A Higher Place
It seems that we have a theme this week. It is about going to a higher place, a new level in the Lord Jesus Christ. I firmly believe He is calling each of us in the Body of Christ to a higher level in Him, in His Kingdom, in understanding Him and walking in the fullness of His power in us.
One thing I realize----we all have places of weakness in our lives, and many times those very places of weakness become our places of comfort that we don’t want to leave. We will never go to a higher level if we are content to stay in our place of comfortable weakness. What is it that you are comfortable with today that you can’t seem to leave behind you to go to God’s higher places?
Do you know that one of the most comfortable places is our desire to be around people all the time instead of spending quiet times with the Lord? I love to talk, as any of my friends can tell you, but there are times when I have to curb that desire and go into my study and shut the door and leave the telephone on its cradle. That can turn into a weakness that I am comfortable with. It actually would be classified as a weakness of the flesh.
There are times in our lives that God is calling us to a place of solitude, devoid of all human contact. Why would we resist being alone with the wonderful Lord of our lives? I know why. It’s because we are not comfortable sitting for hours, not always knowing what to say or hearing anything from Him, especially in the beginning of our time of solitude. I believe the Holy Spirit is calling us to places of quietude and prayer and fellowship with Him. What are we doing about that call? Are we responding with a yes, Lord, or are we responding with a no, Lord, I am too uncomfortable with silence and no human contact. I can guarantee you that once you make the decision to leave your comfort zone behind and be with Him, there are realms of His Presence and His Glory that you will enter into that will leave you with a breathless desire for more and more and more and more of Him. I know. I am learning to go there more and more often. It is oh so wonderful!
I must go back to the verse we have already explored, but I can’t get away from this verse for us to ponder this week.
Paul’s desire in Philippians 3:13,14 KJV
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
We see here, if we leave out the italicized words put in for more clarity by the translators, that this verse reads: I count not myself to have apprehended but one thing: forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before.
We must leave behind those things that we used to be and do and press forward, reaching, stretching with everything in us for the high road, the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. There is a high life and there is a low life. The low life is one of fleshly desires and submission. The high life is one of pursuing the desires of the Spirit of God for our lives. We all must make choices every day, aiming either for what God has or what we want in our own humanity. And what God wants is always far superior to anything we would ever want in our own natural selves.
God is calling us upward to His goals, higher than anything we can ask or think or desire, infinitely beyond our highest fleshly pursuits. We must completely forget the things that are behind and stretch intensely for that which is in front of us. In the J.B. Phillips translation we read: “I forget all that lies behind me and with hands outstretched to whatever lies ahead I go straight for the goal ----my reward the honour of my high calling by God in Christ Jesus.” In Moffatt’s translation we read: “my one thought is, by forgetting what lies behind me and straining to what lies before me, to press on to the goal for the prize of God’s high call in Christ Jesus.” We must keep pursuing that which is before us and forget what lies behind us. We can’t go back. We must go forward. That is where the prize, the fulfillment, God’s destiny is for us.
One thing I realize----we all have places of weakness in our lives, and many times those very places of weakness become our places of comfort that we don’t want to leave. We will never go to a higher level if we are content to stay in our place of comfortable weakness. What is it that you are comfortable with today that you can’t seem to leave behind you to go to God’s higher places?
Do you know that one of the most comfortable places is our desire to be around people all the time instead of spending quiet times with the Lord? I love to talk, as any of my friends can tell you, but there are times when I have to curb that desire and go into my study and shut the door and leave the telephone on its cradle. That can turn into a weakness that I am comfortable with. It actually would be classified as a weakness of the flesh.
There are times in our lives that God is calling us to a place of solitude, devoid of all human contact. Why would we resist being alone with the wonderful Lord of our lives? I know why. It’s because we are not comfortable sitting for hours, not always knowing what to say or hearing anything from Him, especially in the beginning of our time of solitude. I believe the Holy Spirit is calling us to places of quietude and prayer and fellowship with Him. What are we doing about that call? Are we responding with a yes, Lord, or are we responding with a no, Lord, I am too uncomfortable with silence and no human contact. I can guarantee you that once you make the decision to leave your comfort zone behind and be with Him, there are realms of His Presence and His Glory that you will enter into that will leave you with a breathless desire for more and more and more and more of Him. I know. I am learning to go there more and more often. It is oh so wonderful!
I must go back to the verse we have already explored, but I can’t get away from this verse for us to ponder this week.
Paul’s desire in Philippians 3:13,14 KJV
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
We see here, if we leave out the italicized words put in for more clarity by the translators, that this verse reads: I count not myself to have apprehended but one thing: forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before.
We must leave behind those things that we used to be and do and press forward, reaching, stretching with everything in us for the high road, the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. There is a high life and there is a low life. The low life is one of fleshly desires and submission. The high life is one of pursuing the desires of the Spirit of God for our lives. We all must make choices every day, aiming either for what God has or what we want in our own humanity. And what God wants is always far superior to anything we would ever want in our own natural selves.
God is calling us upward to His goals, higher than anything we can ask or think or desire, infinitely beyond our highest fleshly pursuits. We must completely forget the things that are behind and stretch intensely for that which is in front of us. In the J.B. Phillips translation we read: “I forget all that lies behind me and with hands outstretched to whatever lies ahead I go straight for the goal ----my reward the honour of my high calling by God in Christ Jesus.” In Moffatt’s translation we read: “my one thought is, by forgetting what lies behind me and straining to what lies before me, to press on to the goal for the prize of God’s high call in Christ Jesus.” We must keep pursuing that which is before us and forget what lies behind us. We can’t go back. We must go forward. That is where the prize, the fulfillment, God’s destiny is for us.
posted by Rev. Kialeen Potterton @ 8:23 AM
<< Home