What a privilege it is to be able to spend a morning with the Godly men of ROTOP.

This past Wednesday Rev Douglas Bower was the speaker and his topic was “The race that is set before us”.

ROTOP stands for Round Tables of Prayer and its mission statement says that all the men must strive “to learn to function ‘as a unit’ in ‘watching over’ and ‘looking after one another’ demonstrating the reality of faith in the true, living God; proving how practical the principles of the Word of God are; and how invaluable to everyday living”.

Every now and again they open their doors and allow women to attend.  If it hadn’t been open to women this past week I would have sneaked in anyway because Douglas has a way of expounding the Scriptures and I would not have wanted to miss an opportunity to listen to him speak!

Douglas spoke on the ‘long race of the Christian’.

“We are all racing towards the reward, and have to keep our eyes fixed on the heavenward prize”.

Below are some of the main points he made:

We need

• to keep our eyes on the finish line – never looking backwards only forwards
• to follow the track
• to listen to the ‘marshals’ directing us – the men and women God places in our lives to encourage us and guide us
• to have Gospel centered prayers
• to not let earthly things distract us
• to be prepared for tribulations, trials and difficulties
• to make use of any handicaps and turn them into advantages

At one point he asked the following question which has stuck with me:

“If you were to be arrested for being a Christian – would there be enough evidence to convict you?”

How wonderful it would be if we were able to answer that question with a resounding YES. If our lives reflected good craftsmanship at all times.

“The Christian shoemaker does his duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes, but by making good shoes, because God is interested in good craftsmanship.”
― Martin Luther