Dec. 31, 2020
Bible Reading: Philippians 3

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14

As you celebrate today the coming of a new year and set your New Year’s Resolutions, have you set a goal for your Spiritual Life for the coming year?

The Apostle Paul had a Spiritual Goal for his life and he strained forward to reach it. He had reduced the whole of the Christian life to the simple and clear goal of doing one thing – pursuing Christlikeness. Paul said, My goal is to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death. v10  Paul’s ultimate ambition, the consuming passion of his Christian life, was to know Christ Jesus and conform himself to Christ’s glorious image.  Paul pursued this goal with all his might, straining every spiritual muscle to win the prize. 

Over 100 years ago Andrew Murray said.

“The more I think of and pray about the religious situation in our country, the deeper my conviction becomes that Christians do not realize that the aim of conversion is to bring them into daily fellowship with the Father in Heaven.

For the Believer, taking time each day with God’s Word and in prayer is indispensable. Each day we need to wait upon God for His presence and His love to be revealed.

It is not enough at conversion to accept forgiveness of sins or even to surrender to God. That is only the beginning. We must understand that we have no power on our own to maintain our Spiritual Life. We need to receive daily new grace from heaven through fellowship with the Lord Jesus. This cannot be obtained by hasty prayer or superficial reading of a few verses from God’s Word. We must take time to come into God’s presence, to feel our weakness and our need, and to wait on God through His Holy Spirit to renew our fellowship with Him. Then we may expect to be kept by the power of Christ throughout the day.

It is my aim to help Christians to see the absolute necessity of spending time with the Lord Jesus. Without this, the joy and power of God’s Holy Spirit in daily life cannot be experienced.”

Make a commitment now to spend time every day in fellowship with the Lord during 2021. Make it your New Year’s Resolution. I’ve never been one to make New Year’s Resolutions, but this is one that I hope and pray that you will make and keep all year long.

The 2021 Bible Reading Plan is available at church or you can download a printable copy from Beaumont’s website at: http://beaumontbaptist.org/BibleReadingPlan.pdf