Obstacles
While walking through an airport, I noticed a large wall advertisement. It was a picture of Tiger Woods driving a golf ball right in front of a huge (maybe 2 ½ feet across) tree. The caption read, “You have to see past your obstacles to reach your goal.”
Those words permeated my thoughts as I considered my 8-year-old son (Casey) who has been challenged with increasingly severe seizures since age 3. Among other impacts, the seizures have significantly delayed his development. Traditional medicine has not offered a solution, and we are actively pursuing non-traditional options. Through all this, I can tell you that my spirit KNOWS that there is Healing for Casey. I have peace in that. But the healing has not yet manifested, so I press on. I look past my obstacles to my goal. As I maneuver the various obstacles in my way, I do not allow them to interfere with my sightline. I do not allow my view of the goal to be obscured. I refuse to lose motivation or belief that it is attainable.
How can we keep our eyes on the prize, no matter what obstacles come our way? The answer to this question seemed too simple to me. It seemed almost unbelievable that it would work, but it does. Keep our focus on Jesus. Do not focus on anything else, for there are sure to be obstacles that pressure us to take our eyes off Him.
I take Casey to the Healing Rooms at my church every Saturday. I request altar prayer for him every week. My covenant friend and I war for his healing daily. In these prayer encounters on Casey’s behalf, many times I find that it is I who am ministered to, as those standing with me confirm my faith and faithfulness. They help me keep my eye on Jesus, not on the seizures or even on Casey. This focus on Jesus helps us bypass obstacles. And as we continue to press on, we will ultimately reach our goal and lay hold of the prize.
Jeremiah 39:18
For I will surely deliver you, and you shall not fall by the sword; but your life shall be as a prize to you, because you have put your trust in Me,” says the Lord.’”
Philippians 3:12
Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Hebrews 12:2 (The Message)
Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed--that exhilarating finish in and with God--he could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God.
Blessed Lord, may we ever focus on You and victoriously bypass the obstacles in our lives. “The things of earth become strangely dim in the light of your Glory and Grace.” In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Barb
Those words permeated my thoughts as I considered my 8-year-old son (Casey) who has been challenged with increasingly severe seizures since age 3. Among other impacts, the seizures have significantly delayed his development. Traditional medicine has not offered a solution, and we are actively pursuing non-traditional options. Through all this, I can tell you that my spirit KNOWS that there is Healing for Casey. I have peace in that. But the healing has not yet manifested, so I press on. I look past my obstacles to my goal. As I maneuver the various obstacles in my way, I do not allow them to interfere with my sightline. I do not allow my view of the goal to be obscured. I refuse to lose motivation or belief that it is attainable.
How can we keep our eyes on the prize, no matter what obstacles come our way? The answer to this question seemed too simple to me. It seemed almost unbelievable that it would work, but it does. Keep our focus on Jesus. Do not focus on anything else, for there are sure to be obstacles that pressure us to take our eyes off Him.
I take Casey to the Healing Rooms at my church every Saturday. I request altar prayer for him every week. My covenant friend and I war for his healing daily. In these prayer encounters on Casey’s behalf, many times I find that it is I who am ministered to, as those standing with me confirm my faith and faithfulness. They help me keep my eye on Jesus, not on the seizures or even on Casey. This focus on Jesus helps us bypass obstacles. And as we continue to press on, we will ultimately reach our goal and lay hold of the prize.
Jeremiah 39:18
For I will surely deliver you, and you shall not fall by the sword; but your life shall be as a prize to you, because you have put your trust in Me,” says the Lord.’”
Philippians 3:12
Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Hebrews 12:2 (The Message)
Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed--that exhilarating finish in and with God--he could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God.
Blessed Lord, may we ever focus on You and victoriously bypass the obstacles in our lives. “The things of earth become strangely dim in the light of your Glory and Grace.” In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Barb
posted by BreadBakers at 2:39 PM
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