Keep Running And Thrive

Length: 8 Minutes

Many times, believers look at things they’ve done in their life and think they’ve messed everything up. Or they look at some hardship they’ve experienced and feel they’ll never recover. Or they may have gotten off track and feel like everyone has left them behind, forgotten. The truth is, if you’ll take the gospel and believe it, you can thrive no matter what has happened.

I understand that no one wants to go through a hardship. God doesn’t want that for you either. I understand that no one wants to do the wrong thing or mess things up in their life. God doesn’t want that either. But the miracles that God has for you are not based on how bad your performance is or how bad the tragedy was. It’s based on what Jesus did at the cross. And He already succeeded! If you would just steadfastly believe it, you’d receive miraculous fruit in your life – fruit so miraculous, no one will be able to recognize you from where you were before.

Psalms 1:2-3 (KJV) …in his law doth he meditate day and night… and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

It takes all the discouragement out of messing up, when you know that Jesus already carried your faults so that you could be blessed despite your works, if you’ll just believe Him. It takes all the discouragement out of a hardship, when you know that Jesus already bore your pains so you can be revived and renewed, if you’ll believe Him. These things barely look like a bump in the road when you see that, because of everything Jesus has done, you can believe Him and thrive (3 John 1:2).

The only thing that can hold you back from thriving is your own unwillingness or slowness to believe the truth of Jesus. But if you’re willing to pursue the truth, no matter what you’ve believed before, you will inevitably thrive in the blessings of God, no matter how things look in the present. Nothing can stop you from walking in the blessings of God, but you. And I’m not talking about your sin. I’m talking about your thinking.

If you let your mistakes convince you that you can’t recover from them, then you won’t. Not because you can’t recover, but because you believe you can’t recover. That is an antichrist mentality. Jesus became your sin and took the consequences, so that you could be changed and thrive apart from your works. What’s stopping you? Just what’s between your ears.

If you’ll let your past hardships convince you that you can’t get out of them, then you won’t. Why? Not because Jesus hasn’t already declared victory over your problems, but because you don’t believe it yet. The issue before you is not the problem. It’s the mentality in you.

Jesus’ death is a door to absolute prospering in every area of your life (heaven on earth). Nothing can stop you from entering – not your family, not your circumstances, not your past – only an unwillingness to reach out and receive it by faith. On the other hand, if you refuse to allow mistakes and hardships to dictate your future because you believe Jesus died for your past, present, and future, then you will prosper. There’s nothing more to say about it. Jesus paid for it. You believe it. You will prosper.

When you know that you can thrive no matter what you’ve done or where you’ve been, why would you sit there and be discouraged over something that wouldn’t make a difference to your future, if you’ll just believe Him? You sit there thinking you can’t recover from this, but if you’d just get up and start learning what Jesus did, you would prosper! What’s the problem? It’s more than possible. It’s inevitable. But you need to hear Him.

Suppose there was a runner. He was preparing for the biggest race of his life, but a prophet came up to him and told him, “On the last lap you are going to trip and fall, but if you keep running you will inevitably win the race.” Suppose the runner verified that this was true. When he runs his race and then falls on the last lap, do you think he’s very discouraged? Do you think he sits there on the track sobbing? Do you think he throws in the towel? Absolutely not. Why? Because he knows that this fall will not hinder him from winning, that is, if he keeps running.

That fall is like any mistake or hardship you could ever experience in this life. If you would just believe (keep running), you would walk in victory like it never happened! It’s inevitable.

If that runner didn’t know ahead of time that he could still win the race despite his fall, that trip could be very discouraging. Thoughts could be running through his mind as to whether he lost it all. But when he knows that he will still prosper if he keeps running, it saps all the discouragement out of it. “What difference will that make if I keep running?”

Likewise, when you know the gospel ahead of time, you know that no mistake or hardship can keep you down. You’re not receiving through your work or through your circumstance. You’re receiving through the cross of Jesus Christ! And that door is still accessible! If you would continue to believe the Lord and the grace He provided to you, you would inevitably prosper. You would inevitably be in health. You would inevitably grow and impact the lives of others. It is inevitable, but you must keep running! By running, I’m not talking about just keeping your chin up. I’m talking about pursuing the gospel with all of your heart.

If that runner stopped out of discouragement, he would’ve lost the race. Not because he couldn’t have won, but because he allowed discouragement to convince him he couldn’t succeed. His fall wouldn’t have caused his loss. His beliefs would have (Hebrews 3:19, 4:3). 

You can quit out of discouragement and you will not finish the race. You will not see the blessings that God wants for you, but it won’t be because you couldn’t have. It would only be because you stopped and believed a lie that the work of Jesus was not good enough to prosper you out of your situation (Mark 6:5-6).

Thank God this is not true. Thank God He sent a Savior to rectify our mistakes and free us from our hardships. Thank God, He redeemed us from our cruel bondage and set us at liberty to receive grace we didn’t deserve!

Runner, there is nothing holding you back from living a blessed and prosperous life except you and your beliefs. Faith is how you access the grace of God (Romans 5:2). That means that unbelief is the only thing that keeps you from laying hold of it. A mere belief is keeping you down, not your mistakes or hardships. A mere belief is keeping you where you are. The question is, will you let a simple belief keep you where you are? Or will you get up and acknowledge the truth of the cross of Jesus?

Jesus did enough for you to thrive. He’s not asking you to fight your way out. He already did that. He just wants you to believe that He already fought for you. He wants you to believe what He already accomplished. If you will devote your mind to learning the truth of what this one Man did for you, nothing will be impossible for you (Mark 17:20). You will forget the shame and the toil of your youth. You will enter a new day of blessings and security. Don’t take my word for it. It was paid for with blood.

Isaiah 54:4 (NKJV) For you will forget the shame of your youth…

Genesis 41:51-52 (NKJV) “For God has made me forget all my toil and all my father’s house… For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.”

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