Fast Horses!! Let em go!
A horse this young should never be ridden hard, but should be treated gently to let them get their feet under them and give their muscles time to respond a little more over a period of time. So I chose to only trot him and push him into a gentle gallup, never pushing him to run hard. There was going to be a time for that down the road. That time soon came when a guy who had supposedly the fastest horse in the area had heard I had a horse that was sired by Three Bars and he wanted to race him. A friend of mine passed on the word that we would race and set up the time for the big race. I was nervous because my horse had never been asked to run full out and this was going to be his first time. I warmed him up real good and pretty soon I saw a trailer driving up the lane. The guy jumped out of the truck and said, “Are you ready for a race?” To which I gulped and said, “I hope so!” His horse was beautiful and he looked to be in really good shape. He saddled him up and after warming up his horse he road over to me and my horse and said, “Let’s ride down this road for about a quarter of a mile and see what they do.” I nervously nodded in agreement and turned my horse toward the goal. The other rider’s horse had realized this was going to be a race and I could tell he was ready and had been here before. My horse was calm, not knowing what was about to happen. The other rider lined up beside me and yelled out “go!” I motioned forward and kicked my horse into a quick gallup as the other rider took off. My horse’s instincts kicked in and realized he was in a race and he wasn’t wanting to lose that race. It was at that point I realized just what kind of horse I had been training. He was a champion!!! I felt the power of this horse I had seen grow up from a ten month old colt and realized he was made for this moment. We quickly caught and passed the other horse and rider and proceeded to distance ourselves from them. When we got to the finish line I pulled my horse up and stopped and waited for the other guy.
He rode up and yelled out “WOW!” It was at that point we all realized that I had a very special horse that was very fast. The other rider said, “I have never seen a horse with that kind of speed before!” I agreed and said, “Do you want to race back?” The other rider told me he thought it was going to be the same result, but agreed to race. I told him I would give him a head start and he took off. My horse just stood there waiting for me to let him go and then he took off and blew the other horse away! I was so proud of him and realized I had no idea of the power of the horse I was riding. All that time spent training him and I just never knew what kind of speed he was really capable of giving.
Our lord is training us from the beginning of conversion in an every day walk with Him. In 1 Peter 2:2 Peter writes 2 like newborn babies, long for the [a]pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow [c]in respect to salvation, God has been training us up to become mature in our thinking and in our abilities. He has naturally gifted us with talents and instructions on how to use those talents for him. He has brought us along gently, being careful not to over burden us until we are ready to run. Here is the kicker. Most believers will go through all this instruction and care and never run the race when God needs us to. Isn’t God calling you to step up to run the race He has prepared you to run? I believe He is!! Paul wrote to the church at Corinth and told them this. 1 Corinthians 9:24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. I hear a lot of Christians talk about being more than conquerors and living out of victory, but they never run the race. How can that be? It can’t!! So you may ask “what is the solution?”
Turn that horse loose. Let Him go. Run the race you were meant to run and don’t just run, but run to win!! The gospel is dead if we only read about it, experience it, and never share it. That may be a little too radical for some of you so……..change your thinking. Line up with God’s word and see what He will do if that happens. Another thing to think about is this. The realization I had when I let my horse go was that “this horse is a racer.” I didn’t know how good the horse could run because I had never let him run “full out.” We need to be willing to let go of the reins we are holding back on and let the power of the Holy Spirit in our life GO!! I believe we will all be amazed at how much power God can exhibit through our lives if we will stop holding Him back. It is important to remember who our power source is for sure. 2 Corinthians 4:7 7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; We will continue to fail and mess things up, but may it never be that our messing up is our holding back God from doing great things through His mighty power in our lives. We need to let go of the reins and let this horse run, run, run!!! For too long churches have been just getting by for no apparent reason, and the reason is we are scared of letting God be all He wants to be, so we hold him back. As believers He has brought us too far to hold back serving Him passionately now. Now, more than ever, we need to step up and step out, and run the race to win.
A parting thought. When you read God’s word do you believe it literally? If you do, then you can not hold back the life God’s Word shows you that you must live. A life of sold out commitment. If you don’t believe God’s Word literally then you will continue to hold back on the reins of His coming alive in your life as never before and you will be a barrier to the gospel. Which will you choose to be? I choose to let Him go and spur Him on to do more in my life and fall into the loving, caring arms of Jesus to guide me, empower me, and protect me. My dad would bring home many different horses for me to break and evaluate. When evaluating some horses he would ask me “How is he?” Sometimes my reply would be “He’s an old dead head.” To others I might say, “He’s a fire ball!” Just so you know, the dead heads didn’t stay at our farm very long and the fire balls were the best “using” horses we ever got to ride. Meditate on this scripture and see what God says to you after letting it soak in. Joshua 24:14Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. It is time to put away any other gods in your life and get a fresh look at Almighty God again. He is ready to go and He is ready to run your life. SERVE HIM AND HIM ALONE!!!
The Pilgrimage continues…
David Warren
