Press Toward the Goal

Press toward the goal, my brothers and sisters in Christ!

Do not lean on your own understanding, do not trust your natural wisdom, do not think that you will win in your own strength, but whole heartedly put y0ur trust in the Lord.

It starts with making sure you have a right standing with God (the Bible calls this being "justified"), and this is obtained through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ.

It then continues as you walk in that faith, trusting God at every turn to work on your behalf.

"When you go out to battle against your enemies, and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them; for the LORD your God is with you, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. So it shall be, when you are on the verge of battle, that the priest shall approach and speak to the people. And he shall say to them, 'Hear, O Israel: Today you are on the verge of battle with your enemies. Do not let your heart faint, do not be afraid, and do not tremble or be terrified because of them; for the LORD your God is He who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.'
(Deuteronomy 20:1-4)

Can you believe this? Before the general and the officers of the army addressed the troops, the priests were to address the troops. Yes, we are responsible to act, but our faith must not be in our own strength, but in the will and might of our God. Our God is our strength and our deliverer.

For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh, though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 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 3:3-14)

Yours in Him,
Pastor B.

Our SCRIPTURE FOR THE DAY is Philippians 3:10