Wednesday, November 07 2018
Brothers and sisters, I do not consider that I have made it my own yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the [heavenly] prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Phil. 3:13-14 AMP
Last month, God admonished us to “Be Strong” and I am sure we are already putting on the whole armour and are following the orders of our Commander in Chief. Regardless of the feat we may have achieved for Him in the past, it will not be wise for us to rely on past achievements and old glory hence this month God is telling us to progress forward and upward. Welcome to November 2018: FORWARD AND UPWARD. Deut. 1:6-7 says, ‘The Lord our God spake unto us in Horeb, saying Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount. Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vale, and in the south, and by the sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, unto the great river, the river Euphrates.’ What this means is that regardless of past exploits and triumphs, there is room for improvement; things can only get better as we see in our slogan, “where God is changing lives for the better”. I pray that from now on, your movement will be progressive, forward and upward. You will have results to show for all your efforts; you will not stumble in the race of life. Your harvest will be preserved from wasters and the Lord will increase you on every side. I fasten God’s word upon your life according to Lev. 26:10(AMP) that, “You will eat the old supply of [abundant] produce, and clear out the old [to make room] for the new” So shall it be in Jesus name. A forward and upward movement is explicitly depicted Lev. 26:4-13 where God pronounced several blessings on His children, however in His usual manner, He put a clause as we see from Lev. 26:1-3 where He gave us choices – do not toy with idols, diligently obey God then comes the promises, beloved obeying God is a choice, more so serving Him. A man or woman destined for forward and upward movement does not put his or her hand on the plough and look back; he or she is totally sold out to God and His ways. No wonder Joshua said expressly in Joshua 24:15... Choose this day whom ye will serve......but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Serving God requires a lot of focus so does forward and upward movement. It is personal therefore you must be intentional in your pursuit of God. There will be distractions every step of the way but you must make conscious effort to remain immoveable in your quest. Refuse the noise of detractors and lay all aside to do the bidding of God because it is practically impossible to be moving forward and be looking back at the same time; it’s not just feasible. No wonder Paul the Apostle made the statement in our anchor scripture, Phil. 3:13-14. He was simply saying I refuse to be cocky; I refuse to relent in my bid to get to my destination. He was blatantly refusing to allow his exploits to get to his head. This is perhaps one of the secrets of the general overseer of this mission, Pastor E.A. Adeboye. Many Christians today are a bit laid back, complacent perhaps as there comes a time when we feel where we are is the height of our achievements whereas God is saying, I haven’t even started with you yet, reach forward, press harder, your best is yet to come! Refuse to live in the past or allow the past to determine your future. Beloved I pray that every spirit of complacency will be booted out of our lives in Jesus name. We will not be comfortable until we achieve God’s purpose for our lives in Jesus name. When you purpose to move forward and upward, the Lord will make a way for you (Exo.14:15). Keep pressing. Shalom.
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