IT’S
NOT OVER YET
Memorise:
Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow
after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ
Jesus. Philippians 3:12
Read:
Philippians 3:10-14, Bible in one year: 1st Chronicles 3:1-5:22,
Luke 13:31-14:11
The Christian journey is more often than
not a long distance race. This is particularly true because of the long life
that our Heavenly Father has promised us (Psalm 91:16). We therefore need a lot
of patience to run the race. Apostle Paul in today’s Bible reading gives
insight in the nature of the race we are engaged in. it is a non-stop marathon.
Once you start, you cannot go on sabbatical leave. Because you are already
grafted into Jesus Christ once you start the race, you must ensure that you
don’t pull yourself away from Him who first ran this race and finished well
(Hebrew 12:2). How do we sustain the tempo and determination to finish well?
Paul answers this question in Philippians 3:13-14:
“Brethren,
I count not myself to have apprehended: but this once 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.”
Many Christians live in the glory of
their past achievements, and this has resulted in their undoing. The various
indictments Jesus levelled against the seven Churches in Asia
in Revelation 2-3, should be food for thought for all end-time Christians. In
the past, when a Christian mistakenly said something that was not untrue but
also not 100% true, he quickly corrected himself with an apology. For example,
in the days when my father-in-the-Lord was still alive, I remember travelling
to Ilesa, a city in south-west Nigeria ,
and forgetting to buy some oranges along the way as I used to. I remembered
after I got to Lagos and quickly bought some in Lagos . I gave them to my
father-in-the-Lord and he asked if I bought the oranges on my way. I said “yes
sir”. Immediately, the Holy Spirit rebuked me that I was not telling the whole
truth. I bought them on the way, yes, but not on the way from Ilesa as the old man
meant to ask. I quickly corrected myself and he exclaimed “Holy Spirit” in
adoration of the Holy Spirit’s rebuke of love. Today, many children of God tell
lies with impunity and they do not feel the pain of lying even against the Holy
Spirit. Their first love is all gone. Be warned that the race is not over yet.
Ezekiel 18:24 says:
“But
when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth
iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man
doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be
mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath
sinned, in them shall he die.”
Prayer
Point
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