Going Forward

Back towards the end of January I was preparing for a message that I would speak at a friends church in Greenwood, SC, and the Lord began to deal with me from the book of Philippians chapter 3. In it, Paul begins to share how that he had accomplished a lot in his life and had a great heritage, but that in coming to Christ he realized that it all meant nothing and that Jesus was the prize. Then he made a powerful statement, "I have not yet reached perfection." Wow! Here was a man who was an apostle, who preached across the Roman empire, who wrote most of the N.T., and he says that he had not yet reached perfection. That statement hooked me. I have gone back to it over and over. He was not giving himself room to sin or live how he wanted, but was reaffirming the fact that He depended on Christ and that Jesus was the prize before him. It started as a message in me for a revival I was scheduled to preach, but it has become a way of life I am trying to live. To realize that Christ is before me and that I am pressing towards the goal of heaven. Along the way I will have fights, struggles, and setbacks, but through it all, with His strength, I can press through it all! My prayer today is that we all...STEP Forward!