The Devil's Job vs Mine

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus,the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. - Hebrews 12:1-2

The Holy Spirit whispered some powerful revelation into my heart this morning as I read Hebrews 12:1 and 2. I am pretty sure that this is a verse many of us are familiar with. Probably some of us can even quote it. I am however realizing more and more than memorizing and knowing a Scripture is not the same as understanding it and if we would tell the truth, we would confess that most of the time, a lot of us read the Bible without actually understanding it. 

One of the things I am learning that I need to do more and more is to pray each time I read the Word and ask the Lord to explain His Word to me and then as I read, I open up my heart to receive the revelation and understanding He imparts into my heart. He has never failed anytime I have asked Him.

In any case (LOL, after taking such a detour from what I originally meant to write !), I was reading Hebrews 12:1 and 2 this morning and the Lord showed me something very powerful. I wanted to share what I had learned.

1. The Christian life is a race (we knew that already, right ?). However this race is not without obstacles and in fact, the enemy of our souls, the devil, will make sure that there are always obstacles and distractions that prevent us from running the way we should or even worse, ones that will prevent us from reaching the finish line. This is something we all as followers of Jesus Christ have to get used to. Following Jesus is not a party with vanilla ice cream and cake !

2. Like I mentioned in the first point, it is in the devil's job description to distract us by any means possible. He will use strife, hurts, sickness, financial difficulty, wars, disasters or whatever he can lay his hands on as a means to distract us. However, it is OUR job to recognize the distractions for what they are and keep running or else we could easily stop running and focus on the problems or distractions. In fact, many people have dropped out of the Christian race because they focussed on the distractions Satan brought their way.

3. FOCUS ON JESUS CHRIST. Jesus is waiting for you and I at the finish line. We have to keep looking at Him as we run this race. He is the ultimate prize and He is the ONLY person who matters in all this. Everything else takes second place to Jesus. When a runner knows he or she is running for a million-dollar prize at the end of the race, they focus on that and do their best to make sure that NOTHING distracts them. Jesus is our million-dollar prize and nothing should take our eyes off Him because we get to see Him face-to-face at the end of the line !

You know, the last point really got me. One of my earnest desires and something I say often whenever I chat with the Lord is this : when my life is over and I meet Jesus, I want Him to give me a big hug and say "You did great, girl !". That is all I want to hear. It is all I make my life about. 

In the mean time, there will be trials, distractions and temptations the devil will throw my way. What's my response to all these ? These are not the prize. I need to keep running.