Promise for Today - Keep It Moving

Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back.

Philippians 3:13-14 The Message

Where are you going? I'm not asking about vacations or work trips. I want to know your destination in LIFE. Where are you headed? What's your goal? Are you in charge of your destiny? Think about it! Check your life.

Are we aiming for Heaven? Is that our goal? Are we actively taking steps and measures to get there? Is there activity that shows forward motion with Heaven as your destination? We can't move forward just for the sake of moving. Or are we just marking time - going to work, paying bills, mowing the lawn, trying to save for retirement? Are you working as diligently to get to Heaven as you are to succeed at work? Are we seeking God's "well done, good and faithful servant" above getting a raise at our job? 

The Truth is, if we have our eye on the goal, and keep pressing forward where God is beckoning us onward - to Jesus - all the rest of that stuff will be taken care of. Matthew 6:33 in the New Living reads, "Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need."

I heard these pearls of wisdom from Alan Neel, 'When we live without direction, we're living without a destiny.' If we're not moving forward - toward Christ - seeking Him, serving Him, then we're living aimlessly, seeking our own satisfaction. That won't get us to Heaven. We gotta keep it moving... "onward to Jesus."

Prayer:

Father,
          Forgive us for mindless living. Clear our vision to see our way to You. Renew the passion within us to keep moving toward You and to make intentional choices to keep us on our course. We want to finish well and hear You say, "Well done, good and faithful servant." In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

* Living in 3-D

At the time, discipline isn’t much fun. It always feels like it’s going against the grain. Later, of course, it pays off handsomely, for it’s the well-trained who find themselves mature in their relationship with God.
Hebrews 12:11 The Message Bible

Ever feel like you're living in a two-dimensional world? Your life has or appears to have length and breadth, but there's absolutely no depth to it? Talk about leaving you flat... pun intended.

What comes to your mind when you think of discipline? I used to always think of it in a negative manner, but somewhere along the way, God's Truth of it was revealed.

Think about it. The discipline of going to the gym and/or not eating fried anything is difficult but what it produces is SO worth it. You don't go into it lightly. It's hard work. It takes determination to maintain the discipline. 

Even more so, living for Christ. The Christian disciplines are hard to maintain, but God has given us His grace. I firmly believe that sometimes the trials that come along in life are put there by a loving God - to develop and establish the disciplines in our lives that He desires to see in us, so that we may become who He designed us to be.

God disciplines those He loves; that's what His Word tells us. And we are to be disciplined in the lives we live before Him. Brian Adleman nailed it with this phrase: Discipline + Determination = Destiny. Living in 3-D.

Prayer:

Father,
          Open our ears to hear our own whining so that we might then determine to discipline ourselves, and in doing that, arrive at the destiny You have ordained for us. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen