RUN, PATIENCE, RACE
Tuesday – July 3, 2018, Tamuz 20, 5778
Greetings and welcome back to this wonderful faith building Bible Study from the Book of Hebrews. We are in the twelfth chapter and the instruction is wonderful. The featured picture is Patti and me at our favorite eatery in Lincolnville, Maine last September. Many, many wonderful memories. Can you imagine what the eateries are like in Heaven? O how glorious they must be! Enjoy and rejoice sweetheart I will join you soon when my race is done. Now let’s turn our attention to the Bible Study by reading our primary Bible text aloud.
Hebrews 12:1-2 (KJV)
1 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,
2 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.
We have a whole book (Holy Bible) full of good, bad, and ugly examples of how to live before God. Scripture admonishes us to be diligent to rightly divide the Word of God.
2 Timothy 2:15-16 (KJV)
15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
16 But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.
The sluggard (lazy person) is wide open to deception but the diligent person closes the door to deception. The diligent person will see the deception as they compare it to the Word of God and they are practiced at hearing the still small voice of God. It is my understanding that the way agents are trained in the counterfeit divisions of law enforcement is by looking at and handling lots of real money. The same is true for the Word of God and the deceptions of the devil which can come directly from the evil ones but commonly come through other persons. The very worst deceptions occur in Church for we are far less likely to check it out or question the validity of the thing said. When we don’t identify and reject deception at its onset, first thing you know it becomes a part of our thoughts and language. Because it isn’t true, it can never bear good fruit, however it will bear fruit. It is so important that we all be good Bereans.
Acts 17:10-11 (KJV)
10 And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews.
11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
These false teachings which we receive as the Truth are besetting weights. We teach them to other peoples and they become besetting weights for them as well. In the Apostle Paul’s writings, we commonly see examples of combat soldiers like in the Full Armor of God, or competitive games like in our text where he references a race. The idea is not so much that we are trying to beat someone else out of the prize or to the finish line but that we are to put all that we have and are into the effort. Our text is telling us that we are to run this race with patience. As I am sure you are well aware there are many kinds of races with various distances, anything from a 100-yard sprint to a marathon of several miles. We are not in the sprint type of race, we are in a marathon race for the long-term, our lives. If one sprints during a long-distance race they may fatigue, fall by the wayside, and not finish the race. We are all too aware that patience is a constant part of this Christian experience and many of us are not long on the patience thing. We are a part of a generation that wants it now and gets it now, the microwave generation.
Psalm 37:9 (KJV)
9 For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth.
Hebrews 11:6 (KJV)
6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Earlier I spoke of studying to show ourselves approved, our text talks of patience, the preceding verses talk of waiting, and diligently seeking God. None of us seem to like this patience thing but it is something that is part of our Godly nature. It is in our spiritual DNA, we got it from our Father, and if we will be diligent to practice patience it will be on a supernatural level like our Father.
Galatians 5:22-23 (HCSB)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith,
23 gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Patience is one of the fruit of the spirit, our spirit, which we got from our Father God, it is the same patience He has except His is as well developed as it gets and ours is in the infant stage at salvation.
James 1:3-4 (KJV)
3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
I think most of us are excited about the “wanting nothing” part of this but not the process of faith and patience which go hand in hand. The process of developing our faith is time consuming but true faith moves the Kingdom of God ahead and moves us ahead. Notice it is not talking about our needs being met but our wants to the extent that we want nothing. This only occurs with a certain level of maturity which comes with patience.
Lord willing, I will pick up right here tomorrow. Until our next publication, I speak this Scriptural prayer for your life right now, receive it in the name of Jesus, confess it, and walk it out with thanksgiving.
2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 (KJV)
11 Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power:
12 That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
By: Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
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