ONWARD & UPWARD

From time to time our foolish choices or the unconscionable thing/s we once did in our past, rises up to remind and torment us. Don’t stay there too long, the enemy of our souls would love to see us cast down and disquieted. So this week our scripture and the Devotional Team will bring encouragement from the topic, “Freedom from Past Failures and Offenses.”

SCRIPTURE: “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14  I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” [Philippians 3:13, 14 NKJV]

In THE MESSAGE Bible paraphrase, today’s passage reads thusly: “Friends, don’t get me wrong; By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back.” What a forward-thinking soldier of the Living God! Our Lord can use such goal-oriented souls like the apostle Paul. By this verse you can extract some meaningful insight into the   character of this former Pharisee, who, prior to his dramatic conversion in Acts 9:1-8 had great zeal for God—but not according to knowledge [Romans 10:2].

While many of us love this verse, because of how it powerfully speaks to us in terms of our spiritual aspirations, I was moved to peer more closely at this extraordinary apostle, seeking to discover more, if possible, about how my Lord might have utilized some of his innate characteristics and “supercharged” them for His glory, despite his persecutorial past! In the wake of his encounter with Jesus, we notice Paul’s (a) humility: he admits that he’s not thinking more highly of himself than he should, but he is (b) a focused man-- intent on following where His Savior leads, and he’s even bringing some fellow-believers along with him, according to verse 15! We also notice from the verse that (c), excluding those times of his imprisonment for the gospel’s sake, his movement is dynamic, not static. [Then again, even while imprisoned, Paul’s passion for serving His Lord was neither chained nor restrained]! Despite all opposition from his enemies, as noted in Philippians 1:15, he remains in full anticipation of his Lord’s promised heavenly reward [Philippians 3:14 NKJV]! Paul was victorious through Christ, as he ministered to fellow inmates, as he remained fully convinced that his God, your God, my God was causing ALL things—including the seeming setbacks--to work together for his good! Would that we all could be a bit more like the apostle Paul—an extraordinarily single-minded and forward-thinking soldier of God!

PRAYER: Oh, heavenly Father, give us, we pray, a fresh stirring in our heart of Your Glory and Excellence—that we shall not be ashamed when we appear before you to give an account of what we did with the name of “JESUS” during our lifetime on this terra firma. Thank You, in His name; amen.
By Sis. Denise Diggs