Showing posts with label change. Show all posts
Showing posts with label change. Show all posts
Friday, October 18, 2019
Friday, October 9, 2015
Run Your Race with Compassion
By Richard L Spangler
Recently, I completed
the challenge of walking the Virginia Beach Rock N Roll Half Marathon. I had
never done anything like this before. It took two years of training and discipline,
and a lot of support from family and friends, as well as mountain of prayer. So
at sixty years old, this man who had a quadruple heart by-pass surgery seven
years ago started the race.
What started as a personal goal two years
ago, graduated to a 13.1-mile prayer walk for the seven cities of Hampton
Roads, the Commonwealth of Virginia and our nation. If that was enough, I found
myself saying thank you to the police officers, firemen and women and the
rescue personnel along the race route. Many of these men and women had a
surprised look on their faces and smiled and thanked me in return. Soon others, who were moving at the same pace
I was also began to do the same thing. This was showing thankfulness and
compassion to our first responders.
Somewhere, close to the half way point most
everyone including myself became very focused on the race. Going down this wooded
road with ditches on both sides a fellow race participant caught my attention.
She had moved off the road and was holding on to the speed limit sign. I passed
her but felt the urging of the Holy Spirit to go back. I asked, “Are you okay?”
she said, “Yes” I started to walk away and hear the Holy Spirit say, “She’s NOT
okay.” I went back and asked again. This time she said, “I am having problems
keeping my balance and walking straight. Can I use your arm to get me to the
center of the road and to steady me?” I said, “Yes. There is a water station just
down the road, I will you get there.”
We got to the water station and she thanked
me. Out of my mouth came “I Will walk with you some more to make sure your okay.”
As we walked she began holding my arm again.
I asked, a couple of times if she wanted medical help? She said, “No,
she wanted to complete the race.” After a short distance she said, I think I
need the paramedics. “As we came out of the wooded area there sat a rescue
unit. I yelled for their help and they came over to assist the lady.
I finished the race about 20 minutes later
than I would have but I still finished. As I thought about the day’s events, I
realized that many running their race were so focused on their finish they
missed an opportunity to show compassion to someone else.
We as believers are running our race for the prize
of the crown of glory (1 Corinthians 9:24 and Hebrews 12:1) but we are also to
run the race with compassion. Jesus was
moved with compassion, Matthew 9:35-37. Matthew 14:13-21 the feeding of the
5000 started with compassion. And again in Matthew 15:29-38 4000 fed. Luke
7:11-15 The raising of the Widow’s son and Matthew 20:30-34 the blinds eyes
opened, were done as Jesus was moved with compassion. Webster’s Dictionary
defines compassion:
sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to
alleviate it.
We as believers, we will finish our race but
we need to be moved with compassion as Christ was. I believe our planned works
for the Lord will earn us rewards. But, it is our unplanned acts of compassion,
prompted by the Holy Spirit that we hear “Will done my good and faithful servant…”
Run your race and run it well, by keeping
your eyes and ears open for acts of compassion along your course, so that you
will not only finish the race but will hear “Well Done...”
©COPYRIGHT 2015 RICHARD L. SPANGLER
Monday, October 6, 2014
Be Like Jonah
By Richard L Spangler
Jonah was walking into a very politically
incorrect situation and one that could cost him his life. In Jonah 3:4 He
enters the city and declares the Word of the Lord of its impending destruction.
A wonderful thing happens, the people of Nineveh believed God. The people
proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth. After that the King heard of the move
of God in the city and he joined in proclaiming a fast for man and beast. Then
the king led everyone from their evil ways and the violence they had done. The
people and the king repented. When God saw their works and their repentance and
He decided not to destroy them.
We should be like Jonah, he preached God’s
message in a politically incorrect situation. Political correctness says for
the church, and individual believer to keep quiet and don’t speak out. If we
speak God’s Word we can be branded uneducated, backwards and politically
incorrect. But if we, like Jonah, speak the Word that God in power and
authority, telling them message of forgiveness through Jesus Christ, to the
people around us we too can have the same results. We can change our
neighborhoods, our cities, our states and our nation. We do not need to look to the political leadership of our nation for change. The leaders of Nineveh did not change until they saw the people change. The same is true of our leaders, they will not change unless we lead the people to change.
It is up to us to take the message of God’s love to the streets of our cities like Jonah did and expect greater results. The reason I say greater is that we have the Holy Spirit. We have the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) and the Gifts of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:4-11). The combining of the Fruits and the Gifts of the Spirit creates a far greater anointing than any Old Testament prophet ever had, so we can expect greater results.
We are God’s messengers to this nation and to the world. It’s time to put action to our prayers for our nation. Do not be afraid of those who call you names and say you are politically incorrect, stand your ground and speak the Word of God, demonstrate His love and power and expect change.
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