Coffee With The Lord

A devotional reflection from my Bible reading today using the “Necessary Food” Bible reading plan: 1 Chronicles 3:1-4:23; Proverbs 23:26-35; Micah 2:1-13; John 21:1-14; Hebrews 12:1-2

I’ve had the privilege of running (and finishing) several marathons… I’ve also participated twice in “Hood to Coast” – for years billed as the world’s longest relay (196 miles from Mount Hood in Oregon to Seaside). Those experiences have taught me some wonderful spiritual lessons about running what I call “THE FAITH RACE”!

This year, Lord willing, once again in April I’ll celebrate my 78th birthday by running 78 miles the week of my birthday. I invite people from all over the world to send me their “prayer requests” and each day’s run becomes a “Prayer Run.”

Over the years I’ve developed what I call “Bartel’s Running Truism” – “I’m not fast, I’m just stubborn!”

It is believed the writer of Hebrews was writing to some Jews who had embraced Jesus as their Messiah. After deciding to follow Jesus, they were now experiencing incredible suffering, trials and persecution on their spiritual journey (read Hebrews 10:23-25, 32-36). They faced incredible temptation to give up and abandon their faith in Christ!

So Hebrews 11… The great faith chapter of the Bible, was written to encourage these suffering Jewish Christians, with Old Testament examples of faithfulness as they ran their “FAITH RACE”!

So in our “Faith Race” here’s a little outline I’ve developed to encourage us from Hebrews 12:1-2…

1. Our Challenge: “Let us run the race…set before us!”

· It’s not a sprint – it’s a marathon (a long race – a “course” – your “course” – 2 Timothy 4:7-8)

· Speed is not essential – finishing the race is! It’s not you against fellow competitors… It’s you against the course… finishing victoriously… finishing as strong as possible… but above all else finishing!

2. Our Need: Preparation and “Patience” (Vs. 1b)

· Self-discipline (training) required (1 Corinthians 9:24-27) My preparation for a marathon… 6 weeks, peaking at a 3 hour run, got to harden those legs to the road! Or the course will find you out!

· Getting rid of “every weight” that would hinder (I noticed an item in my shoe at the beginning of my first marathon. It had to be removed or I would not finish the race!)

· Dealing with the things that would trip us up: (Sin) – Any runner will tell you… Watch your step… Little things can trip you up!

· Patience is needed! My running truism… (remember it?) – “I’m not fast – just stubborn!”

3. Our Models and the Motivation (vss. 1b, 2-3)

· A “great cloud of witnesses” (cp. Hebrews 11) These are MORE than simply cheering spectators in the stands (or even those giving encouragement along the course) … These are those who have gone on before us, know the challenges and risks of “the course” and those who have finished the “faith race” and kept “the faith”!

· Jesus, is the pioneer and perfector of our faith (cp. He is our supreme model and motivation!)

· The motivation? The joy of victorious completion(Check out Apostle Paul’s personal conviction… (2 Timothy 4:7-8)

SO HERE IS MY PERSONAL LIFE-VERSE…

“None of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, SO THAT I MAY FINISH MY RACE WITH JOY,and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.” (Acts 20:24)

A devotional reflection from my Bible reading today using the “Necessary Food” Bible reading plan: 1 Chronicles 2:1-55; Proverbs 23:19-25; Micah 1:1-16; John 20:30-31; Hebrews 11:32-40

Hey, just let me say “Faith” is good for MORE than simply miracles and prosperity! It also sustains godly people through trials, sickness, loss, and persecution! To make “faith” simply a “gimme key” for miracles and prosperity is an affront to the rich legacy of “faith heroes” in Hebrews 11! FAITH IS “CONFIDENCE IN GOD” FOR ALL THAT LIFE BRINGS OUR WAY!

Here it is from my Bible reading during Coffee with the Lord this morning…

“And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets — WHO THROUGH FAITH conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection…

But some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated — of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. AND ALL OF THESE, THOUGH COMMENDED THROUGH THEIR FAITH did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better!” (From Hebrews 11:32–40)

A devotional reflection from my Bible reading today using the “Necessary Food” Bible reading plan: 1 Chronicles 1:1-54; Proverbs 23:10-18; Jonah 4:1-11; John 20:24-29; Hebrews 11:23-31

This is a personal “repost” but I remember the event like it happened again TODAY!

I just finished reading two chapters in from 1 Chronicles (chapters 1-2)! Some would say with a bit of emphasis… “BORING!!” (In fact, it is a part of the Bible where many people “stall out” a discontinue their Bible reading!)

That was my complaint to God one morning a number of years ago after my time of “Coffee with the Lord.” I had just struggled through several chapters that we call “genealogies”! I remember it vividly… As I finished my Bible reading that morning I expressed my complaint to God that I thought He had wasted a lot of valuable space in the Bible and had devoted it to this boring stuff! (There was a lot of more interesting and helpful things He could have devoted to Biblical content!)

I had some pastoral calls later that morning to make in a city nearby, so I got in the car, reached over and turned on the car radio (still grumbling about those stupid “genealogies”… “Boring, I tell you!!”) The radio happened to be tuned into a Christian radio station… And “as God is my witness” these were the first words out of the mouth of the person who was speaking on radio program… “I used to complain to God about why He ever put the genealogies in the Bible… And one day He spoke these words clearly to my heart, ‘Son, if I cared enough about those people, to include them in my eternal plan, I care about you! You are also an important part of my eternal plan!”

Well, let me put it this way… I’VE NEVER COMPLAINED AGAIN THAT THE “GENEALOGIES” WERE IN THE BIBLE… (In fact, I’ll usually slow down a bit when I’m reading them and try to pronounce every single name!