Tag Archives: marathon runner

Charles Stanley

Charles Stanley – Running With Endurance

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Charles Stanley

Hebrews 12:1-3

Nobody wakes up on the morning of a marathon and suddenly decides, Hey, I think I’ll go down and run the race today. Long-distance running requires training, and lots of it. The typical marathon runner spends months preparing for the race. He pulls himself out of bed early and hits the street. Focusing on his goal, he pushes through physical and mental exhaustion. He watches what he eats, gets plenty of sleep, and runs—regularly. The main goal of all of this training is to build endurance. While not easy, the discipline is essential to running 26.2 miles.

Since Scripture compares the Christian life to a race, we can assume that endurance is essential for our success as well. And what builds spiritual stamina? The apostle James points out that dealing with trials strengthens us. In fact, in James 1:2-3, he even tells us to welcome difficulties because “the testing of your faith produces endurance.”

He is talking about the inner strength that allows us to face any difficulty without quitting. A runner needs such strength for a race. So even though the training hurts, he conditions his body to be able to reach the finish line. For believers, the process is similar, except that our training comes through trials. As we face different challenges in the power of the Spirit, God builds us up more and more.

Are you facing a hardship today? God wants you to trust Him and then ask yourself, Am I willing to go through this intense workout today in order to win the race tomorrow?

 

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Campus Crusade for Christ; Bill Bright – Faith Can Grow

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“His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thous has been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord” (Matthew 25:21, KJV).

At one stage of my spiritual growth, I was able to trust God for a soul – and He answered that prayer by leading me to one person whose heart He had prepared. Through the years God has increased my faith to trust Him for 6 souls then 20, 50, 100, 1000, 1 million, 100 million souls! Always He has honored my faith and obedience. Now I pray for a billion souls and by faith I believe that a billion will be harvested for the glory of God.

God has not changed; I have changed.

I believe that God deals with us in a similar way with regard to spiritual fruit. As we continue to trust God to develop in us all the various love traits, He honors that faithfulness because we are obeying Him by doing what He commands us to do.

Faithfulness is that trait of the Holy Spirit (faithfulness- love) that makes faith a living reality every day in the life of the believer who is living supernaturally. As we continue to walk in the power, love and wisdom of the Holy Spirit, we learn to develop greater confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ, in His Word, in our rights as children of God and in the ability of the indwelling Holy Spirit to empower and control our lives.

Faithfulness can be compared to an athlete’s conditioning. A marathon runner does not begin training by running great distances. Instead, he starts with short runs. Then, as his body becomes more conditioned, he increases the distance of his runs until he reaches the full distance of the marathon.

Faithfulness in the life of a Christian also develops over an extended period of time spent in “conditioning.” As we learn to trust God in small things, our faith grows and grows until we are able to trust Him in greater things.

God rewards us for our faithfulness, and each time we see Him respond favorably, He reaches out to us through His Holy Spirit and increases our faith to trust Him for even greater things.

Bible Reading: Matthew 25:14-20

TODAY’S ACTION POINT: I will seek to cultivate this fruit of the Spirit by being faithful to the calling God has entrusted to me.