The race of faith is different than most other races: it is not only for the swift. The fight of faith is not for the strong, but for everyone who believes. There is something eternal about believing: it produces long lasting results, not just for yourself but for those who follow in your footsteps. Of course we get tired of running sometimes, just like we would get weary i n mind and in body, but Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith and He has given us His divine assurance that He will guide us and lead us until we reach the finishing line! The reward awaits everyone who finishes the race!Run the Race of Faith
I dreamt the other night that I ran in a race. In the dream I ran past a group of Jewish people and past a group of Muslim people who were all facing in the wrong direction and were not even involved in the race. They stared at me as if I was a spirit. They could not understand the race of faith I was running in. It did not make sense to them. All of them were dressed in their religious garments and sat on the ground.
Nola interpreted the dream and said that the Muslims and Jews were both looking to the past to save them.
In the dream I just kept on running with patience. When I finally saw the finishing line I suddenly had a fresh burst of energy and I shouted: ?Look, I am sprinting the last ten meters!?
The race of faith is not only for the swift and the fight of faith is not only for the strong! We can all participate in it.
Yes we do get tired sometimes but the Holy Spirit is our spiritual guide and He leads us on and on until we pass the finishing line as victors to receive our eternal rewards!

Hebrews 12:1-4
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.4 You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.

Luke 8:41-56
When Jairus asked Jesus to come and minister to his little daughter who lay dying of disease Jesus immediately went to his house. On the way a woman with an issue of blood touched the hem of Jesus? garment and received a miraculous cure for she said, ?if I can only touch the hem of his garment I shall be made whole!? While Jesus was walking with a crowd surrounding him (they followed him to Jairus?s house) he suddenly stopped and asked a strange question: ?Who touched me?? This seemed strange because so many people jostled and pushed to be near the Master that many probably touched Him. But this woman?s touch was different. She touched Him by faith and He felt virtue leaving Him. She connected with His divine power and He felt how it left him. The Greek word ?touch? does infer a strong pulling action, so she probably grabbed hold of His garment in a forcible way. Nevertheless He felt something leave Him.
To this woman Jesus said, ?Woman your faith has made you whole!?
At about that time Jairus?s servants came and reported that the little girl had died: ?Do not bother the master any more, she is dead?.
Jesus reaction to this report was unusual: ?do not fear: only believe and she will be made well?.
When He came into the house he permitted no one to enter except the parents and three of His disciples. He put the professional mourners out of the house and said, ?The girl is not dead, she is sleeping.? They laughed him to scorn, knowing that she was dead.
But He took her by the hand and called and said, ?little girl, arise.?
Then her spirit returned and she arose immediately. And He commanded that she be given something to eat.
Her parents were astonished but He told them not to tell anyone about it.

Notice Jesus? effort to believe: when the evil report came that the daughter was already dead, he needed someone to agree with Him in faith that all was not lost. He addressed the father who came to him in the first place.

He addressed the fear that the report brought and gave the father hope to hold on to: ?do not fear, only believe and she will be made well?. The inner picture has to be correct! What you see on the inside is so important. Faith needs a clear picture to produce something with the spiritual substance of hope.

What is there that you fear, dear friend? If you can hear the Master speaking to you today through this message, He is saying the same words to you now: ?do not fear, only believe and it shall be made well?. Only believe.

By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God. God?s word is framing your world if you only believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of the living God!
God is framing my world for me because I believe in Jesus!

Things which are seen were not made of things which are visible: in other words what you see now is not how things are going to be! Things are going to change if you only believe!

By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain ? through it he being dead still speaks! Wow! He made one sacrifice and it still speaks to us today! Why was this possible? Because he offered it by faith! God witnessed it and testified of his gifts.
What have you sacrificed for the Gospel?s sake? If you have done it by faith it will speak long after you are dead. Faith turns and ordinary sacrifice into an excellent one! Don?t just give to God ? do it by faith! Believe God sees what you are doing and that He will testify on your behalf!

God sees my sacrifice and He will testify about it.

By faith Enoch was translated so that he did not see death. Before this happened he had this testimony that he pleased God. Who would not like to be translated? He was not found because God translated him.

Jesus said, ?if someone believes in me even though he may die he will not see death?. He is speaking about immortal life and He promises it to all who believe. Eternal life is knowing God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.

Even though I may die I will not see death for I have eternal life through Jesus Christ.

By faith Noah prepared an ark for the saving of his household and by faith he became an heir of righteousness.

God will give my family security in these evil times because I believe.
I am right with God by faith in Christ Jesus.

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would afterward receive as an inheritance. He never owned a piece of land there but his descendents owned the whole land!

Because I believe I go wherever God sends me! Every place on which my foot shall tread as a sent one God has given to me!

By faith Sarah received strength to conceive and bore a child when she was past the age of child bearing. Her faith was based on the promise God made to her and she believed Him.

I receive strength to conceive ideas in my work because I believe!

By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come; by faith Jacob blessed each of the sons of Joseph and worshiped leaning upon his staff.

By faith Joseph left instructions regarding his bones when he was busy dying and prophesied about the departure of his brothers from the land of Egypt.

When Jesus left the earth He left instructions behind and believed some of His disciples would actually do what He told them to do: to go and wait in Jerusalem for the