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Category: Spiritual Life
Six Life-Changing Truths - Part Two
by Anne Richardson
“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, Looking
unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy
that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and
is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners
against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have
not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.” (Hebrews 12:1-4)
In these verses I found six
life-changing truths which teach us that in the race of life:
- You Are Not Running
Alone
- How You Run will Affect
Others
- You Can’t Run with
Weights On
- You Must Run with
Endurance
- Every Obstacle Can be
Overcome
- You Must Stay Focused
to Win
You Must Run With Endurance
Jesus admonished His
disciples with these words; “he that endureth to the end shall be
saved.” (Mat
The Miriam Webster
Dictionary defines endurance as the
ability to withstand hardship or adversity; the ability to sustain a
prolonged stressful effort or activity -a marathon runner’s
endurance. Paul defines the spiritual application of this word
in his letter to the Hebrews. Endurance takes effort!
Paul points out that an
athlete is temperate (controlled) in all things-using the most
rigorous self denial in food, sleep, and every other sensual
indulgence-all for a corruptible crown - A mere garland of leaves,
which must soon wither. How much more ought we to
bring our bodies-our sinful flesh- into subjection and run with
endurance? Our prize is eternal life in the presence of our great
God, Jesus Christ!
Words like self-denial cause
most of us to swallow hard and panic. The
fact is that self doesn’t want to be denied. It doesn’t want to do
things God’s way. It doesn’t want to die. But it has to. It is the
only way we can endure to the end.
And every man that
striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it
to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore
so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the
air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection:
lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself
should be a castaway. (1 Corinthians 9:25-27)
To
imagine that we can build and maintain this kind of endurance on our
own is a foolish thought, indeed. Jesus said: “Take My yoke
upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and
you will find rest for your souls. (Matthew 11:29) In verse 30 he
describes His yoke as easy and His burden as light.
When oxen are physically
yoked together by a wooden frame across their shoulders-their burden
obviously becomes lighter. The animals are able to endure more
because they are sharing the load. Similarly-only
in a spiritual sense-we are yoked with Jesus. We can’t see the yoke.
We have to accept that it’s there by faith and know that as we run
this race of life we are running together with Him. Our endurance
increases as we learn to allow His strength to be made perfect in
weakness. Remember, Jesus said offences will come, but He
also promised that His grace is sufficient. We
need to let Paul’s words to the Corinthians sink deep into our
spirit, “Most gladly
therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of
Christ may rest upon me. (2 Corinthians 12:9)
Our
part is to sink our roots deep into Him-to abide more in Him and to
allow His Word to abide in us. Endurance or longsuffering is one of
the nine fruit of God’s Spirit. It is evidence of a heart that
trusts deeply in God’s Word regardless of what happens.
The purpose and calling of
God in our lives is captured in these words of Jesus: “And you
cannot be my disciple if you do not carry your own cross and follow
me. But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin
construction of a building without first getting estimates and then
checking to see if there is enough money to pay the bills?
(Luke 14:27-28 NL) We must understand that
we are called to follow Him in the way of rejection and suffering.
No matter what shape or form this takes, or by whose hand it comes,
we are called to endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
(2 Timothy 2:3)
Endurance means learning to
face the offences that come our way with a
made up mind. It means being committed to doing
the will of God at any cost. We may not feel like it, our
circumstances may tell us we’re going against all the odds-but when
we submit our will to God-all of the resources of heaven are at our
disposal. Jesus is then “able to do
exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to
the power that worketh in us. (Eph 3:20)
What
is the power that works in us? The Holy Ghost; the Spirit of the
living God inside of you and me- causing us to will and to do of His
good pleasure! (Philippians 2:13) And it doesn’t stop here. By the
Holy Ghost, the love of God has been shed
abroad in our hearts–the love that “believes all things, hopes
all things and endures all things.” (1 Corinthians 13:7) The
Word of God itself “endures forever” (1 Peter
As our Scripture Focus
points out, when we are weary and ready to faint in the midst of our
trials and afflictions, take a moment to “think about all he
(Jesus) endured when sinful people did such terrible things to him,
so that you don’t become weary and give up. After all, you have not
yet given your lives in your struggle against sin consider Him who
endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself.” (NL)
Revisiting
Every Obstacle
Can Be Overcome
Have you ever been driving
somewhere and had to come to a screeching halt because of an
obstacle in the road? Often, after a hurricane or wind storm, giant
trees fall onto the road making it temporarily impassable. A
circumstance or situation can do the same in our lives. At first
glance-things may look hopeless. There doesn’t appear to be any way
over or around. This is the moment when-like that pilot flying in
the fog-we look away to our instrument panel-the Word of God.
We can overcome!
For whatever is
born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has
overcome the world— our faith. (1 John 5:4)
Satan
aims for the heart when we are going through a trial.
He knows that faith quenches
the fiery darts of his lies, so that is exactly what he attacks, our
faith!
In Luke Chapter
22, Jesus warns Peter that satan has desired to have him and to sift
him as wheat. (verse 31) I’m certain this was bad news for Peter,
but the exciting part is what Jesus said in response, “But I have
prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.” (verse 32) Jesus, who
“ever liveth to make intercession for us,”(Hebrews
Satan’s devices haven’t
changed. He tries to make us doubt God’s Word and His faithfulness
toward us. He taunts us by suggesting we won’t make it- that we are
unable to take what we are going through; that we’re never going to
change; that we’re going to lose our mind. Sound familiar? He may
have a fiery dart for every situation, but we are not ignorant of
his devices! (2 Corinthians 2:11) In
Ephesians 6, when Paul instructs us about the individual pieces of
spiritual armor, he says that above all else we must take up our
shield of faith, because with it we will be able to quench
all the fiery darts of the enemy!
(Hebrews 11:1) Faith steps
out on nothing but lands on the solid rock of God’s promises. It
ignores what we are feeling and looks instead to Jesus and His Word.
Faith turns the other cheek in the face of offences. It chooses to
yield to God, and to trust Him in our tough situations. When we do
this- the voice of the enemy is silenced; his weapons are
effectively disarmed. “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist
the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)
The nature of
our battle is truth versus deception. If we have
been deeply hurt or offended, we must hear the truth that has been
tried and tested by countless others before us and know this:
We
are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed,
but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down,
but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying
of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made
manifest in our body. (2 Corinthians 4:8-10)
And
how is the life of Jesus made manifest in us? As we submit ourselves
to Him and say as Jesus did, “Father, if thou be willing, remove
this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.”
(Luke 22:42) Only then is His Spirit truly made alive in us.
Walking in the Spirit is
learned only under conditions which make
it necessary to meet, resist and triumph over temptation. Speaking
of Jesus, Hebrews 5:8 tells us that “Though he were a Son, yet
learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;”
Jesus never once yielded,
but fought and triumphed. And we also are, “more than conquerors
through him that loved us.” (Rom
We Must Stay
Focused to win
Like
little children we must fix our eyes trustingly on the Lord. Our
focus must be purposeful and consistent.
Our attention should never be on the agonies of our
cross-whatever it might be-but on the crown of life awaiting us.We
do this so we can, “receive the end of our faith, even
the salvation of our souls”. (1Peter 1:9)
Staying focused
involves two deliberate actions.
First, we must
purposely keep ourselves from looking behind to our past. “Remember
Secondly, we must
deliberately and purposefully turn our focus toward the
loving face of our God.
I
lift my eyes to you, O God, enthroned in heaven. We look to the LORD
our God for his mercy, just as servants keep their eyes on their
master, as a slave girl watches her mistress for the slightest
signal. (Psalm 123:1-2 NL)
This
scripture speaks of an enduring focus-waiting until the Lord has
mercy.
Don’t give up!
Looking at Jesus gave Peter
the courage he needed to step out of the boat. But the moment he
took his focus off the Lord-looking instead at the stormy seas
around him-down he went. (Matthew 14:29-30) The same is true for all
of us.
The understanding we gain as
we focus on the Lord will instil in our hearts a deep sense of trust
in our faithful God. He always has our best interest at heart.
“Trust in the Lord
with all our heart, and lean not on our own understanding. In all
our ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct our paths.” (Proverbs
3:4-5)
The key word here is all.
This means trusting Him no matter how we feel, or how desperate our
circumstances may be. We will find that when we trust Him- He is
always faithful and forever with us through every battle we face.
When we start focusing on our past or present problems instead of
focusing on the God who is greater than our problem, our own
thinking takes over and faith is undermined.
God’s Word is true! We can
depend on the blessings of its wonderful promises if we will
receive the Word in unwavering faith, and make it always the object
of our focus.
Six Life-Changing Truths is an excerpt from Focus on Freedom by Anne Richardson. This article is part two in a two part series. Read Six Life-Changing Truths part one.
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