Making A Course Correction

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(Excerpt from Cheryl Gnagey's Spiritual Healing:  The Surrender That Brings Victory, Chapter 11)

If we put together all of the words and phrases from Hebrews 12:1 that we have looked at in the Greek, we are able to write the verse with even greater clarity. 

"Putting all of those definitions together, we will see an 'amplified' version of what it is really telling us."  Let me show you.

Considering that God has designed for us a particular race to run, one in which we are to lay aside the things that trip us up on our journey to Him, we should set our minds on giving the race a strenuous effort so as never to surrender to our stumbling blocks and sin.  We should attack this race as our course on earth, one of mastery and victory over satan and sin.

If we do not live out this verse in our daily walk of obedience to God, our sins and our encumbrances will keep us from the kind of runner's race of faith that could influence others.  Have you considered what effect your sin and 'allowances' have had on those around you?  What impact could it have if you continue in your disobedience?  Do you remember the legacy left to us by the great cloud of witnesses?  What legacy do you really want to leave behind for others to follow?  Do you want your legacy to be that you tolerated your own disobedience to your Creator while He abhorred it, or that  your fought the good fight, that you ran a great race, that led you to the surrender the brought victory into your life?

Do you find that you now have a course correction to make?  The masterful author of Hebrews has the 'how to' in verse 2 of Hebrews 12.  He says to 'fix your eyes on Jesus' because He is the Author and Perfecter of faith.  Our faith began at our salvation, with Jesus and our belief in Him.  Though we are a character in the book He is writing of our faithful journey, He is the Author of it, not us!  He is also the One who is doing the perfecting in us.  We would never be capable of heart transformation on our own!

As a reminder, let's revisit the 'let us' phrases and what they are telling us to do:

• Lay aside what is holding us back.
• Run with endurance.

The 'laying aside' of our sin and heavy encumbrances is a call to Lordship in our lives.  As we begin to walk in the Spirit and lay aside our stumbling blocks, we are actually making Jesus the Lord of those particular areas of sin and barriers to holiness.  In surrendering them, we are giving Him His rightful seat in our hearts, which allows Him full control over the things that can entangle us and get us off course."

How Well Are You Enduring Your Race?

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(Excerpt from Cheryl Gnagey's Spiritual Healing:  The Surrender That Brings Victory, Chapter 11)

We have been taking a closer look at the two "Let us" phrases found in Hebrews 12: 1-4.  Let me refresh your minds in regard to those two phrases.

     1.  Let us lay aside every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles us.
     2.  Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

I am making the second one the topic of today's blog.  I will continue to use a Greek dictionary to help us gain greater understanding into the phraseology of this verse.  Today, let's see what the Greek has to say about these 3 very important words:  run, endurance and race.

• Run -- to run or walk hastily having a course to run; specific to this verse, 'with strenuous effort.

Can you sense the urgency and intensity of this kind of running?  This kind of run will not be easy or leisurely.  The course referred to has already been set for us by God, and we will need endurance to finish His race.  [This definition begs an answer to this question:  Why do we, as believers, call our journey with God a 'walk'?  For me, to call it a walk infers that it is an easy-peasy trip!  And it isn't at all!  I think I may start labeling my 'walk' a 'run'.  That just might open a few doors to witnessing!]

• Endurance -- a patient continuing (waiting when necessary), bearing up under the strain with a tranquil mind, not surrendering to them (the sin and encumbrances).

Wow!  I had no idea that my endurance required a tranquil mind, set only on the hope of making it through!  I am not sure I have ever correctly endured!  But let me not just focus on the word 'tranquil'.  We must look at the other words in the definition in order to clearly understand what endurance is.  To endure will require something in me that says that I will keep going, no matter what.  I must stay the course with a constancy that patiently continues even when it is difficult, not just when it is easy.  This race is about learning to be obedient in all things.  When the Word speaks of not surrendering to those things that can entangle me, I must decide now to bear up when temptations, trials, and tests come, so that I can win the race by gaining victories over them.  And with that thought in mind, let move on to our third definition.

• The Race -- strife, contention, a struggle, a contest for victory or mastery, a contest against the enemies of man's salvation, much like the Greek games [Olympics].

Because satan wishes to thwart our efforts to gain victory or mastery over our sin ans stumbling blocks, our fight with him will require great effort.  Our enemy wants to keep us in our sin, maybe more than we want to be free of it.  Therefore, he will contend with us with every weapon in his arsenal.  We must learn to use our entire spiritual armor, and specifically the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, with even more effort and zeal than satan uses against us.

Do you see now shy it is so very important to understand God's Word in its original language [Greek and Hebrew]?  The Greek must be used to define the words of the New Testament; our English dictionaries just cannot fully get the job done!