“I can run faster than you in these shoes.”

MY NEPHEW, AGE 7

The shoes. Do shoes really make you run faster? Is that why some people prefer different running shoes over others? Or is it more of how they make your feet feel while you run?

For a kid, anything is possible. The creativity is endless. If they say that a certain shoe, and probably the one they’re wearing, makes them run faster, you can’t argue, that’s just straight fact.

So as children of God, what are we equipped with to run this race to the end?

The Bible

All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.

2 Timothy 3:16 ESV

The word is God and therefore it is perfect. If we stray from His word, if we try to twist the word, what we get out of the word is no longer with God but with the world. God’s way is the best way and if we do not lay a foundation founded on the word, the foundation isn’t going to last and we’re then searching for God because we lose sight this way.

In the beginning the Word already existed. The word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:1 NLT

To even run this race at all, we have to read the word, digest the word, replicate the word and pass it on. Anything we do for God’s kingdom cannot come to fruition if we are not grounded in God’s word first.

The Holy Spirit

Jesus told us that He would leave this earth and be in heaven with His father. What would we do without Jesus though? He’s our teacher. He’s God’s Son!

He didn’t just go to heaven and abandon us. The Holy Spirit is with us. In John 14:15-31 Jesus promises the Holy Spirit. In Acts 2, the Holy Spirit comes.

The Spirit of God is alive and well. He still moves and is an integral part of the Christian faith.

But in fact, it is best for you that I go away because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If i do go away, then I will send him to you.

John 16:7

We are witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Spirit, who is given by God to those who obey him.

Acts 5:32 NLT

And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us.

1 John 4:13 NLT

The Church

I’ve blogged about the church before, more than once really. It’s not that I myself think it’s important, but it is important to God. The church is the bride of Christ. I was listening to the Established Church podcast recently and the guys were talking about this same topic (really the whole podcast is about THE CHURCH, anyway.. you should also check it out!). They said that “if the church is the bride of Christ, then it’s something we need to value and protect.” In the same way a husband would value and protect his wife, we should do the same thing to the church.

The church provides accountability and a family to lean on. As I’ve said before, we were not made to walk this journey alone, we need the church in order to fulfill God’s commands and desires for us.

Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

Hebrews 10:24-25 NLT

Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.

Ephesians 4:11-13 NLT

What other things as Christians are we equipped with? Do you have anything to add to these? Please comment!