Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.  Psalm 91:1  NIV

And we know that in all things that God works for the good of those who love him, those who have been called according to his purpose.  Romans 8:28  NIV

But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.  Isaiah 40:31 NIV

For those of you who are sports fans, you know that teams face qualifiers.  For NHRA and NASCAR the racers must qualify or make a qualifying run in order to participate in the race.  In baseball, teams must go through series successfully to enter the playoffs and must be successful in the playoffs to make it into the World Series.  In football, teams must win enough games to get into the playoffs in hopes of doing well enough in the playoffs to get into the Super Bowl.  Basketball has the same and if I’m not mistaken their playoff series is the Final Four. Forgive me you basketball fans if I am wrong, but that is the one sport that I never watch.  Sorry.

Anyway, it obviously takes hard work and determination to reach these goals.  The same is true for the goal of Christianity.  Becoming a Christian is fairly easy.  Being good at it takes lots of practice and hard work.

I chose three of my favorite scripture passages to prove this point.  We will start with my favorite Psalm which is Psalm 91.  This Psalm begins by telling us that whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the almighty.  It’s kind of like choosing to live in a gated community or an area with a really low crime rate.  You can choose to live there or you can choose to live in an area with a really high crime rate and take your chances.  Psalm 91 tells us that if we choose to live in the shelter of the Most High (God), then we can rest in the shadow of the Almighty (God).  It is our choice to make.  Matthew 11:28 tells us “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.”  God will give us rest and protection, but we must choose to come to Him.  He never forces his goodness on us, we have to choose to accept what He has to offer.

Another favorite verse of mine is Romans 8:28.  Now I have been conducting my own little independent study with this verse for years now.  This verse does not say that all things work for the good of everyone.  It says that all things work for the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose.  If you want God to work all things out for your good, you must love Him and live your life according to what He calls you to do.  I have prayed my heart out and worked really hard for things that God refused to give to me.  I have had evil people come against me and do their best to bring me down.  But you know what?  God always had my back.  I truly thank God for those unanswered prayers.  He knew what was best for me, even when I didn’t.  He saw my future and knew that He was doing the best possible thing for me.  I know that as long as I love God with all my heart and do what He calls me to do, that he works all things,  even those things that seem really bad, for my good.

And in Isaiah 41:30, we are told that those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.  Now our pastor used this verse in his sermon this past Sunday and he explained it in a way that I had not thought of.  “Those who wait upon the Lord”, I had always thought that this meant to wait patiently.  I had never thought about the word wait, like a wait staff at a restaurant, or servers.  So it could be said that those who serve the Lord will renew their strength.  Again it’s a choice we have to make either way.

These are just three of the many beautiful promises that God offers when we choose a life with Him.  But they are wonderful promises, protection, everything working out for your good, and renewal of your strength and endurance.  To receive these things, however, you must qualify.

I never was very good at sports, but years ago I started running.  I didn’t do it to win races, I did it to be healthy and the more I did it the more I enjoyed it.  From time to time I would enter races and would be amazed at people who obviously were not runners but would try to outrun me.  Now I was a very slow runner, but I was steady.  These people would burst out from the start and play out soon afterwards, then they would spend the rest of the race trying to stay ahead of me and any other slow runners.  Now unfortunately they would play out before the end of the race and I would finish ahead of them.  They had not trained, they were not prepared to go the distance.  The World Series or Super Bowl of our Christian lives is getting to heaven to spend eternity in heaven with God the Father.  But like any athlete or team, it takes hard work and practice.

The first thing you have to decide is do you want it?  I mean to me, it’s a no brainer, but some people live as if they really want to go to hell.  Who am I to say?  So, first you must decide if you want it.  Then you must commit to it and work for it.  The thing with this training is that you are promised a peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7), unending joy and gladness (Isaiah 35:10), and all things working for your good (Romans 8:28) while you are training.  You don’t have to make it to the playoffs to get these good things.

God equips us with all we need to train and successfully reach our goal (Ephesians 6:10-18) but we must choose to accept what he has to offer.  So the choice is yours. You can accept all God has to offer and be equipped to establish a relationship with your Lord and Savior and begin to live in His shelter, love Him, and be called according to His purpose while you serve him.  Or you can live without God in your life and hope for the best.  Choose wisely, time is short!

Have a great day!