I was a competitive runner for many of my younger years. For you runners out there, I was an 800 meter state champion, I ran a 5:10 mile, and my fastest 5k was 18:54.

I know what it means to press on through the pain for the victory that waits ahead.

I’ve also given birth to three children. The first with 21 hours of labor and an epidural, the second was induced with only a partially effective epidural, and the third with no drugs whatsoever! Through all of my childbirth experiences, I’ve learned that Pitocin is of the devil and adrenaline is your body’s way of telling you, “You can do this!” In fact, adrenaline is all you have for those “rocket launch” type of births!

I know what it’s like to push through the pain for the joy set before me.

Adrenaline is what pumps us up for cheering our favorite team, competitive games, family arguments, job interviews, and pushing out little humans! It is the hormone responsible for the “fight or flight” response – our God given impetus to press on, push through, flee, survive, fight for your life, breathe.

After considering the life of Paul, I’m convinced that adrenaline for Jesus is what kept him alive, not only physically, but spiritually. Paul knew what it means to press on, push through, survive, and even rejoice in his suffering. The evidence is sprinkled throughout his letters to the churches.

For example in Romans‬ ‭5:3-4‬ ‭(ESV‬‬) Paul says, “…we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope”. Paul understood that Christ doesn’t just hand us the victory, but that victory is found as we arise, press on, and push through the trails of life.

Victory is found in tests of endurance, character building situations, and hope-filled discoveries as we travel down our journey of faith. Or as Oswald Chambers writes in My Utmost for His Highest, “God does not give us overcoming life – He gives us life as we overcome.” Jesus doesn’t just give us victorious life, He gives us victory as we live by faith. 

What we lack in the church today is adrenaline for Jesus. I want to be pumped for Jesus! I want to fight for my faith! I want to press on through the pain in the race of life with all its trails, hardships, and problems. I want to push through the labor of Jesus being born in me, no matter how much it hurts.

We like to blame a lot of things on hormones. Yet, maybe adrenaline is really the Friend who sticks closer than a brother. 

Adrenaline for Jesus reminds us “We can do this!” I want to encourage you today to face your trials with the knowledge that Jesus is before the Father interceding for you as you go through the best and the worst of times. You can do this! You will get through this, with Jesus.