The Winning Way

Let us run with perseverance the race marked for us . . .

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There is a race...   

A race is described as the act of rushing onward or an onward course of life.

In Hebrews 12, Apostle Paul said that we should "throw off everything that hinders, and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked for us."

In I Corinthians chapter nine, Paul asks, "Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize?   Run in such a way that you may obtain it... Therefore, I run thus: not with uncertainty.  Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air.  But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should not become disqualified".

Some people will not perceive the race, others will start the race, and of those who start, not all will finish. We must "press on toward the goal to win the prize for which Yahweh has called” us (Philippians 3:14).

It has become my desire to not only run the race set before me, but to break the tape, set the record and get the prize. The Winning Way, therefore, has come as the result of my obedience to the apostolic word concerning government and the application of that word by the working of Holy Spirit in my life.

“And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for edifying of the body of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and from and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head, Christ, from who the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their minds, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of Yahweh because of the blindness of their heart; who being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Yahshua, if indeed you have heard Him, as the truth is in Yahshua; that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to Yahweh, in true righteousness and holiness” Ephesians 4:11-24

How many times have you heard two wrongs won’t make it right?  This statement is not only wise it is a biblical principle and a foundational message of The Winning Way.  A life of purpose requires a right response to wrong and there is a process revealed in the scriptures that can enable one to do that.  This process and your willingness to apply your heart to wisdom in an effort to continue through it and not give up, has the ability to position you so you will be able to respond right to any situation you find yourself in, be it poverty, abuse, injustice, discrimination, abandonment, illegitimacy, failure, divorce, and on and on.  When proven, you will find fear is no longer the motivating factor for what you do or what you do not do.  The Winning Way requires you have some guts, defined as courage under siege and get some grit in your belly that will be like fire in your bones when shut up if you are going to get out, get from under, and get on top in your life.  Tom Holland, author of the book Rubicon, introduced the word “discrimen” that the people of Rome called at “an instant of perilous and excruciating tension, when the achievements of an entire lifetime might hang in the balance,” or you could say it marked a “crisis point” or a “dividing line” (2003).  If you knew what it is going to take to get out of a life that imprisons, out of a life full of pain, out of poverty and sickness, disappointment, failure, or abuse you would not think me too harsh nor would you look at my methods as too much to bear.  Staying where you are is the price you should not be willing to pay.  You should see staying where you are as being too much to bear.

For some, your divorce is not your biggest problem, and poverty is not your only obstacle. Being hurt, getting left, and treated unfairly are not THE problem, so your answer should not be on making them right, it should be on getting you right.  These are things that have happened to you, and if responded right to, you can move on and move up regardless of how severe the hurt.  These wrong things in your life will REVEAL you.  No amount of counseling will take away the responsibility you have in forming a life strategy for getting yourself up and moving.   Things that happen to us become critical moments when, as mentioned before our future and all we hold dear “hang in the balance.”  What we do or how we respond in critical moments will come to define our lives.   What do you do when things go wrong, and how have you responded?  What has been your course of action?   Do you lash out or do you keep it all inside?  Do you try to protect yourself from the pain by denying it exists, refusing to address the issue, covering it up, engaging in activities like drugs or sex, or do you blame someone or everyone else for how you got where you are today?   Have you crumbled beneath the pressure or given in to the accusations so today you are angry and mad; the abused has now become the abuser?

To different minds, the same world is a hell and a heaven. Ralph Waldo Emerson

I know a woman who has spent nearly twenty years of her life in court fighting over money, fighting over the children, fighting over schedules, fighting, fighting, fighting. If you asked her, “What is the matter?” She would fill your days with endless diatribes about how she has been ripped off, how she has been hurt, and how she has been a victim of the man who divorced her. You want to know the real truth? She was hurt deeply by the infidelities of her husband. She was embarrassed, humiliated, and left to care for three small children. All the feelings she has experienced, the legitimate suffering, is justified. However, she needed to acknowledge these feelings, and take responsibility for them. I am afraid not only has she not to this point dealt with her thoughts, feelings, and behavior, she may never do it. She will parade through court rooms, doctor’s offices, and police stations as the ravages of her scorn are visited on her children through failure and never ending trouble. These children are destroyed by the hand of their own mother. “After all”, she says, “all this is not my fault, he divorced us.” Notice the word “us?” Honey, he did not divorce “us” he divorced you. Yes it hurt. Yes it was unjust and unfair and quite possibly one of the most painful things you have ever been faced with. However, I guarantee you, this thing, this bad thing, did not have to come to signify your life. It did not have to represent the pinnacle of your life and the source of your identity. Tragedies can sometimes become the greatest single event that happens in a person’s life and become the thing they build their life around if they do not respond in a way that takes authority over the situation by taking responsibility for their feelings and actions towards it. Failure to respond right found in this type of behavior is sometimes done in an effort to escape both the pain and the responsibility of feelings that are too much to bear.

Please believe me when I tell you “two wrongs are never going to make it right.” Your only way out of the difficult situation you find yourself in is to deal in truth. The truth is not going to be found in trying to find the answer as to why this has happened to you, because then you are judging the situation based solely on what you see. The only thing that will hold you, the only thing that can sustain you through turbulent times, and the only thing that can help you walk through times that are dark and unsure is truth, which is found in the word of God hidden in your heart. His word is the truth. When you lay hold of it and begin to respond based on that instead of the pressure of your situation, you will begin putting pressure on it instead of it on you. Truth is found when you begin to ask the right question, “How?” How do I respond to this and how do I get through this? When legitimate suffering is substituted by behavior meant as an escape, the substitute eventually causes more pain and devastation than the original injury ever did. Likewise, the victims increase because the target of the initial hurt escapes both the responsibility and the accountability by their continued avoidance of the truth bearing down on them. Power for your life does not lie in what others say about you, it is in what you think and say about yourself. As a result of this you make decisions as to what your response will be.

Only those who are fit to live who do not fear to die; and none are fit to die who have shrunk from the joy of life and the duty of life. Theodore Roosevelt, 1918

You don’t need a government, you need a God. Before anything of lasting value can change you will have to come to the place where you are made gentle, soft, and broken from within. This happens as you begin to walk in the truth. There is no hope in the expectation that somehow other people hold the keys to your life and happiness and if they will just recognize that you can be happy and whole. When you realize you are the source of the manifestations in your life you have a chance of changing things. You will begin to bring change to the people and places that are wrong by your continued right responses. It is here that Yahweh’s grace and mercy begin to work on your behalf. It is here that you become “the head, not the tail . . .at the top, never at the bottom” (Deuteronomy 28:13). It is here where truth is both sought and found. Until then, because you are not right, you are at odds with Him and the wrong in your life may just represent a consequence of your sin or of the sins of your family. Therefore, Yahweh is bound by His own word to stand against you. What’s more, I know God will keep things wrong long enough to deal with you. The truth will set you free.

One of the critical factors the process can reveal is your participation in the situation that has been a contributing factor not to your being in the situation, per se, but your continued presence in it. There is a race called your life and The Winning Way can help you “run the race with perseverance” that race set before you and not only can you finish, you can finish winning. While going through the process I planned to run the Blue Angel Marathon in Pensacola, Florida. While training for the race and being challenged physically, and being mentally and spiritually changed I felt surely I was coming out on the other side of this threshing place and would come to the end of what had been a painful but profitable process. During the race I was able to experience suffering, persevering through, and overcoming great obstacles; faced, fought, and finished all in a single day. At the finish line of that race, however, I realized I had not reached the finish line. I had just reached a starting line. I only now have been qualified to begin a race, not a physical race, but a race that would define my life and everything I stand for. I had embarked upon The Winning Way; a way to live a way to overcome, and even a way to die. This journey we are all in is not about the calling, it is about the choosing, "for many are called, few are chosen" (Matthew 20:16). Maybe today I needn’t ask you what you are living for, I should just ask you for what would you be willing to die? For that, I tell you there is a way.

"There's a season between planting and harvesting. There's a race between the starting line and the finish line and only those who hang in there, only those who endure because they see the prize will hear you finished well. You not only finished, you finished winning" - F. Nolan Ball

He knows not his own strength that hath not met adversity
Ben Johnson, c. 1573-1637

On the back cover of a recent book, In the Presence of my Enemies by Gracia Burnham was a quote taken from the USA Today. It said, "The issue . . . is not why an all-powerful God might choose to subject a man to evil, but how a man, with God's help, responds to evil" (2003).

This is the subject I am writing about.

The how to respond to evil is the essence of The Winning Way.

I believe we are in error when we ask why something is happening to us or why we are where we are. The proper response for any hope of escaping evil and the only response from a position of faith is to ask how do I proceed from here, through the situation or out of it?  People spend years counseling with someone regarding why something has happened or is happening.   Abuse, poverty, failure unjust treatment, and a life of struggling have no hold on the man or woman who have set their heart to be free and come to the place where they can overcome these wrongs by their continued right response.

Having the capacity to respond right in wrong may cost you your life, and in some cases like Gracia Burnham’s husband, it did.

Regardless of where I have found myself responding right in the wrong is and has always been the method of Yahweh. It is imperative that you submit to authority and respond right concerning them even if the actions of that authority are unjust. It must be noted that there is no scripture and verse that necessarily will tell you exactly what right is. Oscar Wilde said it well when he said, “Nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.” You can look to the actions of others and gain wisdom, but you cannot live with a WWJD mindset.

The question is not what Jesus would do; it is what you will do, more importantly what you must do.