Week 8
PLANNING YOUR RUN WITH JESUS:
Today is a day of reflection and planning. You will need a significant amount of time to do this correctly. I want you to get alone where you will not be interrupted. Turn off cell phones and TVs and get to a place physically and mentally where you can concentrate. If you don’t have time to do it now, switch this day for another one and plan a time you can get alone and concentrate. Here’s what I want you to do.
Read Hebrews 12:1-2 ten times. Do it now before going forward.
Today, I want you to plan your run with Jesus for the next 3 months. I want you to meditate and plan what running with Jesus for the next three months will look like. The goal of this run you are planning is not to impress people or accomplish some great feat. The primary goal of this run is to keep your focus solely on Jesus as you run the race of faith for the next 3 months. So how do you plan 3 months of keeping your eyes focused on Jesus? I hope today will help.
PLANNING YOUR RUN
STEP 1: Throw off weights!
The first thing that will kill a run is if you have weights attached to you. You could be full of passion and drive to run a marathon, but if you have a 50 lb weight attached to your waist, it will not happen. Look over the past 3 days, 3 weeks, and 3 months. Really ask God to SPECIFICALLY pinpoint sin in your life. What in your life is continually unpleasing to God? It may be small or big, but if it’s sin, it’s a weight and will doom your run! Make a list of sins you must trust Christ with and throw off to be able to run. Again, ask God and be specific! (You may list 1, 3 or, 10. Up to you.)
Romans 13:14 – PUT ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST and MAKE NO PROVISIONS FOR THE FLESH. You cannot defeat sin in your own power and if you could you would become self-righteous because you did it. You must put on Jesus and make no provisions.
In the space below, make a specific plan for how you will make no provisions for the sins mentioned above but also how you will replace that sin with Jesus. For example, if you are tempted with gossip and/or slander, you may make a plan to not be around people that cause you to do that (make no provision for the flesh). When you are tempted to do it have a verse memorized that you will recite in that moment like Ephesians 4:29. (Put on Jesus) Be creative in your battle against sin! Make a plan for each sin above that you will execute for the next 3 months.
STEP 2: Fix your eyes on Jesus!
Fixing your eyes on Jesus should be the easiest thing you’ve ever been asked to do. It would be like saying, “I want you to fix your eyes on this Hawaiian sunset.” Setting your eyes on earthly beauty is great, but setting your eyes on the centerpiece of a sinless heaven is awesome. IF you fix your eyes on this Jesus you will naturally treasure him. The question for the next three months as you plan your run with Christ is, “How will you fix your eyes on Jesus?”
Running a race is about getting rid of weight but it’s also about setting your eyes on the prize. There is no greater prize than Jesus. And Jesus, being the Author and Perfecter of faith, means, he originally gives you the faith to look at him, but also miraculously, as you look to him he perfects your faith and grows it. Faith is not by doing but by beholding! So as you approach the question of, “How will I fix my eyes on Jesus,” don’t consume yourself with what you will do, but with how you will set yourself up to really behold Christ! Write out your plan below.
STEP 3: Access the Cloud!
A major part of being able to finish a race, I’ve learned, is by receiving encouragement from people watching the race. When I ran the Peachtree, I found it extremely encouraging to run by the Shepherd Clinic and see quadriplegics and paraplegics holding signs and encouraging me to run. I saw an older couple in their 80’s clapping from their wheelchairs. Seeing these, who have made such a sacrifice, just to encourage me gave me no option of quitting. Hebrews 12:1 says, “We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses.” I want you to “Access the Cloud!”
I want you to experience the power of people who have already run their race with Jesus. I want you to experience learning about their faith and trust in Christ as they pressed on to glory. And knowing now, they are in heaven wanting me to run a race for Christ that he would be proud of is encouraging.
Here’s the last step for running your race.
I want you to pick a Christian in history that you will research and learn about. I want you to learn from their life and let them encourage you to continue on in your run with Christ. It can be someone from the 4th century, 1400’s, or 1900’s. I would just say someone who has died, finished their race, and is in heaven now celebrating their Savior.
What do I do? I would love to challenge you to read a biography (a book written about the person). That would be awesome. If not, research the person periodically during your 3 month run and continue to learn more and more about them.
SUGGESTED PEOPLE: (no particular order)
Martin Luther
C.S. Lewis
John Bunyan
John or Charles Wesley
George Whitefield
John Calvin
Corrie Ten Boom
William Carey
Augustine
Dietrich Bonheoffer
Amy Carmichael
Jonathan Edwards
John Owens
Charles Spurgeon
Jim Elliot
Elizabeth Elliot
Hudson Taylor
Blaise Pascal
Below is a link to a Day 2 Recap that you can print or download and put it somewhere so over the next 3 months you will remember your commitment made here.