I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus...Phillipians 3:14
Since I started this chapter, I have fallen off this wagon a few times. Life happens. Life takes my focus and there I am, finding myself laying on the ground...AGAIN. Am I alone? Does anyone else go through this? Just wondering... It's like, I start getting up momentum in my walk with God and then...BAM, I don't know what hits me. Everything piles on at once and I forget where I am with Him. I press on toward the goal and, then all of a sudden, fall into a gigantic pot-hole! That devil is a sly one ain't he. Gotta really watch out for him! And not only does my desire for God feel like it's severed but I also feel like His desire for me is gone. No, I know it's not really, but LIFE HAPPENING makes you feel that way sometimes. Shoot me...I'm human. But thank God for His desire for me...and you.
Psalm 149:4 God takes delight in us and crowns us with salvation.
Jeremiah 29:13 When we seek Him, we find Him.
Matthew 11:28-30 God gives us rest when we are weary and burdened. We can learn from Him. We find rest in Him because His yoke is easy and His burden is light.
Ephesians 2:4-7 He gives us grace and kindness. He saves us through faith. He is rich in mercy and makes us alive with Christ.
These verses remind me of all I have in my relationship with Him and how I forfeit it sometimes because I don't think or I'm not focused. My problems and issues sometime distract me.
"A biblical definition of becoming could be called sanctification. To "sanctify" means to make holy: sanctification is growing in divine grace as a result of Christian commitment."
Becoming like Christ:
Romans 8:28-29 God works for the good of us who love Him. We are to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, Jesus.
1 Corinthians 1:4-9 In Christ, we are enriched in every way, in our speaking and in knowledge. We do not lack any spiritual gift. He keeps us strong so that we will be blameless.
Philipians 1:6 He who began a good work in me will carry it on to completion until Jesus comes.
Philipians 2:13 God works in me to will and to act according to His good purpose.
"In order to pattern our lives after Jesus, we need to first enter into a relationship with Him so that we can live in His strength---not our own. In order to avoid discouragement and reliance on ourselves, it is important to know that God has begun His work in us, and He will complete it. God is patient with the process! Oswald Chambers has challenged us, "Think of the enormous leisure of God! He is never in a hurry.""
God's perspective of time:
2 Peter 3:8-9 With God, one day is like a thousand years. He is not slow like we understand slow. He is patient.
Habakkuk 2:1-3 There is an appointed time for all things with no delay. So stand watching and wait for it.
Be patient in waiting on God. His time is not my time. He has an appointed time for me in everything and I need to trust Him. In Pilipians 3:12-14, Paul presses on. Forgets what is behind and strains toward what is ahead. Paul admits he in not there yet but he presses on and this encourages me to do the same.
"God desires to have fellowship with us, He is committed to our growth, and He is realistic in understanding where we are in our relationship to Him. So often we are the ones who put high expectations on ourselves as we try to live the Christian life in our own strength. When we trust in ourselves, we are destined to fail and then tempted to give up the whole idea of living a life that would be pleasing to God. I'm not perfect, but I'm in the process of becoming."
John 15:1-11 He is the vine and we are the branches. We are to abide and remain in Him.
Abide: accept or act in accordance with; endure without yeilding.
Remain: continue to exist; stay in the place that one has been occupying; stay, rest, abide.
It is necessary to abide to bear fruit. Apart from Him, we can do nothing. Do it for God's glory. We are to remain in His love to have complete joy. The benefits of abiding in Him are complete joy and love and flourishing. The resulst of NOT abiding are we will NOT bear fruit and we will be like a branch that is thrown away and withers and thrown into the fire and burned. One way of knowing we are abiding is we will be fruitful and full of joy and love. "Abiding has been defined as 'the continual act of laying aside everything that I might derive from my own wisdom and merit, in order to draw all of this from Christ.'"
It needs time to grow into Jesus the Vine: do not expect to abide in Him unless you will give him that time...Come, my bretheren, and let us day by day set ourselves at his feet, and meditate on this word of His, with an eye fixed on him alone. Let us set ourselves in quiet trust before Him, waiting to hear His holy voice-the still small voice that is mightier than the storm that rends the rock-breathing its quickening spirit within us, as He speaks: "Abide in Me."...Andrew Murray
Hold to His teaching and obey His commands.
Our Desire for God:
Prayer-secret, fervent, believing prayer-lies at the root of all personal godliness...William Carey.
Psalm 42:1-2 Our soul should thirst for God like the deer thirsts for water.
Psalm 63:1 We long and thirst for God as if we are in a dry and weary land with no water.
Psalm 84:1-2 Yearn for God to the point to where we feel faint and want to cry out to Him.
We will feel this way if we truly put God first and delight ourself in Him....no pressure! Thirst for Him. Faint for Him. To me, that's saying just how I feel...sometime. I mean I don't go around like Scarlet O' Hara in Gone With the Wind like I'm going to faint at any moment BUT alot of times, I feel that close to God, that in-tune with Him...until I fall off the wagon into life. That' why it's very important to stay focused on Him, and when I do fall, dust myself off and get back up and cry out to Him.
Meditating and reflecting on His word is crucial! We are blessed and prosperous and yield much fruit when we do (Psalm 1:1-3). And I can meditate and reflect on His word in my thoughts and by reading His word.
The comfort and peace and joy and protection I get is what draws me to abide in Christ. Life and my flesh is what hinders me from spending time with Him.
But regardless, He always holds me in His hand.
I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
If you do not know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, you can. For all have sinned and fall short...for the wages of sin is death...He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life...confess with your mouth "Jesus is Lord" and believe. :)
