Month 4 - Endurance | Week 3: Run With Endurance

By Week 3 of this month, Scripture has already dismantled two common illusions:

Week 1: Trials are not interruptions - they are instruments of joy and formation.

Week 2: Weakness is not failure - it is the very place where God’s power is revealed.

Now Scripture presses us further.

This week asks a harder question:

What do you do after the trial begins…after, the weakness is exposed…after, the cost is no longer theoretical?

This is where endurance becomes movement.This is where faith learns to run.

Anchor Scriptures For M4 | W3

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely,and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.”- Hebrews 12:1–2

This isn’t just beautiful poetic encouragement (which it is!).It is the rally call of those who have gone before, it is the roar of a pre-battle captain to his men in the midst of the enemy, it is the Father’s word reaching through to time to grasp you… today.

It is clear instruction; it’s the dispatched orders.

We concentrate this week on the running topic because, regardless of what you may hear from some pulpits, the Christian life is not a sprint.It is not a casual walk.It is a race marked by resistance, and it requires alignment, intention, discipline, and focus, and in return, receiving grace, power, and sanctification.

Many new believers hear that Christ’s victory means you have no battles to fight, that now that you have raised your hand, all the gifts of the earth are going to be opened to you, wealth, health, prosperity, and entertainment await! Then, once the first brick wall or chasm of reality hits, they are left unequipped, unprepared, unarmed, and disappointed.

So let’s gird our loins, ground our feet deeply in the dust of reality, and prepare for the endurance necessary to run our race.

Endurance Has a Direction

Notice what Hebrews does not say.

It does not say:

Run faster than everyone else

Win at all costs

Prove your strength

Outcompete others

Instead, it says:

Lay aside weight

Lay aside sin

Fix your eyes

These are not focused on others, other people’s race, other people’s performance, it’s talking to you, about your race, to be critical of, and focused in the mirror of your own race.

So don’t be so eager to throw the first stone at someone else’s situation.

With this new introspective view of running and the race, Hebrews offers us that endurance fails most often not because suffering is too heavy - but because we are carrying what God never asked us to carry.

Some weights aren’t necessarily sinful.They are just unnecessary.

Old identities.False expectations.Approval-seeking.Fear-driven control.Bitterness disguised as realism.

These things don’t stop the race immediately.They simply make it impossible to finish well.

Visualize your own personal “unnecessary” weights as heavy chains trailing behind you. Untethered… maybe, but heavy, possible to move within the short term, possible to start the race - Yes, but easily snagged as you go, and limiting in the distance you can actually cover, and ultimately impossible to finish what the Lord has laid ahead for you.

So if you find yourself pondering on some weights, if the spirit has brought to mind some elements of real correction to you whilst reading or hearing this. Now is certainly the time to bring them to the foot of the cross, and pray for the strength to overcome them early, now, in this very minute, to burn up these weights of the flesh as offerings to Him.

So that He may be glorified through your run of endurance.

The Race Is “Set Before You”

These words matter more than we may realize at first.

“The race that is set before us…”

Not the race you chose.Not the race someone else is running.Not the race you wish you were running.

Your race.

We touched on this already, but if you are also a human as I am, it is so important that we compound our discipleship with the truth on this topic.

Comparison is one of the most effective endurance killers in the Church.

When we fixate on another person’s calling, timeline, gifting, or fruit - we lose clarity for the path God actually placed under our feet. We stumble over the sideline tracks of our path into the darkness between ours and others. We miss the gifts and growth occurring in our own, and the Kingdom misses out on more of you in the midst of your distractions. Lucifer and his weapons only have to distract you 1 degree off track through sideward glances, and over time, you will find yourself lost and out of alignment with God’s path.

Endurance requires agreement with God about where He has you -even when you don’t yet understand why.

Endurance Is Sustained by Sight

Hebrews doesn’t say look inward.It doesn’t say look ahead to relief.It doesn’t say look around for validation.

It says:

“Looking to Jesus.”

Endurance is not sustained by willpower.It is sustained by vision.

When Jesus becomes blurred, endurance collapses.When Jesus is central, endurance becomes possible - even joyful.

Jesus is described here as:

Founder - He started this work

Perfecter - He will finish it

Which means:

Your endurance is not holding the work together

Your faith is not self-generated

Your race is not resting on your performance

You are running within a finished story, and he will provide the strength to complete it if you submit to him.

Week 3 - Personal Practice

Get Ready To Run Lighter This Week

This is a simple, self-guided practice to support your endurance.You can complete it anytime this week in 30 minutes or less.

1. Take a Short Walk: 10–15 min

Go alone. No music. No phone engagement

Hold this question before God as you walk:

“Lord, what am I carrying that You did not ask me to carry?”

Don’t force an answer. Listen.

2. Lay It Aside: 5 min

When one weight becomes clear, write it down.

This doesn’t need to be a sin - it may be an expectation, fear, comparison, or distraction.

Physically lay it down:

Place the paper under a Bible

Tear it up

Leave it somewhere symbolic

Let the spiritual become physical and let it participate in obedience.

3. Fix Your Eyes: 5 min

Read Hebrews 12:1–3 slowly.

Ask:

Where has my gaze drifted?

What does looking to Jesus look like right now?

Stay present. No pressure to journal or study, this a conversation with your Father.

4. Take One Step: 5 min

Choose one small act of obedience for this week:

Return to prayer…

Limit a distraction…

Have a needed conversation…

Resume a faithful habit…

Nothing dramatic. Just faithful agreement with God.

Join The Group This Week In Prayer

Jesus, I choose to run the race You’ve set before me.Help me lay aside what weighs me down.Fix my eyes on You.Teach me to endure with faith. Amen.

Remember:Endurance isn’t about running harder - it’s about running lighter.

Watch / Listen / Read

Listen

Podcast: Ask Pastor John - Episode: How Do We Keep Going? - LINK to listenA concise Baptist/evangelical meditation on endurance rooted in future hope and God’s sustaining grace.

John Guerra - “Citizens”A pilgrim song shaped by Hebrews imagery - waiting, patience, and faith that refuses shortcuts.

Watch

Metropolitan Anthony Bloom - Perseverance in PrayerA sober Orthodox reflection on staying faithful when prayer feels dry, unanswered, or repetitive. A corrective to emotionally driven spirituality.

Voddie Baucham - Enduring Faith Under PressureClear, Scripture-forward teaching on perseverance when conviction is costly, and obedience is misunderstood.

On the Road With Thomas Merton - LINK

A reflective portrait of Merton as a pilgrim running his race rather than a recluse - showing how travel, encounter, and ordinary movement became places of deep attentiveness to God. The film challenges hurried spirituality and frames endurance as faithful presence, learned by staying awake to God in the midst of everyday life, not escaping from it.

Read

The Roots of Endurance - John PiperA tightly focused exploration of how suffering, joy, and perseverance are inseparable in the Christian life. - LINK to free read

The Way of Perfection - St. Teresa of ÁvilaA demanding but clarifying guide to endurance through obedience, humility, and disciplined prayer. - LINK to free read

Sneak Peek - Month 4, Week 4: Finishing Well

Endurance isn’t just an abstract virtue.It has a promise - and often signs of that promise appear along the way.

We’ve seen this month that trials form us, weakness reveals God’s power, and endurance requires us to choose to keep moving with our eyes fixed on Christ.

But Scripture also shows us something hopeful: God does not ask us to endure without purpose. Endurance produces fruit.

Next week, we will explore how faithful endurance gives rise to fruitful service - not as a delayed reward at the finish line, but as evidence that God is already at work today in and through us. Small acts of obedience, hidden service, and quiet faithfulness begin to bear fruit that strengthens us to keep going.

We’ll look at why seeing even a glimpse of God’s fruit - changes hearts, sustains love, grows us - becomes fuel for endurance, reminding us that our labor in the Lord is not in vain.

“Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”- Galatians 6:9

God is with us!

Father,You see the weariness in Your people - not with disappointment, but with compassion.Teach us how to run with endurance, not by striving, but by fixing our eyes on Your Son. Strip away every weight that entangles us. Realign our hearts with the race You have set before us. When strength fades, remind us that You are both the beginning and the end of our faith. We choose to run again - not alone, but held by grace.Amen.

I’m glad you’re here.

Let’s run the race - Eyes Up, Chin Up!

Grace and peace,

Sam Johnston

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