“Run in such a way as to get the prize.” 1Co 9:24 NIV

William Arthur Ward wrote: “Believe while others are doubting. Plan while others are playing. 
Decide while others are delaying. Prepare while others are daydreaming. Begin while others are procrastinating. Work while others are wishing. Save while others are wasting. Listen while others are talking. Smile while others are frowning. Persist while others are quitting.” 

To win in life requires three things:
 (1) You must start. That may seem obvious, but many of us are stuck in the starting blocks waiting for something to get us going. What has God called and equipped you to do? Step out and do it, and He will empower you! 
(2) You must give it your all. Divers in the Olympics don’t save all their effort for their final dive. They concentrate on nailing every single one, increasing their chances for a gold medal. Don’t settle for mediocrity at any stage of life.

Philippians 3:14

New Living Translation (NLT)

¹⁴ I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.


 (3) You must never quit. In the 1992 Olympics, Derek Redmond of Britain was competing in the 400 meter race when he suffered a torn hamstring and fell. As the other runners breezed past him, he began to struggle to his feet. His father, whose face was covered with tears, suddenly ran down from the stands to help him up. Slowly, agonizingly, they made their way around the rest of the track and crossed the finish line as the stadium in Seoul burst into thunderous applause. Redmond didn’t win a medal, but he won something more important—the respect of the world. 


The Bible says, “Run in such a way as to get the prize.”

Revive

“Revive us again.” Ps 85:6 NKJV

First, a revival of life. True revival begins with an honest recognition that we have become spiritually dull, dry, and even dead.

Ezekiel describes it this way: “The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones…and indeed they were very dry…He said to me, ‘Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, “O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!”‘…And as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together…and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army” (Eze 37:1-10 NKJV).

Ezekiel’s vision teaches us the following truths:

(a) Revival begins with acknowledging we are not a healthy, connected, functioning body.

(b) Our church services have become too formal and dry.

(c) We must hunger for God’s Word.

Otherwise we live in denial, excusing and rationalizing our spiritual condition. God said to Israel, an agricultural people, “Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you” (Hos 10:12).

Notice the elements in a true revival:

An emphasis on righteous living; showing mercy to one another; recognizing our careless and cavalier attitude toward sin; crying out to God in sustained, heartfelt prayer, “Revive us again, that your people may rejoice in You.”

Joy

Isaiah 55:12

New King James Version (NKJV)

¹² “ For you shall go out with joy,
And be led out with peace;
The mountains and the hills
Shall break forth into singing before you,
And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

Paul writes, "Come out from them (the world) and be separate", because our faith should make us different. But not negatively different--positively different! Understand this: unless you commit yourself every single day to walking in the joy of the Lord, you'll find negative ways of distinguishing yourself from non-believers. Stop and think who you represent......

Jesus is called "The good shepherd" (John 10:11). This word good comes from the Greek word kelos, meaning winsome. Does that describe you? It should!

Paul writes, "Rejoice in the Lord always" (Php 4:4) When he wrote those words he was in prison with no chance of getting out. Happiness is an emotion, but joy is a decision. And your decisions must rule your emotions, not vice-versa. Every morning you should get up and say, "Today I will go out with joy, because God's Word demands it and a hurting world needs it!"