How to Run Your Spiritual Race

1 Corinthians 9:24

Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.

There are several things to which God equates our spiritual life. He equates it to a fight. Paul talked about fighting the good fight of faith. You will never make it through life and stay spiritually right if you don't have the mindset to fight. You have to fight to stay right. You have to fight against compromise. You have to fight against people changing you. You have to fight against accepting mediocrity. Paul said he fought a good fight, finished his course, and kept the faith; this was all done by having a fighting mindset.

However, there is another mindset God compares our spiritual life to, and that is a race. He says in the verse above, Know ye not that they would run in a race run all. When you got saved, you entered a race against souls slipping out into eternity. There are several mindsets in this race that we run that we must have if we will win this race.

First, you must have a mindset to run. God did not say that they would walk in a race, but they would run in a race. God wants you to have energy in your Christian life. We are not to barely get by, but we are to run to get the most done. You will never get anything done for God if all you do is walk through your Christian life. We say we need to walk with God, but we ought to change our mindset from walking with God to running with God because we are in a race for eternity.

Second, you are to run to obtain. There is no purpose in running if you don't have a reason to run. You run to obtain the prize, which means you run to win. If you don't have a mindset to run to obtain, you are sure to do nothing for God. You ought to run to obtain many souls for Christ. You ought to run to obtain building a great church for God. You have to run to obtain building the biggest Sunday school class. You ought to run to obtain building the biggest bus route. Nobody enters a race to lose, yet many believers are running in their race with a loser’s mindset just to hold on instead of to win. You ought to run your race to win your race.

Third, you ought to run realizing that time is short. A race is always about time. Our time is short, and that is why God tells us to run. You are wasting time when you're walking or playing through your Christian life. We need to run because time is short. Time is short to reach the souls of mankind before they slip out into eternity. Time is short to do the most for Christ before He returns to rapture us to Heaven. You need to have a running mindset because time is short for us to accomplish much for Christ.

Fourth, you ought to run with expectation. Never run the race for Christ with a mindset of just getting by or holding on until the Lord returns. Run with an expectation to do great things for God with His help. If you have no expectation as you do something for God, you will surely do nothing for God. Expectation of doing things big for God is the only way to do something big for God.

Fifth, run with a winners mindset. We are not on the losing side, but we are on the winning side, and we ought to run as if we are a winner. Winners run with a confidence that they will win. If you don't have the mindset that you will win with everything you attempt for God, you will never do much for God. Those who run with the expectation of winning are those who accomplish great things for God.