DCLM Higher Everyday 13 July 2023 — Running The Race With Patience
DCLM Higher Everyday 13 June 2023 Devotional by Pastor W. F. Kumuyi — Running The Race With Patience
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Topic: Running The Race With Patience
Text: Hebrews 12:1-3
2Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
Key Verse: “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).
Message
In the 2018 Boston Marathon on April 16, 85-year-old Katherine Beiers with a trash bag draped over her shoulders to fend off the pouring rain, steadily made her way through Newton. Despite the near-freezing temperature, heavy rain, and furious winds, she crossed the finish line in seven hours and 50 minutes as one of the last runners on the course.
Our text admonishes us to run with patience, that is, with perseverance and endurance. Just as an athlete would usually wear the lightest sporting kits to make him as fast as possible, the believer is admonished to lay aside every weight and any besetting sin to enable him run the race with patience. Gossiping, backbiting, murmuring and indulging in any form of unrighteousness will certainly impede the progress of the believer on his race to heaven. The athlete in his quest for a medal will endure harsh trainings. We should also be determined to endure the hostile environment the world offers us in our quest for heavenly glories.
Quote: Endure the hostile environment
Challenge: Determine to finish the heavenly race.
Prayer for today: Heavenly Father, help me to keep my gaze on you.
1. Admit that you are a sinner. "For all [humans] have sinned, and comes short of the glory of God....[and] the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 3:23)
2. Repent now. "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out ...[for] if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness " (Acts 3:19, 1 John 1:9)
3. Believe that God loves you and Jesus died for you. "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet Sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8)
4. Invite Jesus into your life through prayer of faith. Jesus says, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me" (Revelation 3:20)
