Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
- Philippians 3:12-14
For those of you that didn't know, last week I spent my spring break with a team of Young Life leaders (and some hopefully soon to be YL leaders) in the Dominican Republic. It was an absolutely amazing experience. We all learned so much about being thankful and finding joy in the Lord.
The most amazing thing I experienced on the trip was the last day we were with our Dominican friends in Baranca. Right before we left we had a little devotion and worshipped with the Dominicans. The last song we sang was "You Never Let Go." They knew it in Spanish and we knew it in English, so we just figured it would be fun for them to join us on a song. Little did we know that it would bring most of us to tears because of how beautiful it was. Then right after we got done singing one of our team members shared what the Lord had been speaking to her about, and she read Revelation 7:9-10 which says, "After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: 'Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.'" It was so cool that she read that right after we got done singing because we had just experienced a small glimpse of that, and it was one of the most beautiful things I had ever heard! That was only two languages, so I can't imagine how awesome it will be to worship our God along with every other language in the world.
One of my favorite verses recently has been Philippians 3:13, and I have always focused on the part about straining toward what is ahead. Even though it has recently become one of my favorites I never read what was around it until I was getting ready to write this. On our last day in the Dominican another one of our team members asked me what I was excited about in the future. I told her that I wasn't real sure because I didn't have much planned. Maybe one or two days later I started to think about Philippians 3:13 in light of that question. I began to ask myself what Paul was straining toward. Then it finally clicked- Paul was straining towards heaven! He even says in Philippians 1:23, "I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far..." Paul was sitting in jail wishing that he could go to heaven and see Jesus face to face and join in on the worship that goes on day and night with people from every nation, tribe, and language! For those of us that are in Christ, we get to do that same thing one day.
Our futures may not always be certain, but this I'm sure of. One day Jesus will call us home, and we will experience the Father's Glory and worship Him forever and ever! That is what we should be pressing on towards. Press on. Fight the good fight. Finish the race. Keep the faith. Don't give up. We have heaven to look forward to, and that should be our motivation to do all of those things.
"Day and night they never stop saying: 'Holy, holy , holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.' Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who live for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns down before the throne and say: 'You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.'"- Revelation 4:8-11
"Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang: 'Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!' Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: 'To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!'"- Revelation 5:11-13
"After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.' All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures they fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: 'Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!'"- Revelation 7:9-12
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