?Guide my feet?while I run this race
guide my feet?while I run this race
guide my feet?while I run this race
?cause I don?t want to run this race in vain.?

The guest preacher ended his sermon at our church on Tuesday night with that song and I?ve been singing it ever since. I need all the help I can get with this race that I have chosen (and been chosen) to run. Why lie?

I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal lord and savior when I was 12 years old. I clearly had no idea what I was signing up for. I didn?t really know all that it would entail. All I knew was that I had a need to rely in something much greater than myself. So when I confessed with my mouth that Jesus is Lord and believed in my heart that God had raised Him from the dead, I meant it. But I think there?s this period of naivety that young Christians in the faith go through. We think that because we have Jesus, we don?t have to go through anything. We think that the problems stop, that hard times cease to be. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The truth is that the moment we accept Jesus into our lives, we?re put on satan?s hit list. The devil ain?t just out to make us have a bad day. He wants to straight up take us out. If he can?t take us out, he?ll make every dogged attempt to disqualify our lives from being a true witness for Christ. Faith is easy to come by when things are going well. The real test is believing He?s real when all hell is breaking loose in your life. Our existence is a series of tests. We all want the testimony without having to go through a test, but that?s not how it works. There?s no testimony without the test. And the higher you go in Christ Jesus, the more difficult the tests become. As my mother used to say, ?New level, new devil.?

Being a Christian in a fallen world means constantly having to ask yourself one question: is it possible to be in the world and not of the world? In other words, is it possible to live your life for God and not be swayed by the influence of worldly thinking? Will you choose God?s way over your own desires? I can?t lie: I have not always chosen God?s way. The struggle between spirit and flesh is quite real, and I have failed this test on countless occasions?even though I knew better.

We as Christians think we get it, but we don?t really get it. This life is a life of suffering. In order to be elevated, we have to get low. We have to deny our selves daily to follow Him. Not our will, but His be done. In a world where everyone wants to take care of themselves before others, is it any wonder why the Christian walk is a hard sell? It completely goes against the way the world operates. From what I hear, some preachers have taken the easy way out with messages of prosperity. I won?t be fooled. The blessings will come, but not without some bruising along the way. It?s going to cost me something. If Jesus was wounded for my trangressions, than I have to expect to catch a beatdown by the trials and tribulations of life. I?ve been through too much already to believe otherwise.

?Hold my hand?while I run this race
hold my hand?while I run this race
hold my hand?while I run this race
?cause I don?t want to run this race in vain.?