TODAY’S DEVOTION (WEDNESDAY 1ST JULY 2020)
“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 3:12-14 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 182ND DAY OF OUR YEAR OF REJOICING
It is a new month in the kingdom or realm of men. But in the Kingdom of Heaven, there is no time. So, it is not a new month but Just another moment of God in His eternal glory. It is my prayer that the moment will hit someone here today in the name of Jesus Christ.
That is why, new months to kingdom citizens, calls for new levels of faith. They call on the saints to ride on the driving force of the Kingdom of God and move from one realm of glory to another. Do not forget, the Bible admonishes that we move from one level of grace to another, and from one level of faith to another.
Few know that the Christian journey is designed to go from faith to faith, grace to grace; glory to glory until death do us part.
In other words, we are saved to move from a lower level of faith to a higher level of faith, a lower dimension of grace to a higher dimension of grace, a lower realm of glory to a higher realm of glory until our time on earth is over.
Moving, therefore, from where we got to in June to where God wants us to be this month, a much higher place in the Spirit, is God’s will for our lives.
For those who may not know, we spent the entire days of June 2020 looking at matters of divine destiny. We wrapped up everything by looking at the things that our divine destinies will need to be fulfilled.
As we say to this beautiful month “welcome,” it is Important to know some more things that our divine destiny will need to be fulfilled.
OUR DEVOTIONAL TEXT TODAY TELLS US ONE THING, AND THAT I WHAT WE WILL BE LOOKING AT.
Paul wrote to the Church at Philippi those strong words that has shaped the destiny of many from generation to generation. I have come to discover that every revivalist God ever used to rekindle the flames of His Holy Spirit fed from that scripture to stay on fire for the LORD all through till death.
There is, therefore, something about that scripture that needs urgent attention in our generation. That is why I believe, the LORD had us to have it as our devotional text today. A major highlight in the text says,
“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.”
If we do not forget the things that happened yesterday – the good, the bad and the ugly – and press into what God has predetermined that it happens today, we will never unleash our divine destiny. A generation that holds on to either a past glory or a past sin, trespass, or iniquity, will never be able to finish its course in God’s eternal plan for mankind!
In Christ when we fall, we get up immediately like our fathers and continue the journey in repentance. We do not take the grace of GOD for granted and continue in an evil circle of falling and rising, no! We use the grace of GOD as a catalyst for living a repentant life even after a fall.
Samson made a major mistake with his life at its peak. He did not just make a mistake, he desecrated his consecration, turning himself into a captive in the hands of people who once dreaded him.
We all blamed it on Delilah but if you take a second look at that incident, you will realize that that harlot came into the picture when Samson got stuck to a season of success. No moving army can be capture by the enemy. That is why in God’s kingdom, we do not get ourselves stuck to a season of success (or failure), we move on, reaching out to the next exploit to do with GOD!
FRIEND, THAT IS THE SECRET OF UNENDING STRENGTH IN THE LORD.
Your divine destiny will therefore need constant pressing into things that are yet to be revealed, made manifest, or fulfilled. Yes, it will require that you press into them on daily bases until you are fulfilled.
If you do not press into what God want to do next with your life, after doing one thing with it, you will be stuck to a season of progress (or peril, depending on the circumstances). When that happens, you will begin to see your carnal cravings come alive, and you will also find someone or something that will satisfy it for you. That is the reason generals in God’s army fall.
Take David for instance, he saw Beersheba, the naked woman who trapped him into sin. What time did he see her? The bible says in a season when kings go to war. Meaning, he may have seen naked women in other seasons, and nothing moved him. But this time, he saw one in a season when kings go to war while he was at ease in Zion, and it moved him to sleep with her.
The Bible says,
“It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.
Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold.
So David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said, “Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”
Then David sent messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her, for she was cleansed from her impurity; and she returned to her house. And the woman conceived; so she sent and told David, and said, “I am with child.” 2 Samuel 11:1-5 NKJV
EVERYTHING YOU JUST READ AND WHAT HAPPENED AS A RESULT IS TRACEABLE TO ONE SEASON THE KING DID NOT GO TO WAR.
It happened at a time when the great King David got stuck to a season of success. He delegated his assignment because of the prosperity he came into and fell into the pit of his carnal desires. If he were in the battlefield responding to the next thing God wanted to do with his life, he would not have seen a woman who was busy taking her bath from his penthouse.
We allow our carnal desires to take the better part of us if we are not in the battle fields of our divine destinies, submitting to the next thing God want to do with our lives, after doing one successful thing with it. Your divine destiny will need a constant pressing into things yet to be done with your life to be fulfilled.
The Church is stuck and stinky in the Spirit today because we do not know or apply this in our walk with God.
Divine destiny will need a constant pursuit of and pressing into the things of God to be fulfilled. It will require that you press on your knees through intense fasting and prayers. It will require that you press with your mind through hours spent with the word (The Bible and any book, CD, or DVD that will help you understand the Bible). It will require that you press along with members of your spiritual family, through corporate fellowships, where the word is dissected and the power of God imparted.
When it comes to matters of divine destiny, no pressing, no progress – you must press from one level of success to another or from inactivity to productivity.
And talking about inactivity, I have come to realize that once GOD has activated you, you do not wait for destiny to be fulfilled, you press into destiny for it to be fulfilled. Spiritual inactivity, therefore, is one of the greatest killers of divine destiny. If you are just lying down and inactive and expecting your destiny to be fulfilled, it will never be. That is why no lazy man or woman has been able to fulfill divine destiny.
As we welcome you to this new month, make up your mind to erase the last trace of spiritual laziness in your life. You may have known, touched or kissed dimensions of spiritual things last month, but there are more things. Make this month a month of pressing into them.
Make it a month of pressing into things you have never touched in GOD. Yes, a month of coming into fresh realms of faith, grace, truth, and glory. There are fresh realms of power waiting for you this month. God want to break out in your life in ways you have never experienced before.
Are you ready?
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU TODAY,
“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.”
“Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.” Philippians 3:7-15 NKJV