If you were running a marathon, you’d need running partners to help keep you motivated, keep pace, and encourage you to keep going. In the same way, you need “Spiritual Running Partners” you trust who are going the way of Christ, willing to accompany you on your journey through life with Christ.
I have two and they have become crucial to my life. Paul had Silas and Timothy at the time of this letter. God never intended anyone to be a “lone ranger” Christian. Is that you? Do you have someone in your life, to whom you can tell the deep parts of your life and who will listen, care and pray for you?
If not, I strongly suggest that you ask God who that person might be for you. Then muster the courage to ask the person to whom God leads you. Ask him or her (your partner needs to be a person of the same sex) to meet with you weekly or bi weekly so that you can talk about your life and pray for one another. There are 51 “one anothers” in the New Testament. God wants each of us to experience this dynamic where two or three are gathered in His Name, there is Christ among them.
How is this different than when I call a Christian friend, discuss our circumstances, and ask each other for prayers?
ReplyDeleteGood question:
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure it is all that different. The phone is a good thing, a great thing and having someone you can call at any time is super. However, when two or three are gathered face to face, somehow there is a new, interpersonal dynamic involved, one which opens us to the deeper presence of Christ. Furthermore, it is hoped that with a "spirtual running partner" the goal will go beyond help through circumstances to a level of accountability that says, "i want you to hold me accountable to be doing the things Christ wants me to be doing, doing his purpose for my life and not my own, and staying engaged in my daily disciplines of bible reading and prayer and service.