Do you hear the Holy Spirit prompting you at all times? In the story of Joseph, I was impacted yesterday as I retold it with the help of my son for a young man seeking Jesus… It hit me that Jesus ran into the resulting death and judgment of our sins. We are tempted like Joseph to various sins and often do not run from them like Joseph did… and Jesus took the nails and the whips and the suffering these sins when committed (even if “only” in our hearts).

It’s staggering that Jesus would receive the penalty for our sins. May we consider Jesus when we face negative or conflicting opinions about our seeking out of Jesus’ path, hot on His heels!

It’s critical to not fear each others’ opinions as we seek the Lord Jesus’ scent so-to-speak. Like hounds hot on a scent, may we speed up and pick up our pace and get excited when we know the path we are on is totally Jesus’ modus operandi and Jesus’ heart for His followers.

When two trail runners are really in sync, the follower and leader speak periodically but mainly they are on the move and there is deep enjoyment of the path and one another’s company.

It’s my understanding as I read the Gospels that Jesus and His disciples had similar joys as they journeyed from village to village encountering whomever the Holy Spirit had in store for them to encounter. It’s amazing that Jesus took off the robes of divinity though He was still “God the Son” as we know Him. He wore our earthly skin and bore the same tempting life, encountered people like we encounter them, and let the Spirit carry His thoughts and behavior so that He was ready to heal, restore, minister, and impact as God the Father had in mind. May we too avail ourselves to the Spirit’s promptings and run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, considering Jesus, finding our life and joy in the One we are running behind! Let’s stay so close that we can hear His breathing and sense when He changes directions for the joy that is set before us, that joy ultimately being the finish line where we see Jesus face-to-face and God the Spirit fills us with GOD within and zero presence of sin anymore and the Father’s amazing smile and loving embrace is our sweet reality as children bought at the price of Jesus’ blood!