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Today I want to let you into my mind to have a glance into a little of the intimacy between God and me; therefore, the warning: Enter at Your Own Risk.
Each year since my salvation in March 1990 I spend the last thirty minutes of the old year and the first thirty minutes of the New Year in prayer and in the Word with God. During that time look back and forward with Him as the filter. During that time I always ask Him to give me a verse and direction over my life for the New Year.
This year I began reminding Him several weeks out that I would need the verse and direction from Him soon. (I know that God knows my every thought, but I just wanted to get the ball rolling!) On New Year’s Eve during my time of prayer and reading I never really felt like God gave me anything specific.
I did sense that He was leading me to an awareness of not letting myself get entangled in so many everyday life issues that draw my attention away from the things of God, and my pastor’s first message of the new year was on Philippians 3:12-16. Verses 14-16 are the verses that God, through His Holy Spirit, hung on my heart that morning.
14I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. 16Only let us hold true to what we have attained.
I love that passage, as many of us believers do! But this time as I sat and listened to my pastor, a very clear picture was building in my mind. It was like God was allowing me to not only hear the message, but also impressing upon me that this passage would be His Word and direction for me for this year.
A picture that I have witnessed in my coaching days and in sports pictures came to my mind: a runner.
He is in the last leg of a distance run.
He has started to move away from the other runners.
He is picking up the pace.
He is coming out of the last corner headed down the home stretch.
His mind is fixed on the finish line.
His sprint is smooth and determined
He doesn’t look back to see where the other runners are because he knows when he stepped away from them.
His mind has shifted from merely running the race to the goal.
He sees nothing but the goal at hand.
His eyes and heart are fixed!
NOW is the time! Run!
I have no idea how all this plays out in the physical realm, but I know that when it is done, I will know Him more! Amen. So if you see me anywhere around this year you will know this intimate truth between God and me: I’m running because His love compels me to.
As you start your New Year, I pray that you have sought God for His direction and Word. If not, then please, please, stop the bus and wait on Him to move you through His Spirit. Don’t look back at what everyone else is doing. He knows, He cares, and He is running alongside you. Don’t leave home without Him!
Running,
His,
Vickie
Copyright © 2021 by Vickie Arruda @https://purejoyinternational.blogspot.com/2012/01/enter-at-your-own-risk.html/ No part of this article may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from Lifeword.org.