Psalms 25:4-5
Show me the right path, O LORD; point out the road for me to follow. Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me.
In my experience most people, on their first race, learn a hard lesson about pacing ones self. You get excited about the atmosphere and the seasoned runners take off at the gun and you do your best to maintain that incredible pace only to find yourself exhausted by the first mile. This is a learning experience that prepared you for every race you will run from that point forward. Each new distance race becomes a valuable lesson, that better prepares you for the marathon.
1 Corinthians 13:7
Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstances.
These races are the trials, and to prepare for the races you need to train. Our faith walk is no different. Life is going to throw all kinds of trials at us, and if we aren’t training in between trials we will hit that wall! Our flesh desires things that we as Christians are called to walk away from and the world is loud. Without daily time spent one on one with God His voice gets quiet as the world gets louder. We train for these trials by spending time alone with God in prayer, praise and study. Trying to live your life from Sunday to Sunday without any quiet time with God is like waking up one day and running a marathon without ever having learned the discipline of running, it's crazy!
Galatians 5:24
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.
We live in a broken world. It is not how God intended it, but with that first sin came destruction to the way things should have been. There are natural disasters, children die, loved ones get sick, there is mental illness taking hold of lives and evil spreading around the world. This was not Gods design, but when sin entered the world it broke the world. Not to say we are without hope, because we have much hope! God provided a way for us to spend eternity with Him through His Sons death and resurrection. In the mean time this broken world is our temporary home and we will face trials.
Psalms 84:11
For the LORD God is our sun and our shield. He gives us grace and glory. The LORD will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right.
Colossians 1:21-22
This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.
When you take time out for God, He has the opportunity to encourage you and to guide you. To open your eyes to the things that He wants to show you that help you prepare for a trial that may be coming your way. God has all the answers, although He may not share every one with us, but He knows what He is doing none the less. There is no answer for why loved ones get sick and die or why cyclones rip apart nations. Sadly it is just part of the broken world we live in. Everything does not happen for a reason, but God will get us through everything if we take hold of Him.
Romans 8:38-39
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present not the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I used to be one of those people who didn't feel it necessary to train for anything. I didn't train for races and I certainly didn't train my faith. I trusted in myself when I had to face these challenges and I came up short! You can't run a race untrained! You may finish, but it can leave you injured and it certainly won't be the best you could have done. You can't get through life without faith training. It's impossible to make it through all that we face in life without God helping us. You may think that you can do it without God, but you are missing out on so much. You aren't living up to your potential and in the end if you don't come to God you will spend an eternity separated from Him. God knows us intimately, He created us for a specific plan and purpose and if we don't seek Him we may miss out on things He wants to show us about ourselves. When we are living for God, He is constantly changing us and molding us into His new creation. We can't do that without being in a living relationship with Him! I would never expect my marriage to thrive if Ryan and I didn't talk daily. In fact when he is gone for extended periods, which is common for a pilot, you can feel the bit of separation of intimacy that occurs rather quickly. It's then important to get back into communication so that we can stay connected and continue to grow with each other. It is the same with God, we need to maintain a daily relationship to grow intimately with Him.
Psalms 16:8
I know the LORD is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.
People are desperately searching for purpose in this life. They feel broken and lost and they are hurting. We have people so broken that they don't even accept their own God given gender. We try to mask the brokenness by getting others to support us in our broken state, but there is nothing in this world that can satisfy what was meant to be filled by God. The rise of new churches teaching that "God just wants us to be happy so we should do what we feel like doing" just shows how broken we are. God is not so concerned with our happiness, He is concerned with our eternity and we are to be very careful of false teachings like these.
When I found out that I couldnt bear children part of my identity broke. Instead of finding myself in God I tried to find myself in relationships, drinking, and promiscuity. Nothing filled that void. I even altered my body attempting to make myself more attractive since my empty womb left me feeling like nothing and doubting that any decent man would ever want me. I regret the way I tried to change myself instead of letting God show me who I was. I hurt over the things I did trying to feel like a whole person. I hate the ways I harmed myself and others with this self destructive behavior. It wasn't until I let God fill the hole that was in me that I finally felt complete. I didn't need to get drunk to feel complete, I got drunk to numb the emptiness, but God made me feel complete. I had sex to feel accepted, only I felt more worthless after, but God made me feel desired. I lashed out in anger because of the deep sorrow I secretly faced, but God responded with gentle love. These wounds that we carry as part of this broken world cannot be filled by money, success, sex, relationships or any other earthly thing. God is meant to fill them, and the only way He can do that is to get really personal with us. He gets personal with us when we take the time to get in a place of worship and prayer and one on one with Him. You can't prepare for the trial if you don't take the time to train!
Colossians 1:17
He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Revelation 21:4
‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
Meet with God every day and watch how those trials get easier to navigate. You're still going to have that one "race" every now and then that really kicks your butt! If you are spending time with the LORD every day then it will be something you grow from, not something that beats you! Our final destination is not of this world, we are just passing through. We need to prepare for eternity and God will show the way!
Philippians 4:13
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
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