Philippians 3:13-14 “I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus”.
Our reach should be further than our grasp as we press on toward the mark that the apostle Paul refers to in this scripture.
Joel 2:25 “And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you”. God can restore the wasted years! Don’t let your past experience dictate your future. We can become so familiar with the blessings of God we can become indifferent. Don’t lose your expectancy, stand back and allow God to move. There is a new chapter God is waiting to write in your book He started long ago. Why stand back and admire a painting, when, in reality, you can walk on the land that was painted!
Get with the programme! What is God’s programme? Ephesians 4 declares the goal and heartbeat of God to bring His children to an intimacy with Jesus Christ, His Son, and a maturity to “the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ”, that God will be glorified through ordinary lives. God does not make wonderful men and women. He has already made One who is wonderful, and that is His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus is our Pattern Man. He declared He could do nothing of Himself but it was the Father working through Him. He was a surrendered vessel, always choosing to do His Father’s will. As it was for Jesus, so it is for us. He emptied Himself and made Himself of no reputation. So often we are busy promoting and justifying our reputation! If I walk in humility with my Saviour, He will live and demonstrate His life through me, for the glory of God. A surrendered vessel has nothing to prove of himself, but has every opportunity to prove an almighty God in everyday circumstances.
Don’t lose your expectancy. Dare I believe God still heals, delivers, removes strongholds of believing, redeems and restores today? He is still the God of the impossible making a way, (His way), where there is no way. Let us press forward in our high calling to walk with Jesus every day, individually and corporately, as He writes this new chapter.
Psalm 34:3 “O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together”. When we magnify the Lord, we make Him bigger! John 3:30 declares “He must increase, but I must decrease”. God wants us out of the picture that only His Son can be seen in us. As I yield to my Master, He, the Mighty Christ, comes forth in demonstration, all glory to God! Get with God’s programme! Christ in me, the hope of glory!
