The Run Of Your Life

…And let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

 

Hebrews 12:1b

 

You have been pulling, pushing, skipping, and racing with God since you were saved. But it wasn't until recently that you really started thinking about running with God. Yet even after giving your life to God, the concept of an ongoing journey with Him was a challenge. If the truth be known it wasn't that you have been pulling, pushing, skipping, and racing with God at all—only away from Him.

 

With all the effort you put forth into running from God instead of with Him you became lazy in a sense. Your spiritual muscles have become weak and you have no endurance left to even lift your foot to take the next step that God has in store.

 

Running with God is like retraining lazy muscles for an extreme long distant competition.

Maybe your relationship with God started out with fervor and excitement, yet it quickly became another facet in your busy life. The part you found most challenging was just setting aside a quiet time with God. Of course you met with God every Sunday and Wednesday at church. And we need not forget all the conferences and seminars you have attended. But still that daily connection with God was almost non-existent—one week your Bible reading was exciting and fresh and the next it is lackluster and boring.

Praying was even worse. You loved talking with God when you needed something from Him, but it was in those humdrum times you found it hard to find any words. It was sorta like an awkward conversation when you finally get the opportunity to sit down over coffee with that special someone… you sit there thinking of things to say, but nothing sounds good in your head so you make small talk that means nothing relevant. Or even worse you simply say nothing at all.

It seemed easier to remain silent than actually open up your heart and mind, which would allow you to actually verbalize to God something, even if it was just as simple as "God, thank you for this beautiful day!"

 

What, you don't know how to pray? In fact, you don't know how to truly read God's Word either. Skimming through the chapters, that catch your eye or that you find appealing seemed good enough, but the only thing you gained were sore eyes. (Side Note: There is a difference between reading the Bible like a text book and truly consuming the Word of God just as there is a difference from small talk and a truly intimate conversation.)

Could it be that after all these years or even just a few years you have realized that when it comes to running with God, you have not even left the starting line?

 

Your heart slowly has adjusted to the "ho hum" mentality, and the desire to seek after God's heart settled into an even fainter whisper. You read Gods Word, but didn't understand it. You talked at God, but never talked with God.

When our bodies need food, they have ways of telling us (i.e. a grumbling tummy, knots in our stomachs, weakness in our muscles, etc.). It is the same when our spirits are hungry. We feel the warnings, but do we really take into consideration the importants of these warnings?  It's different for everyone; some warning signs might be that you became extremely irritable and emotional. Everything, whether important, unimportant or down right silly causes your emotions to flip upside down. Could it be that you are just plain ignoring your spirit's cry for God—you can imagine the intense "soul grumbles" you experience from time to time even as you read this.

 

You long for God to be beside you each and every mile… there to encourage you when you feel weak and too tired to make it the next 5 miles.

 

Instead of ignoring your spiritual warning signs like all the other times, decide to instead prepare and train for the journey God has for you. It all starts with commitment, so dust off your running shoes (the Bible), find some comfortable running gear (journal and pray), and start running with God!

 

And you know what will happen? You will meet with God, and sense His presence like you never have in any church service or conference. Begin starting out spending short periods of time like 30 minutes alone with God, but be aware that 30 minutes will give you such a sweet taste of God's Spirit—like a runners high—that you will want to have more.

 

By the end of the week you will find that you have gained so much endurance that 30 minutes of quiet time which includes reading the Word, journaling, and praying just spills over and you begin running with God throughout the day instead of just at your allotted time. Then before too long you will find yourself wanting to pick up your Bible out of pure interest in what it had to say!

The biggest difference though? Is you actually desire God and you feel a yearning for His presence. You begin to realize that without His Spirit daily in your life no matter how hard you claim to be a Christian you have no strength to carry you through to the finish line.

Take a deep breath and begin the run of your life!