About The Finish...

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Today's devotional thought: About The Finish

1 Corinthians 9:24, "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize."

Stuart Briscoe in a message entitled, "Ordinary Folks Make Great Disciples," relates this story: "I taught all my kids to enjoy running. Then they taught me how not to enjoy it. While I could keep a pace ahead of them, it was great. But when they began to haul me out of bed early in the morning on a frosty morning to run, or when my daughter had me running a 10,000-meter race, I started asking, "What in the world am I doing?"

"I asked the question even more when we got to the start. There were 24,998 others. Being Milwaukee, some of them were dressed as beer bottles. One guy dressed up as a banana, another as a bunch of grapes. The gun went off, and everybody was laughing and waving. The banana was shaking hands with the crowd. And then it got rather interesting after about a quarter of a mile. The banana and the beer bottle were hanging over a garden fence--didn't look good at all.

"After about a mile there was no chattering or laughing. And after the second mile, the only sound was labored breathing. After the fourth mile, it was so quiet you could hear the birds singing. At 6.2 miles, people were dribbling in one at a time, and not many of them. The moral of the story is this: You get all kinds of people goofing off at the start, but that doesn't count. To finish does, and disciples of Jesus Christ keep on going."

After all, it doesn't matter how you start but how you finish. To get the prize you need to cross the finish line. So we run with the end in mind. We press forward knowing the end is ahead and the only way to get there is by going forward one step at a time. In another of Paul's letters he says, "Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:13-24).

Has your run turned more into a perpetual break? Are you making forward progress in your relationship with Jesus? Then get your eyes on the goal and move forward. "Run in such a way as to get the prize."

Prayer: Our Father, give us endurance to run the race marked out for us. Give us a glimpse of the goal of our race today. Imprint an image of heaven upon our heart today. We are running to You...and with You. Give us the strength to keep moving. In Jesus name, amen.

Top 5 of Today's Thoughts #3

"Bulldog Tenacity"​

​Galatians 6:9, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

There is an evangelist who loves to hunt and he tells the story about the time he bought two setter pups that were top notch bird dogs. He kept them in the backyard, where he trained them. One morning, an ornery, vicious looking bulldog came shuffling and snorting down the alley. He crawled under the fence and into the back yard where the setters spent their days. It was easy to see he meant business. The evangelist's first impulse was to take his setters and lock them in the basement so they wouldn't tear up that little bulldog. But he decided he would just let the creature learn a lesson that he would never forget. 

Naturally, they got into a scuffle in the backyard, and those two setters and that bulldog went round and round and round! The little critter finally had enough, so he squeezed under the fence and took off. All the rest of that day he whined and licked his sores. Interestingly, the next day at about the same time, here came that same ornery little bulldog--back under the fence and after those setters. Once again those two bird dogs beat the stuffing out of that little bowlegged animal and would have chewed him up if he hadn’t retreated down the alley. Would you believe, the very next day he was back! Same time, same station, same results. Once again after the bulldog had had all he could take, he crawled back under the fence and found his way home to lick his wounds.

“Well,” the evangelist said, “I had to leave for a revival meeting. I was gone several weeks. And when I came back, I asked my wife what had happened. She said, “Honey, you just won’t believe what’s happened. Every day, at the same time every morning, that little bulldog came back in the backyard and fought with our two setters. He didn’t miss a day! And I want you to know it has come to the point that when our setters simply hear that bulldog snorting down the alley and spot him squeezing under the fence, they immediately start whining, and run down into our basement. That little, old bulldog struts around our backyard now just like he owns the place.” (Charles R. Swindoll, Living Above the Level of Mediocrity)

Perseverance leads to success. We as Christ followers must have that same kind of bulldog tenacity that perseveres and just keeps coming back. “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:2-4) It is those who persevere that come to maturity and lack nothing. That perseverance becomes a blessing for them. James says, “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him” (James 1:12).

This is the difference between the righteous and the wicked according to the Proverb writer who says in Proverbs 24:16, “for though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes.” The righteous get back up. They may lick their wounds for a time but they come back again to fight another day.

So, since we have the great promise of God that we will reap a harvest if we do not give up we persevere; we hold onto our bulldog tenacity and are unshakable and undefeatable. We are overcomers in Christ and we hold the victory assuredly in our hand. “for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” (1 John 5:4-5)

PRAYER: Father, God, give us the type of bulldog tenacity that will persevere in doing good and persevere till the end. You promise us if we don't give up, if we persevere, we will reap a harvest, so we don't quit. We get back up gain, lick our wounds, and go back to the fight. With our faith securely in a Jesus Christ we are garunteed victory. We claim that victory today in the name of Jesus, Amen.

Bulldog tenacity...

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Today's thought: Bulldog tenacity...

Galatians 6:9, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

There is an evangelist who loves to hunt and he tells the story about the time he bought two setter pups that were top notch bird dogs. He kept them in the backyard, where he trained them. One morning, an ornery, vicious looking bulldog came shuffling and snorting down the alley. He crawled under the fence and into the back yard where the setters spent their days. It was easy to see he meant business. The evangelist's first impulse was to take his setters and lock them in the basement so they wouldn't tear up that little bulldog. But he decided he would just let the creature learn a lesson that he would never forget. Naturally, they got into a scuffle in the backyard, and those two setters and that bulldog went round and round and round! The little critter finally had enough, so he squeezed under the fence and took off. All the rest of that day he whined and licked his sores. Interestingly, the next day at about the same time, here came that same ornery little bulldog--back under the fence and after those setters. Once again those two bird dogs beat the stuffing out of that little bowlegged animal and would have chewed him up if he hadn’t retreated down the alley. Would you believe, the very next day he was back! Same time, same station, same results. Once again after the bulldog had had all he could take, he crawled back under the fence and found his way home to lick his wounds.

“Well,” the evangelist said, “I had to leave for a revival meeting. I was gone several weeks. And when I came back, I asked my wife what had happened. She said, “Honey, you just won’t believe what’s happened. Every day, at the same time every morning, that little bulldog came back in the backyard and fought with our two setters. He didn’t miss a day! And I want you to know it has come to the point that when our setters simply hear that bulldog snorting down the alley and spot him squeezing under the fence, they immediately start whining, and run down into our basement. That little, old bulldog struts around our backyard now just like he owns the place.” (Charles R. Swindoll, Living Above the Level of Mediocrity)

Perseverance leads to success. We as Christ followers must have that same kind of bulldog tenacity that perseveres and just keeps coming back. “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:2-4) It is those who persevere that come to maturity and lack nothing. That perseverance becomes a blessing for them. James says, “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him” (James 1:12).

This is the difference between the righteous and the wicked according to the Proverb writer who says in Proverbs 24:16, “for though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes.” The righteous get back up. They may lick their wounds for a time but they come back again to fight another day.

So, since we have the great promise of God that we will reap a harvest if we do not give up we persevere; we hold onto our bulldog tenacity and are unshakable and undefeatable. We are overcomers in Christ and we hold the victory assuredly in our hand. “for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” (1 John 5:4-5)

PRAYER: Father, God, give us the type of bulldog tenacity that will persevere in doing good and persevere till the end. You promise us if we don't give up, if we persevere, we will reap a harvest, so we don't quit. We get back up gain, lick our wounds, and go back to the fight. With our faith securely in a Jesus Christ we are garunteed victory. We claim that victory today in the name of Jesus, Amen.