26/05/2025
*SANCTUARY DAILY DIGEST*
Friday 23rd May, 2025
*TOPIC:* Running to win:
*MEMORY VERSE:*
_2 Timothy 2:5 "Similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor's crown unless he competes according to the rules" (NIV).
*SCRIPTURAL REFERENCE:*
1 Corinthians 9:24-27
24 "Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.
25 And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible".
26 I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:
27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
*MESSAGE:*
Christian journey is a race which starts the moment a person give his/her life to Christ and terminates at the second coming of Christ or at death.
A race is defined as "A contest between people, ... where the goal is to be the first to reach some objective. It is also defined as a progressive movement toward a goal.
Apostle Paul, in our scriptural passage, 1 Corinthians' 9:24 admonishes us that we should run the race, not just for the fun of it but with the aim and determination to win. He did not only admonishes us to run to win but also gave us some tips on how to run the race to win, which we shall be looking into this morning. To win in a race, one must follow the rules guiding the race _(2 Timothy 2:5)._ The first rule in any race is enlistment. Some people are not enlistment for the Christian race. They just saw people running the race and they joined them on the field. The enlistment for Christian race is your salvation experience. To those that are not enlisted but yet running the race, Jesus said, at the finishing point, when they come for their prizes, he will tell them _"... But I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’ Matthew 7:23 (NLT)._
I know you must have seen some people on the main roads covering potholes and begging commuters to give them money for the job they claim to be doing. If you are the State governor or the local government chairman and at the end of the month those people comes to you for their salaries, what will you say? _"Get away from me, for I don't know you"_ of course. If you are already in this race and you know that you have not been enlisted for it, that is, you have not given your life to Christ as your Lord and Saviour, it is not too late, do so as you are reading this digest now and God will have mercy on you.
We shall continue tomorrow from where we stopped today.
*PRAYER POINTS:*
1. Thank God for bringing this daily digest across your path this morning.
2. The word of God says "Examine yourself whether ye be in faith ..." Pray that God should help you to examine and discover yoursef.
3. Pray to God to help you to the end of the race, that you will finish strong.
4. Pray for the Pastor of your church that God should have mercy on him so that after he has won so many souls for Christ, he himself will not be a castaway.
5. Add your personal prayer points.
*PROPHETIC DECLARATION:*
May the Lord bless you and your family with an uncommon blessing, unending peace and unlimited joy in this season of your glorious manifestation in Jesus' name.
*HAPPY WEEKEND*