7 Oct 2013 by Mindy Oon CM –
Held simultaneously nationwide on the 5th of October, Run for the Nation (Run Nat) Kampar 2013 saw around 45 runners covering a distance of 55 kilometers. While some were seasoned runners who had running as their hobby, others were first time runners – one of the runners had never even walked for more than 2km prior to signing up for Run Nat!
Running in groups of four, participants in the first group started running and praying for our nation at 5.30am. 11 group of runners covered 5 km each, and all gathered at Grand Kampar Hotel upon finishing the run with Run Nat Kampar organizer Mr. Leroy Tan from Calvary City Church thanking the participants as well as the team of volunteers who made the run possible. This was followed by Mr. Joshua Tan leading corporate prayer and Pastor Matthew Dass giving a short message titled ‘Favoured To Run the Race’.
In his message, Pas Matt said that favor means giving a person preferential treatment. Among some people from the Bible who operated in the favor of God is Joseph. Even though Joseph was sold into slavery by his own brothers who hated him, God turned his captivity into dominion. Joseph had favor with God and with man, and he was a leader in a land in which he was supposed to be a slave.
With God nothing is impossible, and no matter what situation we are in, we need to keep our eyes on the prize. 1 Corinthians 9:24 says ‘Do you not know that in a race all the runners complete, but only one receives the prize? So run your race that you may lay hold of the prize and make it yours.’
Many challenges will come our way and can distract us from our destiny. Everyday wer have the opportunity to get upset – someone may be talking about you behind your back, or a friend says something they shouldn’t have. When this happens we need to ask ourselves ‘If I engage in this battle and spend my time and energy trying to defend myself or prove that I’m right, and if I win this battle, what is the prize going to be? For example, if a person cuts us off in traffic and we get upset and cut him off, how does it benefit us? We do not even know the person. By doing so we get all worked up and some battles are just not worth our energy. We need to keep our eyes on the prize.
We need to remember that we are running a race with the favor of God upon us. Each one of us have a destiny and we must not allow distractions to take us away from God’s plan for our lives.
There were also many testimonies from those who took part in Run Nat Kampar. Among the testimonies was Kyle’s testimony, who said that ‘I have been suffering and recovering from a strained tendon and have been unable to do more than 5km without discomfort. Today, the flesh said that I can only do my 5km section but the spirit of God that answers only to faith says I can do 20km and then climb 7 floors!
Held yearly, you too can participate in Run Nat. For more information go to the Run for your Nation website http://runforthenation.com/malaysia/
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