Answering the Call: Running Your Race with Fresh Fire

There's something stirring in the atmosphere right now. Perhaps you've felt it too—that inexplicable hunger, that divine restlessness, that pull toward something deeper. It's not anxiety or discontent with your circumstances. It's something altogether different. It's the unmistakable sound of Heaven calling His people back to their first love.

The Cultural Norm vs. The Kingdom Call

The modern church landscape often resembles what Revelation warns against—the Nicolaitan doctrine, a theology of compromise that values comfort over conviction, numbers over discipleship, and ear-tickling messages over transformative truth. We've become experts at not offending, masters of tolerance, champions of fitting in.

But here's the uncomfortable reality: we were never called to fit in.
The call echoing across the land today is a call to revival—not the kind that happens in a single meeting or conference, but the kind that begins in the secret place of your own heart. True revival always starts with individuals who decide they're done with spiritual complacency and ready to pursue God with reckless abandon.

Removing Saul's Armor
Remember when young David stood before King Saul, ready to face Goliath? Saul tried to outfit him with royal armor—heavy, ill-fitting, and completely wrong for David's calling. That armor represented the conventional approach, the expected method, the way things had always been done.

David had the wisdom to remove it.

Today, "Saul's armor" looks like adopting strategies simply because they work for others. It's copying another church's approach, following trends, or conforming to cultural Christianity because it's safer than standing out. But here's the problem: Saul lost his anointing through disobedience. His armor carried that same curse.

When God appoints you to carry His glory, the enemy will always try to dress you in Saul's armor—to hinder the move of God that's been planned for your life. The armor won't fit. It will be too heavy. It will keep you from using the unique weapons God has placed in your hands.

David defeated Goliath not by conforming to expectations, but by using what God had already proven faithful in his life—a sling and five smooth stones. His preparation came in the wilderness, tending sheep, killing bears and lions, worshiping in solitude. God was maturing him for kingship long before he ever wore a crown.

The Torch Has Been Handed Out

Imagine standing in complete darkness, and suddenly someone places a lit torch in your hand. The flame illuminates everything around you—your path, the faces of those nearby, the obstacles ahead. That torch becomes both a tool and a responsibility.

This is precisely what's happening in this season. God is handing out torches—individual flames of His glory and presence—to His people. Not one massive bonfire that we all gather around passively, but personal fires that we're commissioned to carry into the darkness.

Just as in Acts 2, when individual flames rested on each disciple's head, God is distributing His fire personally. The message is clear: "Here is the fire. Now go set things ablaze for the kingdom."

The question is: will we carry that torch into the marketplace, into our communities, into the dark places that desperately need light?

Don't Grow Weary

The writer of Hebrews offers this powerful encouragement: "Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith" (Hebrews 12:1-3).

Running the Christian race requires perseverance, focus, and discipline. There will be moments when exhaustion threatens to overtake us—not just physical tiredness, but spiritual weariness that whispers, "What's the use? Nothing's changing. This dream is too big. That prodigal will never come home."

But the scripture warns us specifically not to grow weary to the point of quitting. The original language speaks of becoming so spiritually exhausted that we faint in our souls, giving up entirely and collapsing under pressure.

This is precisely where the enemy wants us—discouraged, defeated, ready to abandon the race of faith.

Yet Isaiah 40:31 promises something remarkable: "Those who wait on the Lord will gain new strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run and not get tired. They will walk and not become weary."

When we wait on God—trusting Him, resting in His presence, worshiping at His feet—He lifts us above the storm. Like eagles that fly higher when storms approach, we gain strategic advantage, fresh perspective, and supernatural endurance.

God is Doing Something New

"Do not call to mind the former things, or ponder things of the past. Behold, I am doing something new" (Isaiah 43:18-19).

God is always doing something fresh. He's not interested in us replicating past moves or copying yesterday's revival. While we can learn from history, we shouldn't try to recreate it. Every move of God is unique, tailored for a specific season and purpose.

This means releasing those dreams you've shelved as "impossible." God is the God of the impossible, and He's revisiting the promises and visions He's placed in your heart. He's waiting for you to partner with Him again, to say, "Lord, in my natural mind this seems crazy, but with You, nothing is impossible."

Perhaps you've been told your vision is too big, your faith too extreme, your expectations unrealistic. But remember the twelve spies sent into the Promised Land. Ten came back with a report of impossibility—"We're like grasshoppers compared to them." Only two, Joshua and Caleb, said, "Let's go take the land. We can do this."

The ten caused the two to wander in the wilderness for forty more years. Don't let the voices of impossibility delay your destiny. Find the other "two" in your life—those who can see the vision God has given you—and run together.

The Season of Advancement

We're entering a season where God is calling His people from the background to the forefront. No more backseat Christianity. No more hiding in the shadows, hoping someone else will step up.

This is the hour for forerunners, for those willing to carry the torch into their communities and set dry ground ablaze. It only takes one flame to start a wildfire.

Divine protection, open doors, favor from unexpected sources, provision beyond what you can imagine—these are the promises for those who answer the call. Not because we're special, but because He is faithful.

So here's the invitation: answer the call. Say with Isaiah, "Here I am, Lord. Send me." Receive the torch He's handing you. Remove Saul's armor. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. Don't grow weary.

The awakening is coming. The veil is being torn open. Fresh fire is falling.

Will you be ready to carry it?