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Dianne Sloan - Hamilton Christian Center |
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"HONEY, I SHRUNK THE DEVIL ," Is published by Destiny Image Publishers. This is a must read book -- you'll laugh and you will cry at the journey of faith Dianne takes you on in this, ‘that happened to me’ kind of book. (513) 887-5436
"Sounds of Renewal"
This is the title of Dianne's CD. You will be refreshed, strengthened
and encouraged as you listen to this recording. E-mail us or contact
Hamilton Christian Center for information
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Get Over Your Hurts
HAMILTON, OHIO
-- Now that I have your attention let me ask a very personal It seems the number one attack on the believer is to weight him down with distractions. Distraction scatters our focus and causes us to miss the mark. Distraction allows things to attach themselves to us without our knowledge. Distraction allows others to pick our pockets while we are busy about something that is really nothing except a distraction. (Hebrews 12) If you really want to win, you must ignore the distractions. No wonder we are taught to lay aside every weight and "the sin that does so easily distract" us from the race. It is not always obvious at the start who will win or lose. In fact Paul wrote to some people and said, "ye did run well, who has hindered you that you do not obey the truth?" There have been some good fast starters who let small things "distractions" hinder them to the point they lose it all. (Galatians 3) If you would prepare to run for the long haul, you must plan to finish and plan to work and work your plan to finish. It won’t just happen that you win. You must know what hill is likely to be your defeat and save energy and keep talking to yourself until you have made it over that crucial point. There is a hill called heartbreak hill where many racers lose their will to keep running. It comes past the middle of the race and those who have not planned are taken by surprise and drop out. Any thing can work to distract you. The surprises can distract. People can distract. They can interfere with your work out that will get you fit for the race. They just stand around and want to chat. You lose time when you could be working those muscles, racing your heart and strengthening yourself for the race. If you want to win, you cannot let others interrupt your training process. The day of the race finds you with too much weight. Too late and too much weight. You were pulled off course and talked out of your destiny by worthless comments and useless side trips. If you want to win you must be aware of where you are in what time frame in regard to your race. Everything bows to what it takes to win the race. Let me encourage you to shake off the things that weight you down. Let me say, keep moving, keep planning, keep walking, if you are too weak to walk, kneel, if you are too weak to kneel fall on your face before God and grab hold of His promise to be strength to you when you are weak. If you really want to win, convince God you really intend to do the job and that He must send you strength and supply all your needs. Let’s run the race with patience, the race set before us. We need the courage to get us some little signs like they have at golf tournaments. They read QUIET. In other words don’t distract the player. This is an important moment. Let us not forget when there is an important moment and let us be focused on the grand prize. If you really want to win you must understand when the drive will make the ultimate difference. God will give you grace for your race and will give you strength and the proper pace, but we must include Him as our trainer. He ran and won and so can you. Paul ran and won, and so many more in faith’s hall of fame. They are cheering us on. Come on let’s take out all stops fix our eyes on the line and not break speed until we have run through the finish. There is plenty time to stop but only one time to win. May God give each one grace to endure til the end and finish this race with patience. That means a smooth pace. Plan to finish! It takes no plan to fail. There are so many besetting sins. To be beset means to be troubled, plagued, tormented, harried, irked, beleaguered just look at all the small stuff that satan uses to distract and defeat the believer. If you really want to win you cannot bow to your feelings. You cannot listen to your accusers. People we don’t have time to work all time on saints. We should be teachers but when we should be able to teach others we again need someone to teach us. Oh, that God would give us maturity in His body to where we would quit sinking our own ships, tripping over our own feet or another player on our team. God has made it simple; it takes us to make it complex. We despair of preaching to the choir. There is a tremendous work to be done and we can do it if we will not let anything distract us from our purpose. Loose the weight and let’s prepare ourselves to give the enemy a run for his money. We are more than winners Christ has said but He needs to see some people on the winner’s block singing the anthem of Salvation by the blood. Let us RUN! RUN by the rules, run with strategy, and give it all you have. What else can I say? Some times I think my heart will explode with the passion I feel when I am writing these articles, I want to compel you to RUN and let nothing WEIGHT you down. Lose your distraction in the purity of your focus and mow down the finish tape at top speed. We are winners. I’ll meet you on the other side of the tape. |
There
are so many besetting sins. To be beset means to be troubled, plagued,
tormented, harried, irked, beleaguered just look at all the small stuff
that Satan uses to distract and defeat the believer. If you really want
to win you cannot bow to your feelings. You cannot listen to your
accusers.