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, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13, 14.
Thank You our Father for making Your perfect will and plan for our lives very clear and plain. May we be willing to walk in Your way. This we ask in the blessed name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Yesterday we discovered that forgetting certain things can actually give us the push we need to reach forward. Today we will learn what it will take for us to press toward the goal. Tomorrow we will look at the actual goal.
It is much easier to press upward if you are reaching forward. You see my friend life is dynamic. It is always on the move; and as a rule things do not naturally move backward. For the sun dial to have moved ten degrees backward in the days of king Hezekiah it took divine intervention, a supernatural act. Therefore, we need to add to our plan for victory in 2017, those things that will keep us moving forward.
During the first months of a new year people are still making adjustments to their resolutions or goals, as some people prefer to call them. Sometimes in the excitement of the holidays we make resolutions or set goals for ourselves that are not realistic. After we sit down and look them over we realize that in spite of our good intentions, certain things just will not work.
So we go back to the drawing board to make the changes that we deem necessary. It is very important that we set attainable goals. This is what I mean, since we know our strengths as well as our weaknesses, we should prayerfully set goals that we know we can reach by God’s grace. This will keep us from becoming discouraged. Nevertheless, in doing this let us remember the saying, “No pain, no gain.”
Being aware of this will help us to set goals that require effort and if necessary, painful endeavor in order to get where we want to go. Remember, if life is on the move, we want to be able to keep up; and keeping up calls for growth. You do not get promoted to a higher grade unless you can keep up with the teacher’s day to day study plan. You do not graduate until you comply with the curriculum of the institution where you are studying. So a successful plan will require that we keep going, not only forward but upward!
For the Christian the upward move is indispensable. We will look at this tomorrow.