09/10/2025
Have you prepared yourself for the challenges of faith ahead? Are you ready for the trials that lie before you, or are you totally out of spiritual shape? Be as Jesus was... ready for the moment of God's calling... be ready to join the Father in the race of your life.
“Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.”
2 Timothy 2:21 ESV
Are we prepared for honorable use? Have we been training like an athlete who prepares to run a great race?
“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”
1 Corinthians 9:24-27 ESV
Olympians prepare most of their lives to run a single race. Once run, it is in the past and there is no hope of ever running it again. If by chance they injure themselves and can't run; well, that opportunity is gone forever. Our lives and faith are the same... when it is done and we stand before our Lord in judgement; the race will have been run and all that is left is for us to face the results of our effort. Will we stand with a wreath upon our head, or go down in defeat with our heads hung low?
My wife used to run half marathons, and to prepare herself she trained day after day. She ran, and watched her diet carefully to ensure that it was healthy, and that her meals provided the nourishment she would need. The training was difficult and occasionally she would be hurting and need rehabilitation or encouragement, but when the day of the race came, she was ready, and I cheered her on as she crossed the finish line. The training was hard, but the victory was sweet. For her the victory wasn’t finishing ahead of all the other runners, no, she competed against herself and was victorious when she completed the race at a better pace than her previous races.
“So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll. And he said to me, "Take and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey."”
Revelation 10:9 ESV
In our spiritual lives we need to practice every day and consume those things that will nourish us and give us strength for the race ahead. We shouldn’t be lax or wooed by the worldly who long to see us fail, no, we should be fed and encouraged by the Word of God. The Slacker can't stand to be in the presence of those who prepare themselves. He is reminded of his own failing.
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Romans 12:2 ESV
Are we running a good race? Are we running against our best effort from the day before?
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for the spiritual preparation you provide for me as I prepare for the race before me. Thank you for the pain of training, and for the suffering and various injuries that strengthened me in my resolve as I ran. Lord, bolster my determination in those times when I am lax in my prayers or remiss in the study of your Word. Bring me to my prayer chair in tears, and supplication when I disappoint myself and in great joy when I have successfully completed each race. Let me see your Son Jesus as I pray to you in His name because although I claim my victory by running against myself, He is the great champion of my faith and wears the crown upon His head. Jesus, help me to prepare myself for every task our Father places before me. Then, as I run for Him, please help me hold my pace steady and keep my feet from slipping. Let no stone trip me and place a champion’s wreath upon my head when the race is complete. My desire may be to finish first, but when I run with you, the Christ, there is no second place, and all who pace themselves by following you will receive the champion's share of our Father’s prize when standing beside you at the finish line. Holy Father I run to please you and count myself victorious when you say to me… this is my son in whom I am well pleased, because at that moment I will be standing Christ-like in the glory of your love. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God and your presence is the greatest of all prizes. Holy are you who cheers me on and welcomes me into your arms at the end of every race… It is then that I am counted among the victorious indeed.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah! Amen!
“When perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Rich Forbes