TO HIM WHO CONQUERS, I SHALL GIVE…
Sakkie Parsons
Translated from Afrikaans: Aan hom wat oorwin, sal Ek gee …
Translator: Robin Barker
Today I really would like to share with you about the Word which teaches us that your life, but especially your spiritual life, can be compared to a race.
It is like this – how often and how regular you practise the fitter you become. The same goes for your spiritual life.
PHIL 3:12-15
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
15 All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.
I certainly am not given this spiritual fitness on a tray, a very active satan takes care of that.
1PETER 5:8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
However Jesus says:
JOHN 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Therefore we follow the ONE who has already conquered for us. Therefore we can go forth into the future with great peace. Because, we have true peace at our disposal.
JOHN 14:26 But the Advocate, (Comforter) the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
JOHN 14:27 “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
Therefore we, like Paul, can embark upon the future with great enthusiasm and determination.
1COR 9:25-27
25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.
26 Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.
27 No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
I mould my body and discipline it to truly make it efficient. I do not want, while I have preach to others, myself to be disqualified by God.
If something crosses my path, which looks too great for me, I remember where my strength comes from and with great certainty I am jubilant about it:
PHIL 4:13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
The old Translation reads (NKJV):
PHIL 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
With that strength in and around me, it is possible with a song in my heart and a smile on my lips, to look at life and say:
2COR 4:6-9
6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay (our bodies) to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;
9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
In the days when I still ran marathons and ultra-marathons, I always asked the advice from different experts and everyone gave me good advice but no one’s advice was quite the same.
Generally with the advice they gave me they added the following:
“The advice which I give you, which is what worked for me.”
Someone can now also ask me:
“How can I become spiritually fit and stay to the finish?”
Here are three things that I really concentrate on, what I want to give to you, because it certainly works for me:
1. Make time every day to speak to our Lord
There is a song which has the following in its chorus:
“Take time out for Jesus, He took time for you.”
2. Regularly read the Word. It is precisely what it says. It is the Word from God.
3. Live your Christian life unashamedly towards everyone but choose your friends very carefully.
MATT 7:6 “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.”
Living your life the way you live it, is the best sermon you can preach.
So come let you and me live our lives that way, so that one day we can testify:
2TIM 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
How wonderful to know with certainty-
When I walk across the finish line, I am forever with my loving God.
REV 3:21 To the one who is victorious,(that overcomes) I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne.
REV 3:22 “Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
Greetings,
Sakkie