Image if you will, the race of a lifetime. Picture the course. 100kilometers of mountain terrain. Rocky slops, heat the melts candles. Then the prize! The prize for those who win the race. All expenses paid trip to anywhere in the world for 2 months. You sign up for the race because, you want to win that prize! It is your goal! It is what your heart desires!
Then, the day of the race! Your pumped! Your heart is racing with excitement! Your feet trembling with anticipation for the moment to run. They raise the flag and you’re off running your heart out! 5kilometers. 10, then 25! You begin to feel tired. You may even begin to question is this really worth the prize! 50 kilometers you are half ways done and you feel half ways dead. You want to quiet. Your body is screaming at you! 50 kilometers more seems like an eternity. It is at this moment that you need to persevere! What is perseverance? Defined by the dictionary it is an act of continued, patient effort. So, it is an action. What is an action? An action is made up of willpower, the ability to take the willpower for something and put it into motion! Idea + willpower= action. An action is our choice, something that we must do. So perseverance is a choice, and action that we choose to take. No one can persevere for us, we have to do it ourselves. How does the Bible define perseverance? In Ephesians 6:18 the word to describe perseverance is persistency. In other words, not giving up but pressing on. What does Hebrews 12:1 say? “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”. Run with patience or run with PERSEVERFANCE. And what else did that verse say? Looking where? Looking at the difficult journey? Looking at the trials and difficulties that lay in the course? Looking at other people around us? No! It says, “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith!” Why are we looking to Jesus? Philippians 3:8, “Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ”. Paul is saying, “Come on people! Seriously? This race is nothing! All the training, pain, and difficulty in running this race is nothing compared the PRIZE that await me at the end”…Then in Hebrews he says, “So run your race with patience and when things get tuff look to Jesus to remember why you are running!”. What is our race? It ranges from small to big. From short to long. We have our race work. Maybe we’ve been doing well with our fincas or jobs but it feels like we hit a wall now. What about the race of marriage. Every marriage has its ups and downs. What if one day you wake up and think, “who is this person I married? How can I keep my marriage going? This is harder than I thought? Then there is the race if children, leadership, and so many others. What are we going to do when we hit a wall? What are we going to do when the road just seems to go nowhere and the course is hard? Are we going to quit our job and give up? Will we end our marriage thinking that it will be easier? Do we give up on our children or abandon them? What will you do? There is only one thing, PERSEVERE! Run with patient the race that is set before you! Will it be hard, yes! Will the road be tuff, yes! Listen to Solomon in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, to everything there is a season and a time! There will be easy days in our race and hard and persevering days. But we will NEVER, NEVER get the prize if we give up! Where would Joseph be if he gave up when he was sold as a slave? Not in Potiphar’s house. What if Joseph said it was just too hard in prison and he committed suicide? He would never have been second in command over Egypt and help save thousands of lives. Where would Daniel be if he gave up while in the lion’s den? Or what would have become of him? We would not have had those amazing prophecies and visions about the end times. Where would Paul be if through all his sufferings he said, “No more. I quiet!”. Where would Jesus be if He said, “The cross is too much for me, I’m out of here”. If you throw in the towel, what will become of you? Where will you end up? What will you gain by quitting? All our races are important. But one of the most important races that we should never quit is our spiritual one! The Bible says, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul” Mark 8:36. Why save myself, my body, my pride, my social statues, my wallet, my home, my job, my friends admiration, to quit my race and lose all of that in the end? Many run the race to get to heaven but not many run the ultimate race of Mount Zion! Psalm 24 asks, “who shall ascend the hill of the Lord”. Who shall run up that hill and win Mount Zion as their dwelling place with God”. Who shall sacrifice all and leave all for the sake of dwelling with Christ? I will tell you who, the faithful! Not the called, not the chosen, but the faithful! You can be called to run a race. Hey, Miss Johnson, I would like to enter you into the qualifications for this race. That does not win you the prize. Hey Mr. Smith, you have qualified and have been chosen to run in this race. That does not win you the prize. Congratulations, Mr. Brown! You where faithful to the end, you win the race! Perseverance, continues, patient effort wins the race and the prize! Friends, we are now in times that require us to get up and run or quit. There is no in between. It is one or the other. If right now you can’t persevere in the small things, how will you persevere when the bigger things come? I’m preaching to myself here. There are many things in my life that I have had to learn to persevere in the small because it has created in me discipline, faithfulness, and perseverance so that when the bigger comes, my muscles are ready to take on a greater challenge. This question is for me too. An honest and open question. How are we going to get through the difficult times when the Anti-Christ is here, and persevere if right now we don’t perceiver to read our Bibles daily? How are you and I going to be able to run our race when the enemy is attacking very heavy if right now, we don’t persevere in getting our life straightened out? Let me tell you, it is not 5 years from now, it is not tomorrow that you beginning training and preparing for a race. It is NOW! How are we going to be faithful runners if we are not practicing faithfulness right now, in the small things! How are we going to look to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith when we are going through a hard time in our race if we do not begin to practice that NOW! We have to persevere! Run with patient, continual, patient effort to get to our goal to our prize! And you know what happens to those who persevere! They become an overcomer! WHY!? Because they overcome those obstacles, the pressed on toward the mark! THEY WERE VICTORIOUS and it all started with perseverance! What awaits us at the finish line? What do we get if we persevere and become an overcomer? Revelation 2:7, “to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life”. Revelation 2:11, “He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death”. Revelation 2:26, “and he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations”. Revelation 3:5, clothed in White garments, name not blotted out from the book of life, and Jesus shall confess his name, the name of the overcomer before the Father and His angels… Revelation 3:12, a pillar in the temple of my God, the name of my God shall be written upon him and the name of the city of my God, New Jerusalem, and Jesus will write on him a new name! Revelation 3:21, “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne” (Even as I persevered!) Revelation 21:7, says the overcomer shall inherit all things. Remember, we lost all, we gave it all up and now we have inherited it all! But to be put over all things, to receive inheritance, to get those prizes, you have to be found faithful! The Lord asks, in Luke 12:42, who is that, where is that faithful servant so that I can make him ruler over my household? In other words, where is that person who persevered and was faithful to the end? I want to say to him, well done, Good and faithful servant! Closing You are running a race. It is the race of your life! You come to a hard part in the journey and what will you do! Your marriage seems to be failing apart, your job is at risk, your spiritual race is becoming harder! What are you going to do! PERSEVERE! There is no other option! If you want things to be better you have to persevere! If you want to be an overcomer you have to push through the pain! You have to climb that mountain! You have to endure persecution, criticisms, hatred, rejection, people turning against you! There is a price you have to pay! Are you willing to persevere? Don’t look at the road, don’t look to the right or to the left! Look where? To JESUS the author and finisher of your faith, your ultimate prize! Look to what you will receive if you persevere and overcome! Put your eyes on Jesus! It will be hard! That is why you have to persevere, continual, patient effort to get to the end! Be faithful! Run your race! Finish well! Hit the Mark! Become and Overcomer! Remember, Revelation 17:14 those who are with the King of kings, with the Lamb are those who are have been called, chosen, and were found faithful! Those who PERSEVERED!
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AuthorHi everyone! My name is Joy. I live in Costa Rica and absolutely LOVE writing (no, I'm not crazy! LOL). I love sharing what's on my heart with the hope that it will make some's day just a little better than yesterday. I love spreading joy, hope, peace, goodness, and most especially, I love sharing about the truth and true love. I hope that my writings, though not something I do everyday, will be of great encouragement to you. |