Good Morning,
This morning I was awakened with a shout in a song, this is what was being song over me; "Run with patience, run with patience the race that is set before you." Sometimes I am awakened with songs about His eternal love or faithfulness, but this was an urgent cry! So you know what we do next, we go to the Word and look into the verse. We are reminded in Zephaniah 3:17, "The Lord your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing." Usually I get the,'quieting with His love', part of this verse, but this time it was as if it belong to a war tune. "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…" (Hebrews 12:1) We must be alert soldiers of God, the enemy's tactic is to keep us so weighted down with cares and worries, [no matter how legitimate these things may be] that we can barely walk, forget about run. Weight means an oppressive heavy burden; an encumbrance of mass that is prominent. All of us at one time or another have allowed ourselves to carry burdens that we are not suppose to carry, let alone try to run the race with them. The Word tells us, "Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." (1 Peter 5:7) and "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." Care and careful means to be troubled with cares, to be anxious; anxiety that distracts. Well, we can see how it would be possible to run and be distracted by cares that come from being burdened down with a mass that is prominent. In other words other things that have our attention other than our race, which causes us to stumble while trying to run!
Run means to move with haste; to act quickly; to spend ones strength to attain something; to require the exertion of all of ones effort to overcome. "Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. 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:" (1 Corin. 9:24-26) Now, we must learn to separate what is precious to our race from the things that have the heart of God verses the vile things that hinder us or causes us to stall. We must keep our minds focused on the Kingdom matters, not the things of earth. The crown [the royal prize given to victors; an honor; the reward of the righteous], we run to receive is not of this world. So let us cast down every vain imagination, every thought that tries to weigh us down with earthly cares, and stay focused on the goal. Remember, that with each new level, the weights may try to appear easier, or more worthy to carry. Don't be fooled, let us cast our cares, those weights on God, for He cares for us!
Love,
Pastor D.
Daughters of Z 