Mike's 40 Day Journey

“I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” (Phil. 3:12b)

The idea of PRESSING ON conjurs up a picture of someone pressing me for some vital information. This idea of pressuring me without letting up to say something or do something comes to mind. This pushing without letting up is applied here to taking hold of something. Whatever it is that Paul is taking hold of here comes with a “never letting up” attitude. And then this idea of TAKING HOLD causes me to think of gripping something and never letting go. When I was in high school, I wrestled for one year. One of the things I learned during that experience was that taking hold of your opponent in the right way and right position and with great strength & leverage, not allowing him to break that hold was critical for success. So whatever Paul is taking hold of, he is probably doing so with the idea of holding on with all his might, to never let go of.

So as I continue dissecting this verse and practicing the “pronounce it” method, I now come to that which Paul is pressing for with the goal of never letting go, and it is this: that for which Christ took hold of me. (When I first read this statement, the meaning was not immediately obvious. I honestly couldn’t right off the top say what it meant. And I realized it was because of my poor English skills that I couldn’t take the sentence apart. Fortunately after a little bit of reading it over and over again, I could see what Paul was saying.) Paul is basically saying that he wanted to take hold of the thing for which Christ called him to, which begs the question, “for what purpose did Christ take hold of Paul?” And the obvious follow up to that is “for what purpose did Christ take hold of me?” Looking at surrounding verses, it is clear that Paul wants to know Christ intimately. He wants to press on for the prize awaiting him. And while he does not say specifically what that prize is, it no doubt includes being finally united with Jesus for eternity – knowing Him not just from a distance, but finally together with Him. God has called Paul to take hold of a deep, deep relationship with Christ.

Naturally, this should be my heart’s desire, too. What a challenge! Am I pressing on, never letting up on a pursuit to know Him more? Man, that is my prayer. Lord, help me pursue and press on and never let up on trying to know Jesus more and more.

“For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” (Phil. 2:13 NLT)

What a great verse today! The verse was given from the New Living Translation, so it wasn’t as familiar to me in this form. I actually went back to the NAS to see jar my memory and what I found was the NLT brought out something I had not considered before. More on that coming up…

Here I see again as in Day 1 that it is God working IN me. He is the One who is continually WORKING. When I think of “working”, I imagine someone focused, attentive, fully involved in whatever he or she is doing. To know that God is exerting that much attention and energy to transform me is an incredible thought. Even as I sit here working on this devotional (if work is what it can be called), God is focusing on me. He is working on me right now with more focus and attention than I am putting into this devotion.

And then I see that in His work, He is giving me the DESIRE to do what pleases Him. Now in the NAS translation, the words are “to will” for His good pleasure. I never really thought about it before, but indeed, Paul is saying that God is working on our wills, our desires to please Him. That is an amazing truth. When I think how stubborn I can be at times, and my will refuses to submit at times to obedience, it is honestly a blessing to know that God is hard at work moving my will toward His. That is a prayer that I must not forget when I think of those without Christ who stubbornly refuse to believe. God can work on wills, even the most stubborn ones! Even mine!

And then lastly, this idea that God is at work giving me the POWER to do what pleases Him. I have no excuse for not doing what pleases Him because He is empowering me to do it. God is working so I might work to please Him. That is a good reminder when I am faced with an act of obedience that is difficult to do on my own strength. To know that God is working behind me and before me is peaceful assurance that it’s not my work that produces, but God who works in me that accomplishes the work.

Lord, thank you for never giving up on me. Thank you for always working day and night on me to transform my desires and my pursuits and my efforts to please You. I know that my desires and actions aren’t always aligned with Yours, so thank You for working on me to change me. And when I feel like You aren’t there encouraging me along, prodding me on the straight path, help me to remember that You are ALWAYS working to bring me closer to You.

The discipline of reading and meditating on the Word of God is just that – a discipline. It requires perseverance and determination. It is also a journey. The Word of God is living and powerful and able to change lives. I look ahead with hopeful expectations to be transformed little by little into the likeness of Christ.

“Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a mamer worthy of the gospel of Christ.” (Phil. 1:27a)

That first word, “whatever”, encompasses everything! That includes times that are extremely difficult, times when I am treated unjustly, times when I am disrespected to times when things are going extremely well, and when I am blessed beyond measure. This verse tells me how I am to “conduct” myself – how I am to respond. And guess what, just like yesterday’s verse that says that what happens around us is not as important than what happens in us, so also our external situations and circumstances should have no bearing on our conduct. Regardless, our conduct is to reflect the worthiness of the “gospel”. And how worthy is the gospel? Oh my, it is worthy of praise and thanksgiving to God because it has pulled me from the pit of hell and isolation to the heights of heaven in an eternal and intimate relationship with my heavenly Father. It is worthy because it has made the greatest sacrifice for me. It is worthy because it has done the most worthy thing for the most unworthy person. There is nothing that can compare to the worthiness of the gospel short of the Author of the gospel Himself.

Father, help me to live in a way that no matter what happens throughout the day, I will respond in a manner worthy of the sacrificial, life-giving, all gracious gospel of Jesus Christ.

Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Phil. 1:6 NIV)

The things that stand out to me in this verse are the words “in” (as in “he who began a good work IN you”) and “carry it on”.

I think I have often lived as if this verse said “he who began a good work THROUGH you…” as if God is most interested (or really I am most interested) in God using me to do great things. This is so self-centered and so prideful. To think that when things aren’t going well in my life or ministry that somehow I can be encouraged by the idea that God is going continue to use me in His own way – this is simply not what the verse says. It says that when things aren’t going well in my eyes or as I see things, that doesn’t matter. That’s external. God is doing a work IN me. He is interested in shaping me and forming me and transforming me on the inside. The encouragement from this verse is that God wants to do a work inside me and that outside situations and circumstances are not the ends, but merely a means to an end – to change me on the inside.

And then Paul goes on to say that God will “carry it on” – and I picture God carrying me through this process of inner transformation. It is not something I do, but it is something He does from beginning to end. That means I need to continue to let HIM carry me, rather than try to transform through my actions or brute force efforts. Imagine if there was a train that took us to a mountain top, and there were no other way to get to the top. And imagine that there were other modes of transportation available to us – cars, bikes, buses, etc. The fact of the matter is, there is no way up that mountain except by train. The train must carry us or transport us to the top. And yet despite that, many people get in their cars and buses to try. God is like that train. Only He can get us to the top. And so often we try on our own to get there by getting into our metaphorical cars and buses to do what only He can. So if I am going to be transformed, I MUST go to God to be transferred to the top of mountain. That’s why this 40 Days in the Word journey is so important. It disciplines me to get aboard God’s train to continue His good work IN me.