A person who runs the race that God gives them with endurance and is a finisher has to be a strong person. Paul says, “don’t grow weary in we’ll doing, for in due time, you will reap, if you don’t become weary.” All of those people who are in the seven churches in Revelation 2 & 3 are blessed and rewarded at the “Judgment Seat of Christ” if they are “overcomers.” An overcomer is a finisher, a winner, a champion, and a strong person.

In real, everyday life a physically strong person got that way by training and practice, and the same is true for those who are strong in character. A key training principal is to choose to do hard things. You can do that as opportunities present themselves and you have the option of taking the easy way or the hard way. Choosing to take the hard way will make you stronger as a person, and it usually produces much more fruit or results in your life. Another way is to set personal goals that are harder. It is almost the New Year, and wise people have or are in the process of setting their goals for the next year. As you do that you can increase the size of some of them. If you had a goal of praying five hours in each of the five-day prayer events you could increase that to six hours. Or if you had a goal of reading 3 chapters each day in your Bible you could increase it to 4 chapters. Or you could come up with a new goal that would push you and train you and as a result you would become a stronger person. A great goal for many of you would be to start a ministry. You could start and lead an accountability group, that is a great ministry. You could start a home group in your house and lead it or recruit someone else to lead it as you hosted it. You could start a Bible study at the church, in your home, or at a restaurant.

The main thing is do something with your life for the Lord and don’t just give Him easy, left over time and energy. Grow stronger every year, grow in character every year, grow closer to Jesus every year. Set some goals for 2023.