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Run the Race Set Before You
March 29, 2019
When I was originally thinking about writing a post about spiritual warfare, I realized my struggle. I had a hard time coming up with some grand analogy about spiritual warfare that made sense, lined up with Scripture, and that reflected my own experiences. I decided to sleep on it, as God usually has a way of placing dreams in me that often speak to me in some way or another.
God gave me a dream that very night that summed up my experiences with spiritual warfare. It wasn't like some military operation where the two sides line up and start attacking one another in an organized way. It wasn't even a massive battle or taking place on a battlefield. It was one on one in an ordinary place.
I had this dream of a dark figure walking around my car. I was stuck in traffic, and the sky was overcast and raining, and he wore a hood so I could not see his face. He walked from car to car as we were all stopped by the red light. He came to my car and circled it, trying to open my car doors. He went from one door to the other. I tried to lock them, but I couldn't. All I could do was hold onto them and pull against the door to keep it shut until he decided to move to another door. It was a scramble to keep up, and I knew I couldn't keep it up forever. I felt helpless. Then the light turned green, and I could drive off and leave him, but so long as I was stopped, he could continue to try to get in.
This dream is how my struggles with the devil have felt at times. There are times that my life feels like I’m at a standstill and that’s when I feel attacked by the enemy the most. Whether it is temptation, doubt, depression, or distraction, it all seems to come without warning and any break. Once I deal with one attack, another begins, and another after that. I feel powerless like there’s no way for it to stop. However, God revealed to me the reason it feels that way even though He is always with me. The reason the figure could try to open the door is that my car was stopped. The same holds true for me, if I don’t keep moving forward down the path God had laid out for me, I become stagnant and vulnerable to attack.
“And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem. And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.” 2 Samuel 11: 1-2
Like David, if we are not where we are supposed to be, on the front lines, we can be lured into sin. David should have been in the battle, where kings were supposed to be, but instead, he chose to stay behind and sent Joab instead. Here’s something I found odd about this passage: Israel still won without him even though he wasn’t obeying God. The thing is, we can appear to be doing well even if we aren’t following God or if we aren’t where we need to be. The sad part is that even though Israel won these battles, David was losing the battle in his heart and his soul. He let up the fight, and no longer pressed on in the victory Israel gained by God’s Hand.
“Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.” 1 Timothy 6:12
I believe that fighting the good fight of faith Paul talks about isn’t necessarily taking place on the battlefield, it takes place in moving forward on the path God has laid out for us.
“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, 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.” Hebrews 12:1-2
These verses are our call, not to struggle and wrestle with doubt, sin, temptation, or the enemy. We can’t lock our doors, but we can keep moving forward. We can outrun the enemy when we follow after God. That’s why it says to look to Jesus; He didn’t spend His life on earth fighting like a warrior. He spent it running the race set before Him. He served The Father and gave no attention to the attacks against Him. He set aside the weights of this world, the evil that we can’t overcome on our own, and kept pressing on.
Don’t let your heart get stuck behind the traffic in your life, whether it be anxiety, stress, routine, comparison to others, the cares of this world, or anything that distracts you from God. That is when the enemy will try to overwhelm you, not because God isn’t with you. He is calling you to Him, telling you to keep pressing on, following His light.
“And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.” Exodus 13:21-22
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