Running Steadfasty

I Corinthians 9:24-27

“Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I disciplined my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified” (NLT)

Our “walk” in faith is a lot like being an athlete that is running a race. An athlete is disciplined in his training because they all have realized the more effort they put into training the greater they will achieve in the race. In life we all are running a race and it is a very confusing and complex race because each of us have a different starting place and don’t know when we will finish. I like to think of it like this, we all are running this race, starting in different spots, and we all have a compass (the Word of God) to direct us through the paths toward our finish lines. We each don’t know how much farther our race is, for our only job is to run with endurance towards the finish line with endurance. As we run this race, we can help others read their compasses by running alongside them and talking with them but ultimately we are responsible for our own races. Paul encourages us to run our race in faith with discipline so we can win the “eternal prize” of everlasting life.

This really has been challenging me in my faith. I know that I run races like the hair (in the tortoise and the hair fable) and go through seasons of sprinting and then seasons of napping. I also comfort myself in the times when I am asleep by helping others, which gives me the illusion that I am moving forward in my race when I truly am not. I am going to begin to learn how to run my race with discipline and endurance by writing down this verse and putting it in my Bible as a reminder to be aware and pray to God.

Discipline Even When Your Tired

Mark 1:35

“Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed” (NKJV)

We need to take control of our own walks. Many people say “I’ll do it tomorrow”, but then that tomorrow never comes. Others say “I just am not feeling it today” and “I’ll do it when I feel ready”, but they never act in their faith because of their delaying. Faith is not feeling based, nor is it a school assignment that we procrastinate; it is action. For how do we know that someone has faith if they aren’t expressing it? Is that faith then even faith? One of the best ways to know how to live a life of faith is to look at what Jesus, God in flesh, did and learn through His example. In Mark 1 Jesus has been busy teaching and performing miracles until sunset. He must have been extraordinarily tired both physically from the journey and exhausted spiritually from all the pouring out. So when Jesus rose “a long while before daylight”  and prayed, I don’t think He “felt ready” and He most likely felt it would be easy to “do it tomorrow”; yet He didn’t. Jesus simply rises, goes to a quiet place alone and prays to God. We need to have this kind of discipline in our faith: the kind that is disciplined and steadfast, regardless of what happened yesterday and what will happen tomorrow. I have been learning a lot lately that our faith in Christ is lived out day by day. We don’t need to worry about tomorrow or regret yesterday; we just need to live out today for Christ in every moment. We need to everyday come to God in devotion and hear His voice to know the direction He wants to take us.

I am going to apply this verse by praying that God will show me His direction for me today.

Don't Exercise by Routine

I Timothy 4:8

“Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come” (NLT)

When I first read this I thought of all the people who go exercising every morning. They wake up early every morning to work out for hours, most of which do even before their first bite to eat and before their first cup of coffee. I look at these people with respect because it takes most of them discipline to first role out of bed when they could easily hit the snooze button and take the day off saying, “I’ll make up for it tomorrow”.

Exercises has a lot of benefits, and I encourage you try it, but “training for godliness is much better”. This is because when one studies, and puts into practice, Scripture God will bless them here on earth for their loyalty and servitude as well as reward them for their diligent work. Now Timothy doesn’t tell us to read for godliness, but rather to train for godliness. Just as an exercise nut wakes up with the purpose of training and exercising, so should we wake up with the purpose of training in God’s Word. Training isn’t easy because it requires discipline to continually participate in, and be all in to, the activity. We also can’t let our training in the Scripture become a regimen; for as all star athletes change up their routine so it is more impactful, so we also should switch up the regimen so we won’t be stuck in the pit of regimen.

I personally struggle with my faith becoming a regimen, so to prevent this from happening I am going to have my devotionals in another place and change up my pattern of how I begin my morning.

Serving Without Needing to Know

John 15:15

“No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have to call you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.” (NKJV)

Wow. I have thought of myself as a servant who needs to serve his Master, which I do, but I never thought of myself as a friend. What are the best qualities of a friend? What are the best qualities of a master? When I ponder on these questions it seems more and more apparent that Christ is a friend more than a master. A master rules over His servants, commands them and deserves their respect no matter what his plans are. A master sees a need and has a vision, which he commands his servants to complete it task by task without showing them his plans. A friend, on the other hand, comforts you, loves you, cares about you, fellowships with you and serves you. Christ didn’t come to earth “to be served, but to serve” (Matthew 20:28) out of love as a friends have compassion for one another and help one another.

We need to remember that although Christ calls us friends we still need to serve Him. A true, covenantal, friendship involves serving one another out of love. We aren’t supposed to obey as mindless servants that are loyal to their master, but rather as a wife obeys her husband because she loves him.

We need to remember Christ’s reasoning behind calling us friends. He did not say that we are friends because we don’t need to serve. He did not say that we are His friends because we have earned it. Christ said we are His friends and not His servants because He has revealed to us what God has shown Him. In other words, we are solely not considered Christ’s servants because He has shown us His plan, shows us how others are working and shows us how we can help to complete His vision.

To not just serve God, but to begin to understand how to serve God out of love I am going to do the next kitchen cleanup with a loving heart that is there to serve a fellow friend.

Being a Servant on the Off Hours

Luke 17:7-10

“And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’? But will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink. Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded of him? I think not. So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you were commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.” (NKJV)

When I read these verses, I feel a sense of conviction. I have been working on putting servant hood into practice for the last month and a half, doing whatever I can and everything I am asked. I have been working on serving not only in the motions, but with the heart of serving. I have also been working on worshipping God with my service and have thought that I had figured out service and being a servant. But I now realize that there is no “figuring it out”; for being a hardworking, selfless, servant is only achieved through Christ living inside of us and pouring out.

We are all servants working in the field (both needing to faithfully work avidly for Christ as well as work on the mission field). We have our own battles we need to fight and have people we are called to minister to. Most of us Christians have realized this and are serving, while others need to begin, but I believe we are all guilty of being unfaithful servants. I have heard from many sources that the number one reason why missionaries leave mission fields is because of other missionaries. Potter’s Field Ministries has many missionaries in the world preaching the gospel and has a lot of experience in this topic. They say that one problem that all missionaries need to fight through is being a servant both on and off the mission field. In other words, many missionaries can serve God faithfully throughout the day, but when they come home at night they leave their servant hood at the doorstep and are selfish slobs in their house. They were faithful in the field, but then refused to serve when they came home. A servant who serves faithfully in the field, but then refuses to serve his Master is just as bad as the servant who is lazy in the field and refuses to serve his Master; for they are equally failures. Just as we need to have Christ flow into us for us to pour out, so we need to be a servant behind closed doors to be a true servant on the field.

To exemplify what I have learned I am going to pray for a heart of servant hood

Christ's Mighty Power

Philippians 3:10

“I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised Him from the dead. I want to suffer with Him, sharing in His death” (NLT)

Who wants to experience the “mighty power” of Christ? If that were asked in a church, I bet that almost everyone’s hands would be raised in the congregation. When you think of the power of Christ, you think of His miracles. I first think of Jesus casting out demons into swine, walking on water, calming the wind and the waves, healing the sick and wounded, raising Lazarus from the dead, Jesus raising from the dead and Jesus rising up into Heaven. I want that power, but how do I get it? See Paul doesn’t just say he desires this power, but he also desires to “suffer with Him” and share “in His death”. We can only gain this power through death of self by crucifixion. This is a painfully slow process that is never complete until our time on earth is complete. But with that said, the process of death of self is the most rewarding process; for the more you die to self, the more you are filled with Christ and are filled with His power.

Yeah, when it is put this way it seems like a hard but rewarding objective, yet it is easier said than done. For me personally, I struggle with growth in Christ because I struggle with death of self. Before this training program I refused to give certain luxuries I had, but I eventually did and am now in Antigua, Guatemala where I have a set schedule, have no T.V., eat chicken and rice every meal (except breakfast, which is eggs) and I have none of my pleasures that I indulged in at home. Now being here I have learned that with sacrifice of self there is exponential gain, but there are still times where I grudgingly give them to God instead of wanting to do it; for it is important for you to do an act, but for an act to be valued by God you need to do it with the right heart). It is not easy to become willing to die to self, but I pray for all Christians that we may get to a place in our lives where we will yearn for death of self and through that yearning be given life.

To gain a desire to die of self and through that gain Christ’s power, I am going to pray for a yearning for Him to fill me.

Being One with God

Philippians 3:9

“and become one with Him. I no longer count on my righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with Himself depends on faith” (NLT)

How can we become one with God? What does being one with God mean? Is it something we should strive for? When I first think of being one with God, I think of stacking Legos to build a tower. I thought that being one with God means to be a part of God, which is a giant system of parts that make up Him. But this is all wrong thinking; for God does not depend on us, but rather we depend on God. So what is another way of looking at being one with God? My mind then immediately thought of our sins and how we, because of our transgressions, deserve death for not obeying God. God is perfect and sinless, and because we have sinned we are not even with Him. We aren’t one with His purity and are separated from Him. We become one with God is by following His path to Himself. “God’s way of making us right with Himself depends on faith” and is not based on our “righteousness through obeying the law”. Many people fall away from the Christian faith or don’t join it because they don’t understand how going to Heaven does not depend on works. Many believe if they are inherently good that they will be saved, while others believe they need to punish themselves for their sins and that is how they can “become even” with their God; but these are both wrong philosophies. We simply go to Heaven soley through our faith; “through faith in Christ” and through faith in God.

I am going to apply this verse by writing 5 things that I need to give to Christ in faith so I can be even closer to becoming one with Him.

Worthlessness Compared to Infinitude

Philippians 3:8

“Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ” (NLT)

When I read Scripture like this all I can say is “Amen”. Everything on this earth is temporary and is worthless when compared with God’s infinitude and His grace in allowing us to partake in eternity with Him. We need to cast every desire aside to follow Christ and be willing to cast aside anything we “have” on this earth to follow Him. We are all called to be disciples of Christ; which means we need to play “follow the leader” with Him. We need to walk where He walks and do what He does; so we need to be willing to go where He directs and act in boldness with the things He tells us through the Spirit.

I believe that this is very true, as do many Christians, but I don’t always act with this in mind. I have had the Holy Spirit tell me what God wants me to do, but I chose not to do it because I wanted to keep my pride. Other times I have refused to do what God is telling me because I am not willing to give it up. If only I took a step back before I refused Him and thought to myself “Is this worth hurting my relationship with Jesus Christ; the One who gave His everything for me”. I need to count everything as temporary and be willing to get rid of anything and everything so that way I can gain Christ.

To put into practice counting all worthless when compared with God’s infinitude, I am going to dwell on the temporary versus God’s everlastingness in writing.