TODAY’S DEVOTION (Monday 3rd March 2025)
“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 62NDDAY OF OUR YEAR OF VICTORY
We bless the God of mercy and compassion for letting us see another day. Day unto day He has been showing us how merciful He is. He has been our shield, our refuge and our everything. To Him belong the glory!!!
The Spirit of the LORD has made us, and the breath of the Almighty gives us life, that is why we are alive today. Amen and amen.
God has a word for us today. It is my prayer that our spirits be open to hear what the Spirit of the LORD has for us. Man was not designed by His creator, God, to live by bread alone, but by what comes out of the mouth of the LORD.
We will have a dark and depressing life if we do not live our days by what comes out of the mouth of the LORD. These daily devotionals are powered by the LORD to help us live according to design.
Those who give them the attention they deserve are enlightening their hearts every day.
I pray we will allow the word and the Spirit of the LORD to enlighten our hearts today also. Amen.
Today we will be looking at perfection in Christ and the need to live your Christian life pressing into perfection. This runs contrary to the world’s belief and the belief of some in the Church, who all declare that “no one can be perfect.” If you live your earthly or Christian life with the “no one can be perfect” paradigm, you are tossed already.
IT IS A DANGEROUS PARADIGM FROM HELL AND SADLY HAS BEEN WIRED INTO THE PSYCHE OF MANY.
The Bible was written by God using apostles and prophets. If you do not come under a genuine apostolic and prophetic grace, you will read the Bible in the language of the world and use scriptures that have been turned into the image and likeness of the no-one-can-be-perfect generation, to also convince yourself that “no one can be perfect.”
I look at the church today and discover that all who are comfortably living in sin while calling themselves born again, are heavily influenced by the “no one can be perfect” doctrine.
Preachers who live in terrible sins and lead their members to do the same, are heavily influenced by the same doctrine. They use it’s as a weapon to diffuse and destroy the willingness to live right, holy, and pure that exist in the hearts of those the LORD has convicted of sin, judgment and righteousness.
This is one of the doctrines of devils, because one way you know a doctrine of devils is by its fruits.
If a doctrine is not forming Christ in people, if it is strengthening the hands of people in sin and iniquity, if it is making people live comfortably in sin calling themselves “born again,” that is a doctrine of devils. Yes, if it is not giving people dominion over a life of sin, but helping to defeat their will to resist sin, that is a doctrine of devils.
The doctrine of Christ will form Christ in people and evoke righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.
Child of God, if you want to know how we should live our Christian life, or what we should believe in as end time Christians, you must go back to the beginning, the church of the 1st century. If you look at the Church of the 1st century, you will discover that our apostolic fathers who started the New Testament Church, never operated in the “no one can be perfect” doctrine.
That is why you cannot find the paradigm in the early church. They all urged each believer to live each day working out their salvation with fear and trembling and pressing into perfection on daily bases.
They knew God commanded that the believer must be perfect as the Heavenly father is, not just in walking in mercy, but walking in righteousness, purity, and holiness.
OUR DEVOTIONAL TEXT PRESENTS ONE OF THE TRUTHS THEY ALL LIVED BY.
A major portion of the text says,
“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
One major reason for this scriptural text is this, our apostolic fathers had a firsthand knowledge of what God wanted. They knew He wanted us all to press into perfection by pressing to lay hold of that which Christ Jesus had also laid hold of us.
In other words, by fulfilling the eternal purpose of our salvation which is to be like Christ in every way.
If you look at this text, you cannot find a trace of the “no one can be perfect” belief system. What you find is “we can be perfect if we press into perfection.” The only person that cannot be perfect is the man or woman who live away from God’s Holy Spirit and Holy Word and have no willingness to resist sin and live right.
If we are willing to resist sin and live right, we will seek to live in the Holy Spirit and by the Holy word. We will be greatly helped by the LORD to press for perfection.
Our apostolic fathers knew that God’s vision for the saved and sanctified is perfection. From their lives, we see that we can be perfect if we bind ourselves together with the Spirit of the LIVING GOD who was sent to help us in all our weaknesses and bring us to perfection.
THAT IS WHY WHEN YOU SAY NO ONE CAN BE PERFECT, YOU ARE SPEAKING THE TRUTH IN HALF. HALF-TRUTHS ARE VERY DANGEROUS.
The full truth should have been “no one can be perfect without God making him or her perfect.” The Bible says,
As for God, His way is perfect; The word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him. Psalm 18:30 NKJV
We can see in this scripture that the way of our God is perfect. No one walk in His ways without being perfect or mature. In simple terms, we become perfect or mature when we work in God’s way; when we walk in Christ, who is the way the truth and the life.
I believe the LORD has spoken to us this morning. As we bring this to a close, understand that whoever live his days away from the power and presence of Christ, will remain depraved, morally bankrupt and ungodly, despite his or her religiosity.
The central vision of God for us remains our total redemption and full restoration to holiness, purity, righteousness, faith, power and all that Jesus Christ demonstrated when He came as man. If you are running for less than this, you have been deceived already by the deceiving spirits working in many today.
It is my prayer that we will no longer allow anyone, or anything defeat or destroy our willingness to resist sin and live right before God. That the LORD will use what we found this morning to perfect our hearts and minds so that His vision for our lives can be fulfilled. Amen and amen.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY;
And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Corinthians 12:9 NKJV