Finish Your Race Well

Walking by faith is deliberate, focused, and takes effort.  That is why James 2:17 says "faith not accompanied by action is dead".  If faith was all we had to contend with that wouldn't be so hard; however, we have an adversary to contend with - and he's just as deliberate, focused, and effort driven!  That sounds like bad news, but depending on how you look at it, it can be good news!  God has placed weapons at our disposal that the enemy will never have!  That is why He hates us so much.  First of all, we have the Word of God available to us 24/7 that teaches us how to defeat this adversary (you do have to read it though).  Secondly, we have the Spirit of the Living God living on the inside of us!  1 John 4:4 says "greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world ".  So, if the Spirit of God is living on the inside of us, He's always speaking, directing, and showing us things pertaining to how to win our battle.  The problem lies in us first of all listening, and then obeying.  Thirdly, God has given us dominion, authority, and power over the enemy (Luke 10:19).  Ephesians 2:6 says "And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus."  That means when we use the Name of Jesus, satan must bow to us just as he does to Jesus - because we're not commanding him in our authority, we're commanding using the Name above every Name (Philippians 2:9)! He's also given us His armor to fight this battle with.  See Ephesians 6:10-17.  WOW!  Our Daddy loves us so much!  He's given us everything we need to be more than conquerors, which is who He says we are in Romans 8:37.  So, if we look at things from God's perspective - and we can because 1 Corinthians 2:16 says "we have the mind of Christ" - we are well equipped with everything we need to finish our race well!  The question is will we use what we have or continue to wait on God to do it for us?  I pray you'll roll up your sleeves, jump in, and work collaboratively with Holy Spirit for Him to bring you to your expected end (Jeremiah 29:11).  He loves to show up and show out in our lives, but just as at some point you put the spoon down and expect your child to pick it up and feed themselves, our Father expects the same from us!  We can do it my brothers and sisters!  LET'S GO!!!