Tuesday, June 21, 2011

"Cloud of Witnesses"


"I dont have time to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jepthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets... who through FAITH conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weaknesses, became mighty in war, put armies to flight! You see... Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside EVERY weight and sin which clings so closely and let us RUN WITH ENDURANCE the race that is set before us!

Let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire!"
Hebrews 11:32-12:1-28

All the mighty warriors of the Old Testament and now also the New are watching YOU run this race for Christ! They cheer you on! What if God saved you "for such a time as this?" (Esther 4:14) Paul encourages us to "look to Jesus, the founder and perfector of our faith, who for the JOY set before Him endured the cross" (Heb 11) God has not called us to fight a physical battle like the amazing warriors in the Old Testament, but to fight a spiritual battle, one that is fought with PRAYER and WORSHIP, the WORD ,and simply STANDING FIRM in your faith! Its amazing to think that God can take our ordinary, normal, I-grocery-shop-every-Tue-in-my-pajamas-life, and turn it into something that He can use to show the world who HE really is!

This all consuming fire, this savior of the world has called you to be a warrior in His army... He has called you to be a bondage-breaker and a city-shaker and a world-changer! So throw everything that slows you down aside and run this race for Christ that one day we may say along with Paul "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith!" 2 Tim4:7

1 comment:

turcol said...

Thanks Savannah, I really enjoyed reading your blog. Carol