Run

I can't tell you how many times I've determined to keep pressing forward only to be entangled in temptation and fall apart. Two nights ago, I sat in my room listening to John Piper preach. And he said something that will stick with me for a long time. He said when we ask God to remove our sin(s), we must ask Him to fill us. We cannot leave the hole there. For after that one demon has left, it will only bring back seven more. But what does it mean to ask Christ to fill us? I am only starting to discover. Every time, I break and give in to temptation, I am utterly discouraged. I feel like throwing the towel in and giving up all together. I used to believe that a good, solid Christian would never fall, but this morning I read something that struck me. It's from Philippians 3:12-13 and I'm sure you've read it before.

"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me...I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

To all my fellow brothers and sisters who have felt like throwing in the towel, keep running the race. Eyes on the prize. Move forward.

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Inevitably, you will fall. You will be discouraged. You will feel like quitting. You will feel sore and exhausted. But you will pick yourself back up and continue. We run this race together.