I can see hope rising out of the ashes.
The last year hasn’t been easy for so many.
Yes, God is moving. Yes, people are being saved. Yes, people are getting healed. The Kingdom is advancing. The gospel is being proclaimed. People are being baptized.
I am a witness to all of that.
And a lot has been happening. People dying, COVID, persecution, compromise in the church, decisions being made that seem more and more insane, and sin is running amuck causes all kinds of consequences and confusion.
I was in church yesterday and thought of that Christmas song that says
“A weary world rejoices“
And I believe we are coming into that season….of rejoicing…if we so choose.
For the last year, I have been mostly running 30 minutes at a time where I used to run an hour. That might seem insignificant but I believe it’s revealing.
I have been running so hard in other areas and standing for things I never dreamed I would be standing for and it’s taken a LOT OF emotional, spiritual and what ends up being a physical toll on you. And it’s worth it. Jesus didn’t call us to easy street.
But just last week, I thought, I gotta start running an hour again.
It’s hard, but it’s good.
I gotta push past what I got used to, in the last year, and go further.
In the spiritual, we have GOT to push past what we got used to in the last year and run a little further.
It’s not like the battle is going anywhere. Just watch the news and you’ll be reminded of the mess we are in. But we can be victorious in battle….if we wear our armor and follow the Lamb.
To rejoice in the Lord, you gotta be walking with the Lord. To walk with the Lord into battle, you gotta have the breastplate of righteousness on. If you are entertaining sin, your vital organs are exposed. No wonder we are weary.
So, in the last year, if there has been any area of compromise or sin, you GOTTA get rid of it. You gotta bring it to the light.
If you have been watching porn, you have to STOP. It’s killing you. It’s creating desires in you that weren’t meant to be there. I once heard a quote “The man knocking at the brothel door is ultimately looking for God.” Get your intimacy ordered right. It’s Jesus you are longing for, not porn. Run to Jesus.
If you have been lying to your spouse, family or friends, REPENT. Ask for forgiveness. With the belt of truth off, you are compromised on the battlefield.
If you have been cheating on your taxes…you know a little compromise here, a little compromise there. STOP. Make things right.
If you have been making Jesus in your own image and using a highlighter or an eraser with God and His word, REPENT. Change your mind. You are not God. He is. Let Him be God and chose Him as Lord.
If you have been making negotiations with obedience, REPENT.
Change your mind and obey the Lord’s call on your life.
And I could go on and on. There are things that we choose that make us weary. And there are things that happen to us that make us weary.
But to get out of weariness to rejoicing, it will take INTENTIONAL effort. We must let go of anything that entangles us. We must run with endurance.
We must choose TODAY to serve the Lord. Period. No matter what mama and dem decide to do. No matter what the culture dictates. No matter ___________ what.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [who by faith have testified to the truth of God’s absolute faithfulness], stripping off every unnecessary weight and the sin which so easily and cleverly entangles us, let us run with endurance and active persistence the race that is set before us (Heb 12:1)
Let us RUN saints. It’ll take endurance and active persistence.
It’s time saints for our weary world to rejoice.
And that JOY is only found IN HIM.
