Keep Pressing On...

Today was one of those silent days! All I heard was crickets and empty space. Was I distracted? Had I missed something? Why wasn’t the Lord saying anything to me? Have you been there? It may not be that you are trying to write a blog but perhaps you’re trying to talk to a friend or deal with a situation and you’ve prayed but you have nothing. I asked God if I should just take a week off. I didn’t want desperation to set in and I start just looking for something to say. Just as I made up my mind to wait until next week, I was reminded of this vision I saw earlier this morning of a hallway. It was a long hallway with lots of doors and there were boxes stacked up in various places along the way. There were lots of things to stop and look at but at the very end was a door. At that moment God said to me ‘your journey may have lots of things that will slow you down or distract you but the goal is to keep going until you get to the door.’ Okay, God! I immediately remembered John 10:9 “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.” (NKJV) Today, I encourage you to keep going until you get to the Door!

Life is definitely a journey. There are ups and downs, curves and straightaways. There are stopping points and jumpstarts. There are battles and times of peace. Sometimes it’s easy and sometimes it’s a press just to get up. It’s actually pretty amazing to see where you are today. Seriously! Look back over your life at all that you have survived! What about all that you have accomplished?! No matter what your circumstances currently look like, you made it over. You made it to today and that’s all God. God then took me to 2 Corinthians 4. I love this chapter and have read it often but I will tell you something.  By the time I finished reading this chapter today, I was ready to push on! I was excited in my spirit! Paul was speaking to the Corinthian church in what is a very personal letter. I’ve read in commentaries that this book shows who Paul is more than any of his other writings. He runs the gamut of emotion and hits on everything from spiritual strength to rebuke. To make it plain, he keeps it real!

So as I read 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 in the New Living Translation, it spoke to the journey and why we have to keep pressing on. “That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day.  For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” Did your spirit jump?! What you are experiencing right now is nothing compared to what is coming! What you have gone through in your marriage, with your children, at your job, in your waiting season is NOTHING compared to what God has in store for your life. You must keep your eyes on the door at the end of your hallway. If God promised you something, it will come to pass.

“We’re not keeping this quiet, not on your life. Just like the psalmist who wrote, “I believed it, so I said it,” we say what we believe. And what we believe is that the One who raised up the Master Jesus will just as certainly raise us up with you, alive. Every detail works to your advantage and to God’s glory: more and more grace, more and more people, more and more praise!” (2 Cor. 4:13-15 MSG) What do you believe today? Do you believe that your journey has been worth it? Do you believe that God has your life in His hands and He desires your life to be victorious? If so, then I challenge you to stand up with me and declare your victory! Look at your journey and see that God has been with you the entire time! Think of all of the times that He spared your life and saved you from yourself. “But thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place!” (2Cor. 2:14 NKJV) Your journey has purpose and it has value! Keep pressing on, saints…

AMEN