"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 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. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. 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."
1 Corinthians 9:24-27

This morning God has brought grace and wisdom to my life in the way of 1 Corinthians 9. So much wisdom, so much application.

"Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training..."  What things have you placed in your life to safeguard an attack of the enemy?  How much time do you spend in the Word? in Prayer?  looking after your body for health reasons? God has called us to himself with a purpose.  Live in that purpose, train for that purpose, and do not allow your body or the world or anything else tell you what to do.  Live in obedience.  Train your body mind and soul for His glory.

"Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly.." Know what God has called you to, and do it well.  What is your target? how do you know you have done what God has called you to do?  are these targets temporal or eternal?  does every aspect of your life point to the same vision?

I am coming out of a time of weariness.  I have not figured out why I had been weary  for so long, and so I gave up trying to figure it out.  "...Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus..." Because when i am honest with myself, I know that "even youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."

I will continue to "wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."

Waiting has not been easy, and it is hard to believe one could grow weary in the wait... But I know I am not alone in reading the Bible that David also waited on the Lord... and Isaiah told the people to also wait... as they would be renewed.

Part of the race you have been called to run is to prepare while you wait on God.  Steady your heart,  know His voice in peace and in trouble, so that when you time comes as it does in small ways every moment of every day, you will be ready.  Father, give us the stamina to wait on you, and love your reign in us while we wait.