Don’t Stop Reaching
I Chronicles 16:11, “Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his face continually.”
Morning friends! Are we waking to positive thoughts, ready to take on whatever the day brings? Maybe today, you are trying to encourage yourself to reach out to God in spiritual growth, guidance in His plan, knowledge of how to deal with a situation. Whatever you are encountering, always have trust and faith that He will be there. Take a few extra minutes in your prayer time to ask Him for more peace, more strength, to be more focused. Many times, when we are needing assistance in reaching our goals, we tend to forget that God is the all-knowing, the all giving, the one who can help you push forward. The plan is to build our faith, trust and love of the Lord, so that we can use that relationship to endure anything the devil throws our way. There are times when we get flustered because the devil will use the past to demolish our future! Paul preached many times on forgetting what was behind us and looking only to what can be ahead. Our past does not define who we are now as a born-again believer. Daily we have to ask for His guidance; but we also must believe He will help us persevere. This is part of becoming His disciple; true study of His word, constant prayer, looking to other Christ-like people for advice and leadership; accepting that it will be hard work, but the rewards of the harvest will be great! When you stop reaching out to Him or those He has placed in your circle for help, you will lose your spiritual progress; it will be like starting over. All that we endure during our journey is part of the plan, it teaches perseverance, dedication, maturity in faith; all of which leads to a successful journey! It is like when we are in a race, do we want to just win or do we want to prove we have the ability to compete? Do we push ourselves to get to the finish line or do we just falter, take our time, check to see who is catching up? Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 9: 24-26 about running the race, not looking back, reaching for God’s plan and succeeding by not letting the former self or past interfere! As many people, famous or just every day; the thing to understand is, that failure is not the end; but a part of our journey to being restored, replenished, making an impact, just like the disciples and all the people God chose to do His work! The message today is to never quit, never give up; just keep reaching for a relationship with Jesus and He will get you to the finish line!
Scriptures:
Read: Philippians 3:13-14, Matthew 6:33, Hebrews 11:6, I Chronicles 16:11, Galatians 6:9, Hebrews 12:1-2, Amos 5:14, I Corinthians 9:24-27, Deuteronomy 4:29-31, Jeremiah 29:11-13, Proverbs 8:17, Psalms 9:10, Matthew 7:7-8, Isaiah 55:6-7, Psalms 119:10-12, Lamentations 3:25, II Chronicles 7:14, Psalms 105:4, James 4:8, Acts 17:27, Psalms 34:4, Hosea 10:12, Proverbs 3:5-6, Matthew 5:6
Prayer:
Father God, we come to you now thanking you for all you do and all you provide. Thank you, Father, for always being beside us, guiding us, loving us, supporting us in all things. Please Father, continue to help us to keep reaching you in the good times and the bad. Father, please help us to understand that the race is just a part of the process to reaching our home in heaven with you. Amen.