This morning I caught some of the Olympics while at the gym for my regular workout, and as I watched the athletes competing the spirit of the Lord spoke clearly to me and said: “Don’t take your eyes off the prize. Many of you are close to birthing your promise, and the enemy is using age-old strategies to attempt to divert your focus.”
And the Lord says the enemy will try to these tactics in this final critical hour to cause you to take your eyes off of your promise:
Offense. If you succumb to offense it will open up a door for attack to attempt to cause you to forfeit your own promise.
Comparison. The enemy wants you to focus on how swift or how fast someone else is running their race instead of keeping your eyes on course to ultimately win your prize.
Disheartenment. The enemy is hoping to dishearten the people of God or wear us down due to the storms he is whipping up in various areas of our lives be it through relationships, family, work, or finances.
The spirit of the Lord says as you keep your eyes on me, repent daily, and come out of offense, as you strengthen yourself in my Word, in prayer, and worship to overcome disheartenment, and as you resist the need to compare your race to the race of others, victory shall be yours.
Just how in the book of Matthew, Peter began to sink when he took his eyes off Jesus, the Lord is calling us to a deeper level of faith and focus to navigate any storms that have come our way. In Matthew 14:29-31 it reads: 29 “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
When I heard this word I was watching wall climbers in the Olympics competing against each other - they had to climb to the top of the wall and hit a button, and the fastest woman to the top was the winner. Each athlete's eyes were fixed on the button as they climbed.
And the spirit of the Lord said to me - Running my race is the only kind of race in which everyone who endures receives an everlasting crown of victory. And he led me to this verse: 1 Corinthians 9:24-25 It says: “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.” And He said just as there are many sports that one can compete in that all require different levels of intense physical training, during the Olympics, the spiritual gifting and the spiritual training I put each individual in my kingdom through is specific for the assignment and territory I have for them and for the souls I intend them to reach.
And the spirit of the Lord says that some will develop their giftings, and others will neglect them, which will cause them to miss the souls they were meant to reach because the maturity of their gifting and the character required to sustain it was not at the level that it needs to be for the influence I intended for them to have. How much more is it to press towards the high calling of the kingdom than it is to be in the Olympics? Even as the world has now presented their grandest tournament and display of strength…the world has yet to see the giftings and my power made manifest through my people that is yet to come. There are many who have been in the spiritual gym, waiting for their debut, but soon I will reveal those who are my gladiators who have been training in secret, in silence, and training through the circumstances of life navigating extreme levels of warfare. When I say on your marks, get set, go: that same rigorous training I have put them through is what will guarantee their victory in their race.
Hebrews 12:1-3 says: Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
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