Tag Archives: run with endurance

February 20, 2023 · 5:37 AM

Keep Looking Ahead

Have you ever tried to lose weight? Most of us who have, or need to, wish there was a pill we could take to do it. That would be nice and easy, but while lots of pills claim to, none work like they claim. Instead, what we have to do, outside of surgery, is to change our diet and exercise habits. If you’re committed to losing weight, you’ll have to endure eating foods you don’t really like. You’ll have to disrupt your schedule to add in time to lift weights and exercise. These can be painful. Most people don’t stick with it because of all the “pains” it is to get the results you want. The people who do stick it out look past these temporary inconveniences to the outcome they desire in order to achieve the results they want.

When David was anointed king, he was just a teenager. Most scholars believe it was about fifteen years before he actually became king. When he was anointed, he didn’t know how long it would take or the pain it would cost him. He was displaced from his family, chased like an outlaw, driven out of his own country and separated from friends in those years. He had the opportunity to kill King Saul a couple of times to take the throne, but that would be the easy way out and not what God intended. Instead, he kept looking forward to the promise of God and endured living in caves with outlaws, living in a foreign land and missing home knowing that his situation was temporary. The hope of God’s promise kept him going until God placed him on the throne.

Hebrews 12:1-3 says, “… And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up” (NLT). When we keep our eyes on the prize, we can endure a lot. If you’re looking at your current situation or the time you’re having to wait, you may grow weary or contemplate giving up. Remember God keeps His promises. Sometimes it takes years to come to fruition. Don’t give up too early because you face hardship. Look ahead to the fulfillment of what God is going to do. The present is temporary, but His promises last a lifetime.

Photo by Ross Sneddon on Unsplash

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August 12, 2021 · 5:23 AM

Endurance Running

If you’ve never heard of an Iron Man race or been to one, the people who do it are incredible. The race starts off with a 3 mile open water swim. Then they ride a bike for over 120 miles. Once they’re done with that, they have to run a marathon. Did I mention that it all has to be done on the same day and within a certain timeframe? These men and women push their body’s to the limit like nothing I’ve ever seen. To me, they are the very picture of endurance.

There’s an old saying that goes, “It’s not the mountains ahead that wears you out; it’s the grain of sand in your shoe.” To run with endurance, and to run to win, we need to get rid of sin in our lives, even small ones. They keep us from running our race the way God wants us to. We must discipline our flesh and our spirit through prayer, reading God’s Word, and running alongside other believers to be able to endure the race we’ve been given. We each have a certain time frame within which we must run our race, so we need to run to win.

Hebrews 12:1 tells us, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us” (NLT). We each have our own race to run in life. Some of us will run a short distance, some will run a 5k, others a half marathon or a marathon, while others an Iron Man. Whatever race God has set before you, run with endurance and don’t compare your race to someone else’s.

Photo by Pixabay from Pexels

Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

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March 4, 2015 · 6:50 AM

Run Your Race



I enjoy watching sports of all kinds. I love watching them because of the struggle, the competition, the will to be the best and to see the sacrifices people make to push themselves to the limits. One of the sports I love to watch is running. Part of it is because I used to be a runner and the other part is that it is as much mental ability as it is physical ability. There are also many correlations between running and our spiritual life. Paul knew this and drew several of those in his letters to the early church. He knew that our Christian lives demand the same type of discipline.

One of the first things you learn in running is form. Yes, there is a proper way to run and an improper way. You can reduce wind resistance and drag by how you shape your body and move your arms. When you don’t have proper form, you create resistance that slows you down and wears you out. It’s the same when it comes to running our faith race. There is a proper way to do it and a way that slows you down. The New Testament spends a lot of time describing how we should live as believers. The writers knew that it wasn’t the great sins that defeat us, it’s the little ones over time. That’s why Hebrews 12:1 says, “Let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. (NLT)” 

Another thing you learn in racing is to keep your head and eyes forward. So many races are lost because the runners are looking side to side to see where everyone else is. That’s a major no no for runners. It slows you down, distracts you from your goal and creates resistance. You have to keep your focus on your breathing and your eyes on the finish line. Solomon wrote in Proverbs 4:25, “Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you. (NLT)” We need to lose the distractions in our lives that keep our eyes off of Heaven. Keep your focus on the One who is faithful and true so you can finish your course.

The last thing I’d like to mention is that you have to run your own race. God has a specific course for you. Your race isn’t the same as everyone else’s. Keep your focus on what and how God called you to live not on how He’s called others to live. Don’t compare yourself, your race or how you run to others. You have a different race, but the same goal. Paul knew Timothy was facing this distraction so he wrote to him in I Timothy 6:12, “Run your best in the race of faith, and win eternal life for yourself; for it was to this life that God called you… (GNT)” You run your best race by focusing on what God called you to, not what He called someone else to. So get rid of the weights that hold you down, fix your eyes on the prize and run your race.

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