Jack Hibbs : LIFT Daily Prayer: Run the Race with Endurance

Let Go, Rise Up, and Run Your Race with Courage

Hebrews 12:1 gives us a powerful invitation: “Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race set before us.”
These words speak not only to our actions, but to our hearts.

Every weight is not necessarily a sin. Sometimes it’s something good—your hobbies, the things you enjoy, even responsibilities that matter deeply. But when anything begins to consume us, when it takes more space in our hearts than it should, it becomes a burden that slows our spiritual steps.

God has given us beautiful things to enjoy—music, gardening, family moments, simple pleasures. Yet even blessings can become idols when we cling to them more tightly than we cling to Him. Scripture says to lay them down—not because they’re bad, but because we’re not meant to carry what only God can hold.

Then Scripture speaks of sin—the sin that knows our name, the sin that keeps knocking on the door, hoping we’ll let it back in. These are the habits and temptations from our past that Christ already broke off our lives, yet they still try to return, slipping in when we’re tired, when we’re hurting, or when we’re distracted.

And many of you are carrying heavy burdens right now—caring for a sick parent, worrying about a broken marriage, praying for a struggling child, facing financial pressure, or living with long-term illness in your family. These concerns are real and painful, but even here, God calls us not to let them crush our spirit. We lift them to Him daily. We share them with our spiritual community so we don’t carry them alone.

So how do we pray?

“Lord, show me what I’m carrying that You never asked me to carry.”
Expose the weight, reveal the hidden idols, uncover the sins we’ve allowed into familiar places. Give us the grace to lay them down.

And Lord, grant us victory over the sins that keep circling our hearts. Give us courage to bring them into the light and strength to refuse them every time they whisper back to us. Teach us to rise again, to walk in the freedom You bought for us.

Then—help us run.
Not drift.
Not shrink back.
Run the race You’ve set before us with endurance, faith, and purpose.

The Christian journey is active. Sometimes we sprint, sometimes we move slowly, but we never go backwards. Even when we wait on the Lord, it is an active waiting—expectant, hopeful, leaning forward.

Today, may God strengthen us to run unhindered—free from the weights that drain us and the sins that trip us. May we live boldly, sharing the hope of the risen Jesus wherever we go. And may our endurance shine as a testimony to His grace.

Because God has already spoken the command:
Lay it down.
Rise up.
Run with endurance.

In Jesus’ name—Amen.

God bless you, and may the Lord strengthen your race today.