Stand, Conquer, Run

I ran today. And yesterday too.

If you’ve been here a while, then you’ve “heard me talk” about it before. How God took my proverbial running away from Him and turned it into physical running towards Him. By that, I mean the time spent running, I use for prayer and to bring my needs, concerns, and fears to the foot of the cross in exchange for His strength, His confidence. Ya know, discipline the body, discipline the mind.

Here’s the kicker though. I did run, yes, but I didn’t want to. And last week when I also didn’t want to, . . . I didn’t.

You see, like many of you, I pray over my pastor and the message he’s sharing, that it would be God’s words come down to reach exactly the right person at exactly the right time.

That’s how, inadvertently, I found myself praying for myself this past weekend.

Pastor Doug said “The biggest struggle when it comes to running is to stand up and do it.”

And he’s right. That first step is the hardest no matter what you’re aspiring for.

The courage, the motivation, the process of getting your feet up to speed (sometimes literally) with your mind.

“If a kingdom is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.”

-Mark 3:24

Read that again.

Friends, believers, this fight you’re fighting, this place where you sit, yearning for the strength to just stand up, it’s not unique to you.

In Romans 7:15, Paul wrestles with this very concept, saying “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate, I do.”

What’s the catalyst here for this internal struggle?

“Sin living in me,” Paul says.

Sin living in me. It’s already there. It’s always been there. So how, then, do I overcome it? How do I get these feet to move?

“With God, all things are possible.” The words are written in red.

The answer is, independently, I can’t. I’m not strong enough. But my God is.

Our God is a roaring lion, and with Him on our side (which He is, we just have to open our eyes and look), we can stand up, conquer, and run.

“Self-sacrifice through self-control is necessary for self-fulfillment.”

-Rhonda H. Kelley

That is to say, we must sacrifice our will for the Father’s and wake up every day making, not the passive, but the active choice to follow Him, and we will achieve Christ in us.

And with Christ in us, all things are possible.

Jesus said it Himself. He already overcame. (John 16:33)

With Christ on our side, alive in us, we too are overcomers.

Now if you’re still sitting, I heard something the other day that might prompt you to stand up.

It was from a pastor/author I follow on the internet named Kelly Kopp. And with tears in his eyes, he said “I know that I’m not waiting until the end of my life to hear ‘Well done my good and faithful servant,’ because at the end of every day when I lay down in my bed, either the Father or the enemy is saying ‘well done my good and faithful servant.’”

Friends, every day that we’re blessed to wake up on this earth, we’re presented with a series of choices. Every day. All day.

I’m gonna serve God. Or I’m gonna serve myself.

I’m gonna glorify Him. Or I’m gonna pursue the world.

I’m gonna make His name known. Or I’m gonna keep everything He’s done for me to myself.

I’m gonna stand up. Or I’m gonna remain seated.

Friends, stand up.

You can be a good textbook Christian. You can offer Him your praises, but are you offering Him your obedience? (1 Samuel 15:22)

If you’ve got a roaring lion in your heart, you’ve got one in your lungs, too. You’ve got a testimony in your spirit, and a mission calling your feet to move.

So move. Conquer the fear, the worry, the sin that's holding you back and run in your purpose. Just stand in Christ first.