24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run [their very best to win], but only one receives the prize? Run [your race] in such a way that you may seize the prize and make it yours! 25Now every athlete who [goes into training and] competes in the games is disciplined and exercises self-control in all things. They do it to win a crown that withers, but we [do it to receive] an imperishable [crown that cannot wither]. 26Therefore I do not run without a definite goal; I do not flail around like one beating the air [just shadow boxing]. 27But [like a boxer] I strictly discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached [the gospel] to others, I myself will not somehow be disqualified [as unfit for service]. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 AMP
13Brothers and sisters, I do not consider that I have made it my own yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the [heavenly] prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14 AMP
Lord I’m runnin’, tryin’ to make a hundred
99 and a half
Ninety-nine and a half won’t do
Those lyrics have been in my spirit for quite some time, and when I read biblical passages, the theme re-occurs in the text. As the verses of scripture above emphasize, we all have a goal in life; that is to receive and reach the promise of God, which is to dwell in his presence for eternity. The purpose of this series is to review passages from the Bible where individuals, after receiving a word from God find themselves at a crossroads. They are faced with the decision of faithfully trusting God to fulfill his promise or lean on their OWN understanding to manifest a blessing that only God can provide.
Now you may be wondering, what the title of the series means. Ninety-nine and a half represents being almost there, but not quite. One can feel that 99.5 is good enough, or that it’s the best that they can hope for, but the truth is that even 99.5 doesn’t fulfill what God has for you. For those of us that grew up in the age of dial-up speed internet, the original Playstation, Xbox, and Sega Dreamcast; we remember the experiences when trying to download content, we’d watch the download bar fill up from 0% onward with joyful expectation that it would reach 100%. I’m sure you had the experience where you watched the download bar fill quickly until those last 5-10% when it would sometimes slow down, and even get ALL THE WAY to 99.5% and freeze. I remember that happening a few times and sitting there in disbelief, wondering what had happened, and feeling the disappointment of not being able to watch or play the content all because of .5% (insert emoji for pain, disbelief, and confusion). Process that a moment, half of a percent was enough to keep you from experiencing any of the pleasure, joy, and fulfillment that came with the content you were trying to access. Let’s bring it forward to modern times. My Xbox Series X allows me to completely stream games online without having a physical disk, and check this, it even allows me to begin playing games before they are fully downloaded. Sounds too good to be true doesn’t it; that’s because it is too good to be true, even this comes with a caveat, “some features may be unavailable until the download is complete.” This introduces a new factor into our decision-making process; accessing something prematurely may prevent you from experiencing its full essence.
Considering all of this, prepare to journey with me through scripture as we evaluate familiar and new passages to help us prepare ourselves to recognize God’s direction for our lives. I hope this journey helps to develop our faith to confidently trust him in seasons and moments of doubt.
