Do You Have a Pacer To Help You Finish Well?

By Jacki Scott editted by Dennis Edwards

I am praying that each of you have a heart full of hope for the start of another year, & promises to hold on to, to go the distance in 2023! Big thanks to all of you for your prayers, love & support that brought down showers of mercy on the dear people here in helping them with their needs last year. I'm attaching below an inspiration the Lord gave me on the importance of "Pacers" & hope it's a blessing to you. It is guidance for me this year to help me run well! Love you dearly and praying for you!--Jacki

PACERS!

I asked the Lord what would most help me do my best for Him in the coming year. He responded that I needed a “pacer”. There’s an amazing marathon runner in Kenya, Eliud Kipchoge, who ran the marathon (26+ miles) in less than two hours. No one had ever done it before. It was unheard of! People said it was impossible. How did he do it? He had 42 pacers. Each pacer ran the exact speed he needed to run to break the 2 hour marathon. Eliud ran it in 1:59:40, or 20 seconds under 2 hours. He was 34 years old at the time. By himself, he never would have done it. What was his secret? The pacers were his secret. The event took place in Vienna in 2019, but it was not recognized as an official world record, because it was set with a team of rotating pacemakers and not in an open competition.

What the Lord showed me was, we need to work with others if we want to make it for the long haul! We need others in the short term, too. But when we are doing the marathon of life in service for the Lord, if we want to finish well—or maybe even finish at all--we need people with like minds and spirits to help us along. They help to pace us, to keep us on track, to keep us motivated, to keep us focused, to keep us doing better than if we were alone. They help to pick us up when we fall, & help to keep us inspired along the way. Like the quote says, “If you want to run fast, run alone. If you want to run far, run with others.” 

Relationships are what help us move ahead & keep us on track. But it’s important who you run with. If you run with the “turkeys” you won’t get far, but if you soar with the eagles, the sky is the limit. We should be deliberate about who we run with in life, especially because we are Christians. We should choose team mates which will help us be better Christians and challenge us to maintain a growing walk with the Lord. The secret to of making it to the end as a winner is who we train with, who our coach is, and who are our team mates.

Recently, the lesson of having a pacer was brought home to me in my personal life. Several months ago I started hiking with a friend. My friend is athletic & in good shape. We hike in canyons, hills & mountains. I wear out much quicker & would have sat down to have a snack or given up early every time—except that he kept pushing me to make our agreed upon goals. I never would have gone the distance without a pacer…never! It’s the same in our spiritual journey—we need pacers to do our best & go the distance!

During the coming year, I have invited different people to join me on my field, even if it’s only for a short time, as I’m alone in the country where I serve. They will be like pacers to help keep me going for Jesus. We are planning on studying Endtime Bible Prophecy, amongst other things. Not only do we have more endurance when we run together & stick-to-it-tiveness, but we also run smarter. By ourselves, we can exist, but together we can thrive. "One can chase a thousand, but two can put ten thousand to flight." [Deuteronomy 32:20] 

Do the math! When you have a pacer, you’re 10 times better off than when you are by yourself! I’ have always tried to figure out why Jesus said, “Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.” Does that mean if someone is by himself Jesus is not with him?  I don’t think so. But it does mean that if we are together with fellow believers the power of Jesus within each of us is multiplied and strengthened. 

"And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and one soul: neither said any of them that aught of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all." [Acts 4:32-33]

Why did Jesus send out His disciples two-by-two?

"And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two; and gave them power over unclean spirits." [Mark 6:7] "After those things the Lord appointed other 70 also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come." [Luke 10:1]

"Jesus sent forth his disciples to preach the gospel not singly, but by twos, that they might labor unitedly in spreading the truth. Jesus knew that a two-by-two plan would result in much more good fruit than if one was sent alone. There is need of two working together; for one can encourage the other, and they can counsel, pray, and search the Scriptures together. In this way, they gain a better understanding of the truth; one will see one aspect of the truth, and the other another aspect. If they are erring, they can correct one another in speech and in attitude. The individual defects of each disciples will be minimized through working with others. If the workers are sent out alone, there is no one to see and correct their errors. But when they go two-by-two an educating work may be carried out, and each worker becomes what he should be, -- a successful soul-winner." [discipleheart.com]

I pray each of you finds a pacer, or pacers, to run with you throughout the present year. If you don’t have a pacer, maybe you should pray about how to get one. Your journey will go smoother, easier & safer with a compatriot, with a pace maker. Not only that, but the journey never seems as long or as difficult with someone is by your side.  

"Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falls; for he has not another to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken."[Ecclesiastes 4:8-12]

We are better together. With a pacer with us we can finish well & receive that, “Well done good & faithful servant...enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!”[Matthew 25:23] A pacer can help keep us faithful, can help us run well and can help us run the distance & receive the final reward! Like Apostle Paul states at the end of his life, 

"For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my race, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them that love his appearing." [2 Timothy 4:6-8]

Before going to Jerusalem some years earlier, Paul talking to the disciples at Ephesus, knowing through prophecy that trouble awaited him in Jerusalem, nevertheless said, 

"But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my race with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God....Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God." [Acts 20:24-27]

Remember, as disciples of Jesus we are called to be His witnesses. In Ezekiel 3:17-19, we read,

"Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shall surely die; and thou gives him not warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou has delivered thy soul."

That's what Apostle Paul means by being pure from the blood of all men. He's pure, because he has delivered his soul and not kept back anything that was profitable to his flock or the public. He has given them the whole counsel of God, he's poured out his heart to his fellowman as a witness of Jesus the Christ. 

After being captured and imprisoned first in Jerusalem and later in Rome, Paul continued to be a faithful witness during in his court cases, his travels, his jail sentences, and finally through his epistles which continue to speak to us today.  

To the Corinthians Paul wrote, "Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receives the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that strives for mastery is moderate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beats the air: 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." [1 Corinthians 9:24-27]

Let us not become castaways. A survey of some 1,000 Biblical figures showed that only 300 ended well. The tendency in the Bible is to start off well, but not to finish well. In the book of Hebrews, we read, "And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching."[Hebrew 10:25]

Our little meetings and prayer vigils are important. But each of us must do what we can personally to care for our spiritual walk with the Lord. Having fellowship with others is an important part of our spiritual growth, but especially having fellowship with fellow Christians who will provoke us to godly works. 

"Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To-day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. for we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end."[Hebrews 3:12-14]