Hebrews 12: 1-2; Isaiah 43: 18-19; Philippians 3: 13-14;
These three scriptures lay heavily on my mind
this morning so I wrote them down and decided to delve into them a little after
prayer. Let's start with Hebrews 12; 1-2
"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, looking 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."
"Looking unto Jesus" really stands out to me here. I feel that God put this scripture on my mind
this morning because He's trying to show me that I should not be looking unto
anyone else. I shouldn't have my mind
all the time on other people; what they're doing; their walk with God; I should
look unto Him. He's the One that's going
to take me to new heights. No matter how
much I look on other people and desire what they have, only God will give to me
what He has had for me from the foundation of the world. My full focus should always be on Jesus and
not man. Sometimes I get so wrapped up
in Facebook. What the church fold and
worldly folks are doing. Not overly
wrapped up, but enough to doubt this Jesus that I say I have dwelling on the
inside of me. God is saying "Lora
you have got to stop this." The
devil will try to distract me (lay aside every weight and the sin which so
easily beset us) and tell me that I don't amount to nothing and will have me
looking at my circumstances instead of Jesus.
He is good at trying to get me to see comparisons of others. Looking at what they have and are prospering
because he don't want me to stay in the Word.
God says that He sends His Word to heal us. I'm receiving my healing right now in the
Name of Jesus Christ. I'm also not
relying upon God enough to be patient.
This race that is ordained for me is not a sprint. It's more like a marathon. What God is doing in my life will come to
light. I have all these great witnesses
(see Hebrews 11) here for my example.
What things they endured, having not received the promise (Jesus
Christ)! Hoping against hope. These weights have kept me from running. They have made it much more difficult for me
to run. I watch The Biggest Loser on
television and see how the contestants start off. They're overweight and can hardly able to do
anything when they enter the ranch. But,
as they start to exercise and eat better, the weight comes off. Sometimes there's games that they participate
in which requires them to carry the amount of weight that they've lost up unto
that point. For some it's 50 pounds or
more...and having to place those sandbags on their backs and shoulders to
complete a task is much more difficult.
It's hard for them to run. And
then they realize how that weight was affecting them and how they must not get
to that point again. Spiritually
speaking, once we are free from these sins that have enslaved us we need to
keep them off. Which means we have to
keep looking unto Jesus. Once we are
saved it doesn't mean that we won't have any more trials. We will be tested as never before. That's why we must keep looking unto
Jesus. He knows our beginning as well as
our ending.
Now let's examine Isaiah 43: 18-19
"Remember ye not the former things, neither consider
the things of old. Behold, I will do a
new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and
rivers in the desert."
I have been so guilty of always looking
back. Looking at what people have done
to me. Looking at where I use to be
(both spiritually and naturally). Even
looking back sometimes on the sins that I have committed. God does not want me to do this. I feel that He put this scripture before me
because He's saying "Enough is Enough"! Stop it!
If I have come to God and repented of my sins and God has forgiven me,
why in the world am I still looking back on the things that I'd done
wrong. God remembers them no more. But I start to condemn myself. I send myself to prison and place myself in
the electric chair. The Devil wants us
to sit there and continue to look back on our sinful past and forget that God
has already forgiven us. And then when
we do commit sin again (though it may not be the same sin) he gets us into
condemnation that God is so tired of us committing sin. The devil paints God as someone who's ready
to condemn us to hell and sometimes we may get so afraid that we don't even
stop and ask forgiveness for that sin.
What a liar the devil is! We
should not at all be surprised at his devices.
That's why as saints of God we have to daily wear the full armor of
God. Anything else will not do. No matter what I have done for God in the
past and how dedicated my life was to Him, God will do a greater and new thing if
I continue to trust Him. I have to get
my mind off the things that I see and trust in the Word of God. I may not know which way that I'm going right
now but I know that by keeping my eyes focused on Jesus I won't go wrong. He will make ways for me when there are no
ways formed or that I can see clearly with my natural eyes. The next Scripture is somewhat similar to the
one in Isaiah. Philippians 3: 13-14 says:
"Brethren, I count not myself to
have apprehended: but this one thing I
do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those
things which are before. I press toward
the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."
God is saying to me, "Forget these things,
Lora! There is a greater prize
ahead. But you must be patient. You must have endurance. And you must keep pressing toward that." How can we press toward something if we are
always looking back? This is nearly
impossible as we will lose ground on what's ahead because we are so focused on
what's behind. We have got to forget our
past. We have to forget our faults and
failures. We have to forget all the wrong
decisions that we have made in life. We
have to let go of it all and trust God for the things in our future. No matter how perfect we may try to be on a
daily basis, the truth of the matter is we may never be. We have to be content
in the journey and just trust everything else to God.
