ENTERING JERUSALEM ONE MORE TIME

Today's full installment of the devotional found at www.d365.org with a few comments of my own thrown in.Sorry it's so late -- my great-niece skated a competition today (the one I go to each year) and took 2 2nd places and a 1st place .... it's her first year out of basic skating and into the bottom ranks of the skating federation rules, so please excuse a very happy 'Aunt Noah' (all she could make of Norma as a toddler!)

Presence of God
It's very easy to complain. It's easy to imagine that our sufferings, our struggles, are unlike any that others have experienced.
It's harder to see, especially in the tough times, that God's blessings are still around, that God remains faithful.
Look now to see what blessings God has in store for you today, especially if you are finding that hard to do.

Word of God
Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.
    Philippians 3:12-14

Devotion
Have you heard today's verses before? You belong to Christ. You are beloved. You can leave the past behind and go forward into the future. Your prize is not only heaven, it is God’s calling to you. This is why these verses are so useful for every single goal God calls you to throughout your life.

God cares about the whole journey of your life – not just the grace of your eternal nature, but the act of straining forward and pressing on towards your goals. This call pulling you into your own life is the Lord’s plan and hope for you. When you listen, follow, and choose how to express your unique life, you are pleasing God. Forgetting, pressing, and straining – it may not always be easy, but following your path will bless you and those around you. What is your goal now? Can you hear God’s call?
            by Denise Nickerson-Caudéran

And the tragic kicker here is: how few people actually DO leave the past behind in order to press and strain into the future God is calling them into? In my experience – at least in ministry – it would seem to be a lot more like being dragged kicking and screaming into the future, heels dug in .....

Is it because we don’t hear it as an invitation from God to pick up and go to this new place or do this new thing? Is it because we have become so fearful of the unknown ... lost that adventurous spirit with which our nation was founded? Is it because we are too wrapped up in our own goals to take a detour in life and try achieving God’s goals?

Whatever the reason, it is one of the key factors of why the church is stagnating and dying out in the western world these days. And figuring out how to grow people into imitators of Paul is one of the key factors in allowing the Spirit to make it grow again. Not to mention individual’s faith lives.
             by Norma Prina Murphy

Conversation with God
God, you will lead me to the prize. Let me hear your calling. Give me the focus and perseverance to forge ahead. Through Christ I am yours. I give you the glory of my aspirations. Amen.

Benediction
God's blessings are raining down.
Walk with your face lifted up;
Lift your hands also to receive
The gift of God's presence,
The embrace of the One who is near. 

For my Keira, the goal is crystal clear ... and definitely out in front of her!

No heels dug in here ....

Just LAUNCHING forward toward it!

Oh, what joy in heaven if all God's precious children pressed toward God's goal for them...of growing more and more into the persons God created them to be!