Press On

By Greg Laurie, Op-ed contributor Wednesday, November 12, 2014

I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
— Philippians 3:14

Greg Laurie, senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California and Harvest Orange County in Irvine, California, shares the Gospel with a sold-out crowd of 19,000 for Harvest America at the American Airlines Center and Victory Park in Dallas, Texas, Oct. 5, 2014. | (Photo: rever Hoehne for Harvest Ministries)

You remember how God fed the Israelites with manna. Every morning they would wake up, step out of their tents, and there would be the manna just waiting for them. But this "bread from heaven" had one limiting characteristic: it wouldn't keep overnight. God didn't want His people to live off yesterday's manna. The Lord wanted them to be dependent on Him on a regular basis and gather it fresh each day.

In the same way, you can't live off the experiences of last year or twenty years ago. God wants to do something fresh and new in your life today and tomorrow. No, you can't live off experiences, but you can learn from them.

Saul of Tarsus went out of his way to hunt down Christians. But he came to realize that he was not serving God but the Devil. Then he was transformed and went on to become the apostle Paul. He could say, "Now I press on, now I reach forward." I wish this would be true in the lives of more believers. What a difference it would make in this world around us if we had that kind of ambition, that kind of drive to serve God as we once served ourselves.

Let's recommit ourselves to the study of the Word of God, to prayer, and to winning at least one person to Christ in the next twelve months.

As Christians, we have unprecedented opportunities for our lives to make a difference in our world. There is so much to do. There is so much growth that needs to take place in our lives, and so much more to accomplish. It's time to step into the future, to step into what God is doing today.

Copyright © 2015 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved. Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Bible text from the New King James Version is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Attn: Bible Rights and Permissions, P.O. Box 141000, Nashville, TN 37214-1000 Used with Permission