Keion Henderson - Run For Your Life

In the Bible there was another man who had to run for his life, not because of a bear but because the city he was in was about to be destroyed. The Lord himself said to Lot, «Escape for your life, ” although the command was sent by one of his chosen messengers. God has messengers nowadays; and he still sends by them short, sharp, urgent, stimulating messages like this, „Escape for your life.“ This message was sent in love. God loved Lot, and therefore he would save him from the impending doom of Sodom. I do not doubt that this message of love was spoken by a messenger in very solemn tones. I do not know how angels speak, but I am certain that the very heart of the messenger was apparent in the message when he said to Lot, „Escape for your life.“ Whether he whispered it in his ears or uttered it in louder accents, I cannot tell; anyway, I am sure that it was delivered as it ought to be delivered, and it had an immediate effect on the man who heard it, for he was obedient to it.

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I want you to go to First Corinthians, chapter 9, verse 24. Here is what the word of the Lord says: „Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run that ye may obtain.“ I’m going to quickly switch over to a new English translation of the Bible, and listen to what it says: „Do you not know that all the runners in a stadium compete, but only one receives the prize? So run to win.“ If I were to give this message a title, I would simply tell you to run for your life. Here is the word of the Lord. Listen to this: in 1995, there was a lady named Gwen Torrance, and she was in the 200-meter Olympic championships. She won! Now, let me tell you what happened prior to winning. She went into her locker, and somehow, the favorite shoes that she loved to run in were missing. They don’t know whether a janitor perhaps misplaced them or if someone tried to sabotage her by removing them from her locker. All we know is that when it came time to run, she was looking for her favorite running shoes, and she could not find them. But she went on to win the race anyway! She didn’t have her favorite shoes, which meant that something was off balance, but she won the race regardless. If you look back in history, it says that she completed the race and took all of the congratulatory remarks from everyone. She gave high-fives to people, and she even took the shoes she was wearing and gave them to a lucky bystander in the audience. She had won the race without her shoes! She had won the race without the shoes that she had prepared to run in. She gave her victory speech on television, thanking her trainer and everyone who was part of her winning. She won the race without the shoes she had planned to wear, and she celebrated her win. For those of you who run, listen to this: she finished the 200 meters in twenty-one point seventy-seven seconds. That is fast, regardless of whether you’re male or female! She qualified to win, but when they reviewed the videotape, there was one discrepancy indicating that she stepped on the line. In fact, during the turn, we see quite clearly, three separate times, that she stepped into somebody else’s lane. The reason they have lanes in track and field is to ensure that everyone running the race competes over the exact same distance. If you do not listen to anything else I say, hear this: she was able to win the race without the right shoes. She was able to win even though psychologically what she had prepared did not come through. However, the reason she was disqualified was that she stepped into somebody else’s lane. I want you to understand this; it is important. You can run this race without the proper preparation. You can run this race without the person you thought you would run it with. You can run this race without the money you thought you needed. You can run this race insecure. You can run this race rejected. You can run this race sick. However, you cannot run your race in somebody else’s lane; you will become disqualified. Most people don’t understand that God loves you so much, and the word says that you are the handiwork of God. This means that God loves you so much that He carved out a lane in this world just for you, and nobody else can occupy it. If anyone tries to be you, they are disqualified from their destiny. If you attempt to be someone else, you too will be disqualified from your own destiny. This race is not given to the swift nor to the strong. I know we live in a society where we have a saying, „All I do is win,“ and people talk about winning. There is even a book about winning. While I love to win and compete, I must tell you that in the race of God, you don’t win by crossing the finish line first; you win by staying in the lane that God has given you and not quitting. I don’t know where you are right now. I can only imagine how frustrated you may be in your home, wondering when you’re going to be able to go back outside, when you can return to work, or how you will pay the rent. Can I get it deferred? I’m not a teacher; I don’t know what I’m going to do with these kids. Is my child falling behind while being taught by someone who doesn’t understand?