Draw close to Him and He’ll draw close to you. Test Him.
Phil 3:12 “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.”
Paul’s spiritual goal was to “press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ”. He did not get hung up on his mistakes and failures. Instead, he just asked God to forgive him, and then he put the past behind him, because they were now covered by the blood of Jesus. He kept his eyes on the prize, and he went for it. That’s a great example, but realistically, for so, so many, it’s difficult to do… you know…that whole idea of “just forgive yourself and go on.” That’s ideal, but often our family and friends, and especially the enemy of our soul, just won’t let us live down our foolishness from the past. How many family gatherings wind down to laughing and talking about the dumb stuff so-and-so said or did, and every time the story gets relived it gets added to, becoming more and more embarrassing, until you just don’t want to go back anymore.
Go for it! You can do it! Yahweh is FOR us!
The Holy spirit made such a change in Paul’s life that he actually viewed his old life as refuse. Phil 3:7 “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ“, and v8, “…for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that i may gain Christ.” He put away his “I know clothes” and took off his “important person shoes” and chose friendship and affection for God over making a big name for himself and sitting around in air-conditioned spaces.
We will never know intimacy with God until we make devotion to Jesus our central aim and focus. We can’t be intimate with the Lover of Our Souls if we only know about Him, giving Him only our mental ascension. The more we are consumed with devotion to Him, the more we become like Him, and the more we become like Him, the more we mature in our walk as believers in the Only Begotten Son of God. Anything that distracts us from this pursuit is a stumbling block to our spiritual development. Philippians 3, as a whole, is a bold challenge to each of us to become the people after God’s own heart through an always increasing relationship with Jesus.
Let this stick to you: Personal achievement will never earn us spiritual position or maturity.
Gaining the three “P’s”, Power, Position, and Prestige, will not gain us Christ. Achieving titles, qualifiers, degrees, or endorsements will not gain us Christ. We must be willing to lay down everything, including our own personal dreams and goals in our quest to know God, “… for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord…”. As was mentioned in the last program, take off your “I know” clothes, and your “important person shoes” and go be among the people, living life as the Lord has given you. We must hold back nothing as we give our hearts to attain Him. As has been said before, Daniel 11:32b “…but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits.” If we will devote ourselves to knowing the Lord, He will open amazing doors to us, for this unwavering pursuit of intimacy with God through growing knowledge of the Lord is the true mark of spiritual maturity.
Phil 3:20 says, “…our citizenship is in heaven…”, therefore let us not fear the world or the things, principalities, or powers in it, but let us step out on the water, risking with God, “…according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.”
We pledge allegiance, to the Lord, of the unified Kingdom of Heaven, and to the theocracy, One King, by which it stands, one Kingdom, under God, with liberty and justice for all.
i’m Social Porter with Living In His Name Ministries