Sunday, June 19, 2016

Specific training

"Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do." Joshua 1:8


If you want to train and succeed at any sport, including running, you want to be specific about it-keeping in mind that the most effective training mimics the event for which you’re training. This is the cardinal rule of preparing for any activity. For instance, if you want to get better at dribbling a soccer ball, you practice dribbling over and over and over. Similarly, if you want to run a 10-K at a seven-minute-per-mile pace, you need to consistently practice that pace. Ann Snyder, Ph.D., director of the human performance lab at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. sums it up this way, “Runners are best served by running at goal pace and in the expected environment of that race."

So you see, to prosper at any thing, you must do that thing over and over. When God told Joshua that he was to be the one to lead the Israelites into the promised land, God said, "Study this Book of Instruction continually, Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything in it." Joshua had a specific job to do, it would be hard and he would need to stay focused to triumph. Keeping his eyes on God meant studying the Word over and over, continually contemplating and reflecting on it day and night and over and over and over again. It was only then that Joshua would be sure to obey and therefore prosper in all God called him to do.

You and I are called by God to do a specific job as well. Whether we are coaches, teachers, parents, pastors, soldiers or volunteers, we were placed where we are for a purpose. And to fulfill that specific purpose requires specific training-reading and meditating God's instructions over and over. That my friend is how we will succeed in all we do. 

Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us a purpose. No matter what vocation we might find ourselves in, help us to remember that it's no accident or by luck we are there- but that you have placed us there to do your will. Give us a passion to train in the Word over and over, meditating on it day and night, that we might obey everything in it that we would prosper and succeed. It's in your precious name we pray, Jesus. Amen. 

Happy Running!!!

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