RUNNING THE RACE SET BEFORE YOU 1

"THEREFORE, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [who by faith have testified to the truth of God’s absolute faithfulness], STRIPPING OFF EVERY UNNECESSARY WEIGHT AND THE SIN WHICH SO EASILY AND CLEVERLY ENTANGLES US, LET us RUN with ENDURANCE and ACTIVE PERSISTENCE the RACE that is SET before US,"
Hebrews 12:1 (Amp.)

3 YOU therefore must ENDURE HARDSHIP as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
4 NO one engaged in WARFARE ENTANGLES himself with the AFFAIRS OF THIS LIFE, that he may please him who ENLISTED him as a soldier.
5 AND also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless HE COMPETES ACCORDING TO THE RULES."
2 Timothy 2:3–5 (NKJV)

• There is a particular race which God has set before you to Run, as an individual Believer in Christ Jesus.

The day you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, marks the beginning of the race.
It is a spiritual race that has to do with the divine assignment God has ordained you to fulfil (Jeremiah 1:4,5).
You are to fulfil God's Purpose and Plan for your Life (Galatians 1:15,16).

• Why is it important to follow God's Plan for your Life?

It is important because there are cloud of witnesses watching and cheering you, anticipating that you fulfil and finish the race well.
You should not fail in the running of the race set before you. Failure to win your race is a disappointment to God the Father Who gave His begotten Son (John 3:16), Jesus Christ who made an ultimate Sacrifice (John 10:15,17,18; Philippians 2:6-8), the Holy Spirit sent to accompany you in the journey (John 14:16-18), and the cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 12:1).
You must not let God and the cloud of witnesses down, who have been cheering you all along.

• How you can successfully run the race and finish well:
I. Lay aside every weight (Hebrews 12:1).

You can easily be entangled with the affairs of Life, the things that may be legitimate but not part of God's plan and programme for you.
There are legitimate things which are not necessarily wrong, but they have the capacity to slow you down, keep tripping you up, as you run the race set before you (1 Corinthians 6:12).
SUCH things may be lawful but NOT beneficial and edifying: "ALL THINGS ARE LAWFUL FOR ME, BUT NOT ALL THINGS ARE HELPFUL; all things are lawful for me, BUT NOT ALL THINGS EDIFY" (1 Corinthians 10:23 NKJV).
They can hinder your spiritual growth and the fulfillment of God's Plan for your life.

II. Lay aside sins that easily besetting. SINS that affect in an unpleasant and harmful ways.

Sin will slow you down in your heavenly race and the race of destiny.
It will keep tripping you up and thus hinder or prevent you from finishing the race which God has set before you.
Sin will hinder your fellowship with God. It will dull your spirit, the inward man, and make you less responsive to the leadings of the Holy Spirit.
Sin left unconfessed and unrepentant will stiffen your sensitivity or perceptiveness to the things of the spirit, and cause you to be more inclined to the natural side of Life (1 Timothy 4:1,2). YOU thus miss the best of God for your Life and unable to finish the race.

• Why some Believers are having TROUBLES in running the race set before them:
(i) They have not stripped off the legitimate things that tend to slow them down or hold them back.
(ii) They are not laying aside sins that wraps itself tightly around their feet and trips them up.
(iii) Some are not running the race God set before them to run, they have not been on their own tracks, but did jump to another persons' track, that is, they have been running someone else's race all the while.
(iv) They are not following the Plan and the programme of God for their lives.

All the above mentioned points made their RACE hard and burdensome to finish.
God does not want the race which He set before you, difficult and burdensome to run and finish (Matthew 11:28-30).
You have a responsibility to strip off weights and sins that is besetting or tripping up, and holding you back in the race set before you.
Decide to strip off every wrong motive, selfish ambition, carnal inclination, fleshly desire that would hinder you in your race.
Lay aside weights and sins like pride, double mindedness, spiritual slothfulness and fear. You needed to do this that you may finish your race with joy!

III. Run the race with patience or endurance.

If you do not run the race with Patience or endurance, you can hinder your progress and make your way difficult—muddled up the Plan of God for your Life.
Running your race with patience, that is, with Perseverance could at times be challenging.
It is easy to become impatient in your desire to see God's Plan and Purpose fulfilled in your life.
Man can be so time conscious because we are Time Being.
In most of the cases, when we heard from God about His Plan for our lives, we want it fulfilled immediately.
We need to learn patience as we run our race. What seems like a great length of time to US, is like a day in God's sight (2 Peters 3:8).
That is why we need to learn to rest in God's promises through His Word, without being moved or conscious of Human programmes and timings.
When we learned to enter into the rest by faith, we give the Lord that freedom and opportunity needed to bring His Plan and programme to fulfilment in our lives.
When you try to work out God's Plan that is revealed to you, by your own efforts, you hinder God and do not give Him the freedom required to do whatever He intended to do.
God would not need your help to bring whatever He has promised or purposed to do in your life to fulfilments (Genesis 16:1-3).
Believers needed to stay in Faith, regarding God's Plans, and Allow Him to do things according to His Plan and programme.
Learn to get 'What' of God's Plan and pray until you get ‘When’ and ‘How’ of the Plan as well.

• God will take the time that may be needed to develop and train you, before He brings to pass that which He has put in your heart to do.

• You will not fail in Jesus' name.
Peace!