Pull out your notebook, your best pen… and start writing… start listening… God wants to speak to you today.
Hebrews 12: 1-2
NIV: New International Version
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.
AMP: Amplified
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses ( who by faith have testified to the truth of God’s absolute faithfulness) stripping off every unnecessary weight and the sin which so easily and cleverly entangles us, let us run with endurance and active persistence the race that is set before us, (looking away from all that will distract us and) focusing our eyes on Jesus, who is the Author and Perfecter of faith ( the first incentive for our belief and the One who brings our faith to maturity)
ERV – Easy Reader Version
We have all these great people around us as examples. Their lives tell us what faith means. So we, too, should run the race that is before us and never quit. We should remove from our lives anything that would slow us down and the sin that so often makes us fall. We must never stop looking to Jesus. He is the leader of our faith. He is the one who makes our faith complete.
MSG – The Message
Do you see what this means – all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running – and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished the race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed- that exhilarating finish in and with God.
The Passion Version
As for us, we have all these great witnesses, who encircle us like clouds. So we must let go of every wound that has pierced us and the sin we so easily fall into. Then we will be able to run life’s marathon race with passion and determination, for the path has already been marked out before us. We look away from the natural realm and we fasten our gaze onto Jesus who birthed faith within us and who leads us forward into faiths perfection.
GO ahead… carve out some time. Write the words. Pray for the Holy Spirit to open you heart to what God wants to communicate with you.
And if you have an extra minute… I’d love to hear what he had to say.
Loving you where you are. Pointing forward to where He is.
justbeth:)
justbeth:) 