Run God’s Race Pt. 1

“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” 

Hebrews 12:1-2 

How much would your life be rocked if you believed that the Creator of the Universe has a race for you to run? The race is His and not yours. But the race is His for you.  

The Creator of the universe. The, “In the beginning God created,” creator. Time. Space. Matter. Life. The Cosmos. The Heavenlies. Angels. Creatures. Man.  

That Creator.  

The Creator. 

Has a race for you to run.  

Would that rock your rhythm? Your passions? Your dreams? 

Lighting Kingdom fires in individuals and organizations to abandon this world, and themselves, to discover and run the Creator’s race is TREXO. Watch this. In the above cited Hebrews 12:1-2, the verb translated, “let us run,” in the Greek is the verb trexo! So, I can paraphrase the verses like this, “Since we have such incredible testimonies of others, let us abandon everything and trexo God’s race!” 

Invigorated living, LIFE, robustness (is that a word), and more organically ooze out of the soul of any person running the race the Creator created them to run!  

You were created to run God’s race.  

Staggering.  

That must be hard to conceive at times. You are alone reflecting on the reality that the one you call God is the Creator of all. He is real. He is at work in creation. He is at work in you. He had a role in creating you. (For your life is NOT incidental, accidental, or coincidental – you are providential!) And He has a race for you to run.  

We MUST take regular times to breathe back into that. The concept is enormous…let alone living the reality.  

In Hebrews 11, the author names seventeen individuals who ran God’s race. Phenomenal names. None of them came up with the idea for their races. Building a boat was not Noah’s idea. Abram didn’t think to form a nation. David was happy tending sheep, leading Israel – not his plan. And on and on. Hebrews 11 screams one testimony after another of the pragmatic reality of God’s race. He holds the narrative pen!  

Hebrews 12 leverages so those stories as the author pivots and points at their specific audience and us in general. In the same way God had a race for them so too He has a race for you! But Hebrews 12:1 says we need to deal with all the pollution that chokes our running. 

You have issues and obstacles that actively work to keep you from embracing, identifying, and running God’s race He created you to run. What are they? What are the issues and obstacles you face that keep you from running God’s race? You will easily be able to identify some of them. I think the deeper, “rootier,” issues and obstacles will be harder to identify. But the Holy Spirit knows what yours are and where you keep them hidden!  

In Psalm 139:23-24, the Psalmist calls on the searching of God to be his source of purification, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.” The Holy Spirit knows our obstacles and issues better than we do.  

Write down what you readily know keeps you from running God’s race. 

Ask the Holy Spirit to show you whatever else is in play in you. Be quiet. Breathe. Listen. Come with a sincere and eager heart. Remember, these are issues keeping you from experiencing and enjoying the race you were created to run. 

• Feeling whole isn’t possible unless you are running God’s race.  
• Flourishing isn’t possible unless you are running God’s race. 
• Experiencing your potential isn’t possible unless you are running God’s race.  
• Peace isn’t possible unless you are running God’s race.  
• Acceptance isn’t possible unless you are running God’s race. 
• Rest isn’t possible unless you are running God’s race. 

Yet ALL of these and so much more are ABUNDANTLY available to anyone who will identify and abandon whatever issues and obstacles they face so that they can run the race for which they were created!  

Let’s slow walk and unpack God’s race together over the next many OVERFLOW sessions. For today I want you to be fired up that your Creator has a race for you to run. Take time and meditate on the reality of a Creator. See the universe in its expanse. See your Creator above all of that and so much more than that. Now see yourself. See who you are today as one who has been providentially made by a God who loves you. Now see your path filled with direction, love, and faithfulness. Breathe into it. Soak here for now.  

In our next time we will work on clarifying your Creator in a way that will provide spiritual fuel to your soul!  

We are going to learn to run in the OVERFLOW…