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My sisters, I do not regard myself as having taken hold of it yet, 

but one thing I do; forgetting what lies behind 

and reaching forward to what lies ahead,

I press on toward the goal

for the prize of the upward call 

of God in Christ Jesus.

~ Philippians 3:13-14

                                        

Good morning dear sister!

Hallelujah! Our Abba has given us another day to reach forward for all the goodness He has for us today! Do you agree?

Perhaps you want to agree, but you feel like you can’t, at least not today. We all have times when we get bogged down in the quagmire of troubles and heartache, but our present circumstances do not rule over the daughters of God!

The apostle Paul tells us in the beginning of his letter that it is no trouble for him to remind us to rejoice in the Lord every day! In fact, he says, rejoicing in the Lord, no matter what, is a safeguard for us!

We may be tempted to think, “Okay, Brother Paul, but you don’t know my situation…”, but, as it turns out, the Holy Spirit does know your situation! The Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write those words of encouragement while he was detained in chains by the Roman government.

Paul, even through many setbacks, never lost sight of that upward call of God to make disciples, preach the Gospel or encourage the faint-hearted. He kept his eyes on that goal by keeping His eyes on Jesus, always giving thanks, rejoicing in his salvation and being ever mindful of the love and mercy of his God.

He gives us wise advice in telling us to forget what lies behind. How many times are we held captive by remembering bad things from the past? The mistakes we made, the injustices we suffered, the consequences of our own sin and the sins of those around us. As long as we dwell in our flesh, we will be bound by those chains of the flesh. Every time we recall those bad feelings from the depths to the surface, another link in that chain is forged from the fire of hell.  

Thank God that Jesus has come to set us free! Even though we still inhabit our (hopefully slowly) decaying bodies of flesh, we can rejoice in a spirit of faith, hope and love! These are the reasons Jesus bled and died for us, so that we would find forgiveness and freedom in Him! We trade our sorrows for His joy! That is nothing short of miraculous! And it is a testimony to everyone around us!

Paul doesn’t make it sound easy. He traded his easy earthly life for one filled with trials and tribulation, but he pressed on, he persevered, because he kept his eye on the goal. He understood that the trouble and heartache of this life will pass, but the work and joy of the Lord is eternal.

This is part of the upward call of God; to live in the realm of eternal life with Him, not limited to an earthly existence. He is calling us to be moving toward Him, to a constant progress that brings us closer and closer to Him. He is calling us to become ever more like Him; growing in spiritual maturity and allowing Him to mold us, shape us and flow through us by the power of His Holy Spirit. He desires to cultivate in each of us an abundant garden of the fruits of His Spirit.

God doesn’t promise us an easy life either, but reaching forward and pressing into His faithful and loving hand makes our trials more bearable and gives us hope in the midst of tragedy. We are never alone when we call upon God.

Which makes me think, dear sister, since we are all somewhere on the spectrum of trials in this life, let’s please take a moment to call upon God together and for each other. Please join me in prayer out loud!

Dear Heavenly Father, we, your daughters, lift up our hearts to you today. Thank you for the blessings you have poured out on us already! We pray that we may see more of what You are doing in our lives and less of what the world is dealing out to us.

Lord, we pray for our sisters that are hurting so badly that they can’t even pray for themselves. Wrap your loving arms around them. May they feel Your loving presence and be comforted and transformed!

We pray for our sisters that have been wounded and are afraid. Father, we pray that your voice would drown out their fears, that they would be drawn closer to You and be transformed!

We pray, as your daughters, that you would help us to forget what lies behind and that you would open our ears ever more to hear Your call. Strengthen our hearts to follow after You and press on toward Your upward call that we all may be transformed!

We love you, Abba. Thank you for never giving up on us. Thank you Jesus for setting us free! Hallelujah! Amen!

Keep loving Jesus and moving forward my precious sister!

With love, your sister, Celeste