven, cheering us on as we run our races. Just as we see worldly runners using lighter and lighter attire for their races, we must get down to our spiritual running weight. We do this by getting rid of all the cares and worries of this world. Jesus instructs us to “cast our cares upon Him”. When we do this, we are spiritually lighter and ready to run. We must stay focused on the prize, an eternity with Jesus. We do this by focusing on what Jesus did while He was here on earth and imitating Him. He is our hero and our champion. If we stay faithful and run with endurance to the finish line, we will be rewarded. We will be offended in this world, but most of us will never be offended to the point of dying for Jesus. Since we probably won’t have to die for Jesus, let’s live for Him.
Post 08-04-14