Endurance

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. 

Hebrews 12:1-2

Recently, I heard a story about a blind man who wanted to run the Boston Marathon.  With his helper, he started out on the 26 mile race.  Halfway through, he became terribly exhausted.  He staggered along, sometimes walking, sometimes stopping to rest, sometimes jogging a little.  When he got to the 25th mile his helper said, "This is the last mile.  You have to go in running."  The blind man reached deep down and found what strength he had and ran that last mile with all his might to the loud cheers of the crowd. Not realizing he had reached the finish line, he continued on until someone caught him and said "It's over! You've finished the race!" He collapsed to the ground.  He had given it his all.  Somehow he had found the strength to finish his race. 

We are all in a race just like that blind man. Sometimes, along our path we lose momentum, we stumble and fall or take a detour.  The race just seems too hard for us, too big, too long.  We get bogged down. Sometimes all we can do is put one foot in front of the other, sometimes just crawl.  

Then we hear the word, "Run with endurance the race God has set before you."  Where are we going to find the strength?  We must remember, we are not alone. We have our helper called alongside holding us up and showing us the way. We have the crowd to cheer us on and as we look toward the finish line we see the champion, who has gone before, waiting to welcome us.

Jesus has already run the race.  Along the way he endured the same trials and temptations that we face. He was tempted to quit.  He endured great grief and depression there in the garden. He endured tiredness and opposition.  And, he endured the cross. Through it all, he came through with flying colors and triumphant joy and is now seated in the place of honor. 

What is the word of encouragement to us?  Don't become weary and give up.  Look to your champion who blazed the trail and made the way.  He is the way.  He is the road we take on our long race.  And he is there cheering us on along the sideline and running along with us and greeting us at the finish line.  He is our champion.

                            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.
                                         Hebrews 12:2

Hope

Why am I discouraged?Why is my heart so sad?I will put my hope in God!I will praise him again—my Savior and my God!         Psalms 42:11 (NLT)

In a time of discouragement, David penned Psalm 42 & 43.  These Psalms become for us a lesson to help in our times of discouragement or depression.  He doesn't hold back in expressing his negative thoughts and feelings, but in the midst of these expressions he inserts words of hope.  He calls to mind God's kindness (Ps. 42:6).  He acknowledges that each day the Lord is pouring his unfailing love upon him even if he can't feel it.  He sings songs in the night and he prays to the Lord, the source of his life (Ps. 42:8).  He makes a choice to put his hope in God (Ps. 42:5,11 & 43:5).

When we are feeling low, we can do some of the same things that David did.  We can remember and acknowledge that God loves us.  We can pray, even if it is only "Help me" or "Thank you."  We can sing a song or listen to some music. We can reach out to someone.  We can make the choice to put our hope in God no matter how we feel or how discouraging the circumstances around us seem to be.

....never give up hope in God.  He is all good and all powerful, and He will give whatever you need according to your faith.

Simply trust everything into the hands of God, be humble, and open up to His grace.  Through meditation and prayer, you will receive peace, and everything will gradually be worked out for you.  And the things which, in your hour of temptation, seemed so difficult will disappear almost imperceptibly.*

Speak a word of prayer, sing a song, put your hope in God.   What small step can you take today to reach up and to reach out of your depression? 

*Fenelon. Let Go. Whitaker House, 1973: 82,83. 

Fenelon (1651-1715) Archbishop of Cambrai, France, was spiritual adviser to many high ranking people in the court of Louis the Fourteenth.

Fire

 We are pressed on every side by troubles, 

but we are not crushed. 

We are perplexed, but not driven to despair.

We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. 

We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.

2 Cor 4:8-9 (NLT)

The devastating Waldo Canyon fire is raging in Colorado.  15,000 acres have been consumed by the fire which has destroyed 300 homes and caused 32,000 people to be evacuated.  It reminds me of the Oakland fire of 1989.  Watching the fire in the hills and wondering if was going to reach your house was a frightening experience.

At a moments notice things can change in our lives.  The apostle Paul was no stranger to difficulty.  He faced beatings, prison, shipwrecks, floods, all kinds of dangers.  He came to the conclusion that even though we may be pressed on every side by troubles, perplexed, hunted down or knocked down we will never be destroyed or given over to despair because we know God will never abandon us.

As we face difficulties in our lives of whatever kind, let us not give up, but put our hope in God who will see us through as we trust in him.

Lord, we pray for those in danger of fire today that you would take care of them.  Help the fire fighters as they work under extreme conditions, to extinguish the fires quickly.

Incremental Improvement

And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

Phil 1:6 (NLT)

One day as I walked by a Cholla close to the walkway at the clubhouse, I noticed two baby birds hunkered down in a nest.  Each day as I walked by, I'd check on the little creatures. 

 

Soon fuzz began to appear and they were always ready with their mouths wide waiting for a morsel from mama.

 

One day, I checked the nest and the babies weren't there.  I looked and there I saw one sitting on a branch in the cactus.  The next day, there it was again just sitting there. The day after, it was gone.  The little bird had grown its feathers and flown.







Those little birds were nurtured along until they were able to be on their own just as God nurtures us so that we will grow into maturity.  Often, the growth is imperceptible.  We grow by small increments each day until one day we realize we have made a little progress. We find that something we were not able to do before becomes easier for us.  Or, instead of having our usual negative reaction we actually respond in a positive way.

Its a little like my golf game.  It seems I'm not making any progress, yet each day I make a few more good shots.  Other days, things continue to go wrong but I know if I keep my eyes on the prize and continue to work at it I will improve and change will come - incremental, imperceptible change.  We can't expect to be changed overnight, but if we continue in faith, praying and believing change will come in God's time.

For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.

Phil 2:13 (NLT)

The Power of Love

How incredible is this thing called love. 

It is the most powerful force in all the world.

  Nothing can defeat it. 

Love bears.  Love bears, always protecting.  Love is like a rising tide that covers all the debris on the beach.

Love believes.  Love always believes the best.  Love covers and in that covering believes for all good things. 

   

Love hopes.  Love holds out hope for the future against all odds.  It is not just wishful thinking, but a sure anchor in the promises of God.

 

Love endures.  Love overcomes every obstacle.  It endures anything and everything with patience and joy.  Love keeps on loving no matter what happens.

Love covers sin and in that covering believes for all good things and has hope for a good outcome as it endures with patience because it trusts in the great Lord over all things.

This love is so incredible that words fail.  It is far beyond our understanding yet we pray and yearn to know this love and to experience it.  It is a gift of His Spirit.  Let us come boldly and confidently into God's presence and ask for this love to be reproduced in us and let us declare:

I will bear up under all my circumstances.  I will believe all his promises.  I will hope for all good things.  I will endure through everything because I know love will win in the end.

Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.

And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should,

how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 

May you experience the love of Christ,

though it is too great to understand fully.

Then you will be made complete

with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

Eph 3:17-19 (NLT)

 

Enemies

I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people.

Ask God to help them;
intercede on their behalf,
and give thanks for them.

1 Tim 2:1 (NLT)

We are urged to pray for everyone.  The "all people" of this verse includes not only family, friends and neighbors, but bosses, political figures and superstars.  And, it includes, most especially, those we may have something against. 

Jesus tells us to pray for our enemies - those who have hurt us in some way.  This is a most remarkable request, one that goes against all of our natural inclinations. It doesn't seem reasonable that we should pray for God to help our enemies, that we should intercede for them or give thanks for them. 

The scripture goes even further suggesting that we not only pray for our enemies, but bless them.  It asks that we do good, lend to them, feed them and give them a drink of water if they are thirsty.  It asks us to replace our desire to retaliate with trust that God will bring his justice in the end. We are asked to replace the urge to talk back with the patient endurance that allows us to hold our tongue, to bless when we are cursed, to appeal gently when we are wronged, returning only good for evil. 

This is the description of an unbelievable and unique new life in God. All of these things are diametrically opposed to what we might naturally feel like doing.  These are hard things to do, but, these are the qualities that God is desiring to build in us.  These are the things that make us like our Father who is kind and does good, supplying the needs of evil and good people alike in the hope that all will respond to his call of love.

Who could you ask God to help today? - A friend, an enemy, a family member, your boss, a politician, a government official, a superstar? 

But to you who are willing to listen, I say, 

love your enemies

Do good to those who hate you.

Bless those who curse you. 

Pray for those who hurt you. 

Luke 6:27,28 (NLT)

Masterpiece

For we are God’s masterpiece.

He has created us anew in Christ Jesus,

so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

Eph 2:10 (NLT)

 

Our lone saguaro is probably more than 100 years old.  As you can see the original trunk has broken off and new arms have sprouted.  It takes 75 years for even one arm to sprout so we know this saguaro has seen many seasons and continued to grow through much adversity - a reminder to us of God’s continued work in our own lives.  We are his masterpiece.  He continues to work through every season of our lives even times of brokenness.  

He has promised an abundant and full life.  If we feel stuck, isolated, discontent it is time to reaffirm our trust in his promises, to examine ourselves and our priorities and rest again in him who has the power to fulfill all of his desire for us.  As we rest in him, daily, wholeheartedly fulfilling what our hands find to do, he will continue to work on his masterpiece. 

God, I wait on you to reveal all that you want me to do.   I seek to know your will and to do the good works you planned for me long ago.  Remove every impediment that would keep me from knowing and doing your will.  Let me be content day by day, allowing your spirit of love to show through me toward everyone I come in contact with.  Let me do the work that is before me with enthusiasm.  Expand my tent to include more people, more friends, more family, more service to those in need.  Let me expend my energies in all that you desire.  Then, I know I will experience the abundant and fulfilling life that you have for me.  Use my discontent to spur me on to be all you want me to be.  I know it is by your power and your spirit alone that this can be accomplished.

Work willingly at whatever you do,

as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.

Col 3:22 (NLT)

 The Lord will work out his plans for my life—

for your faithful love, O Lord, endures forever.

Psalms 138.8 (NLT)

May he equip you with all you need for doing his will.

May he produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ,

every good thing that is pleasing to him.

Heb 13.21 (NLT)

Demolition

 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.

Heb 12:2 (NLT)

Our new house is in complete disarray.  They tore out all of the flooring, tile & carpet creating a huge amount of noise, dust and debris.  What a mess!  It feels like my life is all out of order.  It helps to have a vision of what the house will look like when it is all finished.  If I didn’t have hope for the future, I couldn’t stand the mess.  

Jesus endured the pain and suffering of the cross because he had his eye on the end result - a beautiful house built of polished and precious stones.  We are those living stones and he is working on us (and doing some demolition) so that we might be suited for his house.  Sometimes the pain and disarray is hard to bear, but in the end we will rejoice in what God has built.  Because Jesus endured, he is now sitting down in a place of honor enjoying the fruits of his labor and experiencing the joy of creating a new home for his family.

Thank God George knows how to put the house back together.  I know some day we will enjoy the fruits of our labor.  It will be nice when everything is done and we finally have a place to sit down. 

You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house.

1 Peter 2:5 (NIV)

The Beginning & The End

Another descriptive name for Jesus is Alpha and Omega - Alpha, the first letter of the Greek alphabet and Omega the last.  He is the A to Z, the beginning and the end, the first and the last, the author and the finisher.

The beginning and ending of our lives are often the most dramatic, but it is in the middle where the beginning is played out and the ending is determined that we grow and learn the lessons of endurance.  The wedding is a beautiful and exciting beginning, but the day to day middle is where the loving relationship is established through thick and thin and, hopefully, is carried through to a beautiful ending.  Sometimes, I am concerned that here in the middle of my life, in the day to day, I am not becoming what I should be.  I am falling short in my loving and caring, in my attitude and in my usefulness.

When the Apostle Paul wrote to his fellow Christians he didn't put his hope in their ability to endure, instead, he expressed confidence in God himself, saying, "I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished (Phil 1:6 NIV).  We are exhorted to keep our eyes on Jesus who is the author and the finisher of our faith.  God is not only the initiator and the completer, he is also the executor of all that happens in between.

We can trust with confidence that God who began the good work in us will bring it to completion. He never stops working with us even though we sometimes don't recognize the progress.  He never gives up on his project and will continue until he makes us all that he wants us to be. 

May he produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, every good thing that is pleasing to him.

Heb 13:21 (NLT)

 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, 

the author and perfecter of our faith.

Heb 12:2 (NIV)