Saving...
Philippians 3:12–15
12 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. 13 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, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
15 Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind;
The apostle Paul wrote this passage of scripture and he wrote it while he was in a pretty tough situation – he was in prison at the time. Paul was someone who really loved the LORD and even though he was in this tough situation, Paul’s attitude was this – no matter what happens. I will keep going forward in the plan of God for my life.
And we need to have this attitude in our lives as well. Paul shares with us how to do this: Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead
If we are going to finish the upward call of GOD in our lives – one big thing we must be able to do is this. Forget the past. The past is gone. Learn from it and MOVE forward.
Now this can be our past mistakes and past successes, (often our successes can become the thing that stops us from moving forward with God), but in this blog I want to focus on forgetting our past mistakes.
I will tell you something that might just set you free. EVERYONE (you and I included) has at some point of time – made a mistake. Welcome to the human race.
But what you do after that mistake is REALLY important. Often after we have made a mistake we can slide into fear (and therefore out of faith) and think ‘well I am never going to try again, I tried and it didn’t work out like I thought it would ‘ … that is exactly the attitude the enemy wants you to get into. The attitude of FEAR. This is NOT of GOD.
If you are going to finish your race – the upward call – you are going to HAVE to get over past mistakes – learn from them – and KEEP GOING FORWARD.
There are plenty of people in the bible who God has used, who had to get over past mistakes
Moses was a murderer, Peter deserted and publicly forsook Jesus, Paul was consenting to the death of Stephen, Rahab was a prostitute, Gideon was timid and full of doubt and unbelief. Samson totally lacked self-control.
Yet GOD managed to use them all – despite their faults – despite their past mistakes – they all had to do this key thing: forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead.
Someone that I hold in high esteem and regard said this once and I totally concur with what they said ‘ keep moving forward…even if it is by the millimetre or 64th of an inch. KEEP MOVING FORWARD.’
The call of God is FORWARD .. the plan of GOD is FORWARD .. the Cause of GOD is FORWARD
KEEP GOING FORWARD!
