RUN LIKE A CHAMPION

It was May 1999. My wife, Tex, and I stood on a lonely beach in southern Brazil. I was about to face one of the greatest challenges of my life and ministry. Later that week I would stand in Rio de Janeiro and preach in the world’s largest stadium to tens of thousands of people. I felt so inadequate. I was having voice problems, but my greatest problem wasn’t physical. It was deeply spiritual. I was overwhelmed with the opportunity. We had the potential to reach one of the world’s largest cities with the gospel. Yet a sensation of insufficiency flooded my heart.
Questions pounded my heart: Was I up to the task? Would people respond? Would God move in a mighty manner? I wrote to our e-mail prayer partners and asked them to pray for me. God used an e-mail from a close friend who has watched God at work in my life for many years. He reminded me of the things God had done in past years. Then he wrote, “Go forward by remembering how God has worked in the past.” Those words gave me the peace, strength, and courage to go to Maracana, the world’s largest stadium, and proclaim Christ. Thousands responded to the message. And I will always remember my friend’s advice.
Each time we begin a new year, questions flood our hearts. What will the next year or decade look like? What will the political landscape look like? Will the church rise to the occasion and fulfill the Great Commission? The questions go on.
My advice to you is the same as my friend gave me: forge ahead by remembering what God has done. Remember by reading the testimonies of His mighty works recorded in His word. Remember what He did through great men and women of old: Luther, Calvin, Wesley, Whitefield, and Moody. Remember that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is our God. What He did with Moody, Whitefield, and Wesley, He can do in and through you and me.
But most of all, remember what He has done for you this past year. Spend some time thanking Him for all He has done in your life and in the lives of those you love. Remember how He gave you strength and courage to walk through the valleys. Remember the joy of the mountaintops. Remember the peace that came with His quiet, still voice. Remember the grace He gave you when you obeyed His commands.
Close this year with a grateful heart — a heart of thanksgiving. There’s so much to be thankful for. As the old song says, “I don’t know what tomorrow holds, but I know Who holds tomorrow.”