TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL (FRIDAY 21ST August 2026)
“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 233RD DAY OF OUR YEAR OF STRATEGIC VICTORIES!
Strategic victories will need forgetting those things which are behind and reaching out to those things which are ahead. May the LORD continue to perfect His plans for our lives, even as He leads us day by day, by His Spirit and word, till the end of time. Amen and amen.
Today the LORD has a word for us, as always. We will be looking at how He expects us to be growing or moving from faith to faith. The driving force of the Kingdom of GOD is for us to be moving from one realm of glory to another, one grace dimension to another, and so forth. Anyone whose relationship with God is not characterize by such growth movement, will one day fall away.
The Christian journey, as designed by the LORD is a spiritual journey of movements, growths, and increase. It is designed to be growing, moving and increasing from faith to faith, grace to grace and glory to glory until death do us part. It is required that we keep forgetting things that are behind and reaching out to those things that are ahead.
Yes, it requires that we set the faith, grace and truth goals that we are yet to achieve, things that falls in line with the glorious things spoken concerning us and keep pressing into the goals until they are fulfilled. Believers who do not do that, will find themselves fighting sin, fighting temptations, fighting lust, fighting seduction, and falling into sin, iniquity or trespasses from time to time.
Our thoughts will be going in the direction of sinful pleasures, and we will find ourselves being led to temptations that we will always be falling into day by day, instead of being led to achieve set goals shaped by faith, grace, and truth.
In simple terms, the Christian journey requires that we move from faith to faith, grace to grace, and glory to glory, which is made possible by moving from Bible truth to Bible truth.
FOR INSTANCE, WE ARE NOT EXPECTED TO BE AT THE FAITH LEVEL OF LAST YEAR THIS YEAR.
Neither are we expected to be at the grace level of last year this year!! We are expected to grow, move or increase 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, and on and on until our time on earth is over.
This is only possible through goal setting.
There are goals the Spirit of God set for us, and there are goals we set by the Spirit and word of the LORD, that is by a righteous desire to move from a current level of faith, grace, and glory, revealed by truth to a higher level. It is through this kind of goal setting that we move, grow or increase. We set the goals and press until they are achieved.
The blessing of living this kind of Christian life is much. It helps people to grow from a life of sin to a life of righteousness, from a life of no power to a life of walking in the greatness of God’s power; healing the sick, delivering the oppressed, casting out demons and doing great things for the LORD. It helps us to grow into purity, righteousness, uprightness and so forth. In simple terms, it helps us to step into the glorious things spoken concerning us.
Talking about the glorious things spoken concerning us, it is important to note that in God’s kingdom, declarations precedes manifestations. Things that God wants to do must be declared first before they are made manifest. You see that all through the Bible.
The coming of Jesus, for example, was first declared for thousands of years, before it was made manifest. The Birth of the Church and outpouring of the Holy Spirit were all declared before they were made manifest. God’s blessings in your life will need to be declared first before they are made manifest. The Bible is full of things God has declared that we are to step into.
THOSE ARE THE THINGS CALLED “GLORIOUS THINGS.”
The Bible says,
“His foundation is in the holy mountains. The Lord loves the gates of Zion More than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God! Selah” Psalm 87:1-3 NKJV
This scripture has a lot of truth to glean from. First of all, understand that in the days of the Bible, the Holy mountains were places God met men like Moses, Elijah and even where the transfiguration took place. Places like Mount Horeb, mount Sinai, and the rest of the mountains where God met His ancient worshipers. Jesus would later terminate this kind of worship in John 4.
Today, the holy mountains are the local churches where the glory of the LORD dwells; places that function as pillars and grounds of truth, where the revelation of Jesus Christ is present. The gate to those places is what the Bible calls the gates of Zion today, since the church today is also called mount Zion.
We can then say the foundation of the LORD is in local churches that operate like Holy mountains, pillars and grounds of truth. The LORD loves those places more than all the dwellings of Jacob.
In other words, God loves a local church more than our homes. That is why people who do not go to church are not helping themselves, because every Sunday and every meeting hour, the most of God’s love shifts from our homes to local churches. To experience that depth of God’s love, we must leave our homes and go to church. It is a mystery of Christ!!
It is in the church that we receive the strength to go home and rule in the midst of our enemies, and to study God’s word and find more glorious things spoken concerning us.
NOW, WHEN WE SIT TO BE TAUGHT IN CHURCH, OR WHEN WE STUDY OUR BIBLES AT HOME, WE STUMBLE INTO THE GLORIOUS THINGS.
Our lives can only be glorious if we have them made manifest in our lives. The greatest challenge is in moving from the declaration of those things to their manifestation in our lives. If we do not know how to move from the declaration of God’s word for our lives, to the manifestation, our Christian lives will never be glorious.
The glorious things we discovered will only be in our knowledge and not in our lives. To solve this is partly the primary reason for this devotional.
Understand that, moving from the declaration to the manifestation is a blessing that is only made possible by setting goals that will help you to press from glory to glory, faith to faith, and grace to grace.
A major highlight of Our devotional 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.”
The discovery of the glorious things spoken concerning us, through teachings or personal Bible studies, will always show us things that are ahead of us; dimensions of faith, grace, and glory we are yet to step into. Things we must forget the things that are behind and reach out to, by setting goals that will help us achieve them.
If we discover those things but do not set goals and press until we actualize them in our lives, we will remain with inglorious lives, despite being active in church activities. Once they are discovered, we will begin to count the things that were gain to us as nothing and even sacrifice them to press into those things that are ahead. That is how the Christian life was designed to be lived.
I hope God has shown you something to add to your walk and talk with Him. May your Christian life never grow dim. May it shine brighter and brighter, until the perfect day. Amen and amen.
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
