FREEDOM40 - 40-Day Men’s Challenge to Live in FreedomSample

DAY 18

REFLECT + FOCUS

It’s not about me!

It’s not about you. It’s about Jesus - and His eternal purpose being manifest through us - His people.

Hebrews 11 is a fascinating chapter on people of faith; it mentions both those who overcame, and saw breakthroughs. It also mentions those who died because of their faith.

Then it has these amazing and mysterious verses:

“These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.”
Hebrews 11:39-40 NIV

Our lives are intertwined with those who lived before, and with those who will come afterward. Together, we will be “made perfect” - fulfilling God’s eternal purpose: one heavenly family, under the Father, with Christ as the head. As we remain patient, and don’t give up, we get to participate in His eternal plan.

We may or may not see the fulfillment of this “goal” in our lifetime, but we can all receive the “prize” for being faithful to the small part that God has for us.

Do you have Christ’s heavenly “goal” in view? Have you set your eye on the prize?

Many Christians hold strong for 10 or even 20 years, but when things don't go the way they expect they give up. When tiredness or disappointment set in, when prayers don’t get answered the way they hoped, bitterness can take root, the heart can become sick and they give up pursuing God altogether.

Brothers, the Holy Spirit releases patient endurance to us as we wait on Him. Let’s take our eyes off ourselves, and press on toward the goal to win the prize. (Philippians 3:14)

SHOUT

As you declare the shout today, abandon your own self-centeredness and become God-centered in your thinking. Ask Him to show you both the goal that we are all a part of achieving, and the “prize” that He has prepared for each of us.

I press on toward the goal, to win the prize,
To which I am called heavenward.
Philippians 3, verse fourteen.

DISCOVERY BIBLE

Discover God’s heart as you read the passage today from John 13:3-17.

What is God showing you through this passage?