14-Mar-2024 – Press forward with faith
I press forward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus – Philippians 3:14
In this verse apostle Paul was describing his motivation amidst of the chaotic situations around him. One side he has the persecution by the Jews, other side he need to encourage the believers to be bold inspite of the persecution he was going through.
In all these things, he believes that, God through Jesus Christ called him for a higher calling. Which is good and acceptable in the sight of God. He believes that his faith in Jesus Christ makes him righteous and thus enable him to receive the grace required throughout his journey on this earth, irrespective of the kind of situation.
This is not only true for him, but also for us. When we read this verse there is a tendency to apply this only to spiritual things or things related to ministry. Because it was talking about “high calling”.
If we carefully observe the verse, there is a prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. That means, God called us in and through Jesus Christ which is the high calling. Because it was the call of God.
If there is a prize, there is an expectation and process of participation. What is the expectation? To maintain the purpose of the calling, which is have faith in Jesus Christ. Through this faith, you will be made righteous, you will receive the grace of God in your situations, you will experience the supernatural when it is required and finally you will be with God in heaven forever once the appointed time comes.
How can we apply this to our day to day life? I can share my experience in my work so that, you can also apply in your daily activities as well.
I am a software engineer, if you recall Febraury 29th devotional titled “Do you have loaves and faith in Jesus?”, I shared my testimony about how God enabled me with a help when I was ready to submit. On that day, the issue which was hindering our progress was fixed. I shared this testimony to many.
But on March 1st, I woke up to learn in another areas similar issue occurred. But when I tried to apply the similar fix, it was not working. Surprisingly the theme of March is faith and right from the first day a test of faith started. I thought about the people with whom I shared my testimony.
But through the word of God in these daily devotionals, He was encouraging me to keep faith and trust him. Finally after 3 days we could fix the issue but still another issue popped out. Then the pressure was building up. Finally the things were sorted out and started getting smoother.
In all these events, I and my team learnt many things that we need to learn for these kind of engagements. These are vital for a successful implementation of a solution. If these issues did not rise, some other critical project would have been affected. To prepare us for that, these things were allowed. Along with these issues, a solution was also provided. That is the grace of God.
That’s why Paul said, he was pressing forward, forgetting the things already gone and went behind. If this devotional encouraged you in your situation, thank God and praise him and you too press forward in faith towards the successful endeavours.
Prayer
Dear loving heavenly Father, thank you for your love and grace. Thank you for teaching me about the attitude of a true believer. Help me to have this attitude and stay positive amidst of the seemingly failure situations. Either in work of in the personal life or even in spiritual life, you are my God and will lead me successfully. I pray in the name of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Amen!
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