I know what y’all are thinking: “TWO blogs in one week… what is this madness?” But this is actually an old blog post that I wrote about a year and a half ago (October 2017)! This was long before I ever seriously considered missions in any way, shape, or form. And it’s crazy, because it wasn’t until afterward that God started actually teaching me any of this! So I pray that this both challenges and is an encouragement to you as much as it was for me! 🙂
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When it comes to running a race, there’s always this universal list of commands that the runners need to follow in order to prepare to run. If you want to be successful and win, then you must pay attention to all these steps, even though they are not always explicitly stated. People always think that a race simply comes down to the actual event, but it’s so much more than that. And before you can do anything else, you must ask yourself, am I ready?
In the race of life, you want to be running towards God, not away from Him. But in order to do so you must have a ready mind. A ready mind means that you can mentally prepare yourself for all possible outcomes of a situation and still be at peace. The truth is we don’t 100% know where God is going to take us. However, we must prepare ourselves for every circumstance that comes our way. So when something bad happens we will be able to take a step back and say, “This doesn’t define me. God is still good, and He is still in control.” Being a Christian doesn’t mean everything is automatically going to go your way, but despite our sin and shortcomings, it’s going to go God’s way. Knowing that the situation is out of your hands should be comforting, not filling you with fear.
“‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts’” (Isaiah 55: 8-9, NIV).
Once we can wrap our minds around the fact that our lack of control is a good thing, then we can follow the path that God has set out for our lives and continue to run our races. What do you do once you are ready? You have to get set! You must plant your feet firm in the direction God has called you to. This may be difficult at first, especially because our flesh causes us to waver and veer off in the opposite direction. Setting yourself will allow you to have a greater focus on where God is taking you. It helps you to put up spiritual blinders to ignore all the noise in this world. It sounds great, but often times this can be the hardest step for people to accomplish. The way you do this is by digging deep into the Word of God.
“Everything God says is true–and it’s a shield for all who come to Him for safety” (Proverbs 30:5, CEV). So in other words, meditating on the Word will not stop all the obstacles that come into your life, but it will produce a shield to help you deflect anything that comes your way. And the less that you are distracted by these attacks of the enemy, the more you can focus of following the path that God has set out for you.
Finally, you must go! God has a unique vision and purpose for each and every one of our lives, but in general we all have the same call to “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations [help the people to learn of Me, believe in Me, and obey My words], baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always [remaining with you perpetually–regardless of circumstance, and on every occasion], even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20, AMP). Having a ready mind and being set in the Word are useless without this third step. You are called! When you best friend calls you on your cell phone, you don’t decline their call. So why would you deny Jesus’ call on your life? Once you are ready and set, God calls you to go! Run the race that has been set out for your life and cross the finish line in heaven one day.
