Forgeting What Lies Behind.

Colossians 1:9

“And so,

from the day
we heard,
we have not ceased to pray for you,
Asking that you may be
filled
with the knowledge of His will
in
all spiritual wisdom
and understanding.”

It is always Refreshing to me to read a letter that opens with thanksgiving for it's Readers. That is what has lead up to our verse, and having seen friends and family come and go in their relationship with Christ, I see the need to persevere in prayer, in the same way as Paul and Timothy pray for the believers in Colossae. This weeks theme is perseverance, which is to continue on in the face of challenges, to endure till the end. In a sense not allowing one's focus to be pulled away from the goal. Though I see the need, persevering in prayer is incredibly difficult for me. I zone out, revisit past conversations and events, and get lost in and stressed out about them, this is not just during prayer even as I try to write this I zone out and begin living in something that happened yesterday.

But here is Paul who from the day that he and Timothy heard have not ceased praying for them! There is a focus in that prayer. And as I put myself into Paul's shoes or try at least, I can imagine the excitement and thanksgiving he would feel at hearing of the Colossian church's faith and Love. In the same way I have felt excitement at someone coming to belief in Christ and seeing them grow up in God. And the desire I would have for them to continue in faith and Love. I would want them to know, I mean really know God's desire (will) for their lives. A knowledge which could only come through wisdom and understanding given By God's Holy Spirit, because most of all I would want them to endure till the end. I would want them to persevere in their walk with God.

How shall I who cannot persevere in my prayer time in any way affect others to persevere in their walk with God? Sunday morning I was praying, and as usual I could not focus, I was thinking about a conversation from the day before and having anxiety about it. In the middle of my thoughts I asked God, what do you want me to do? The answer blew me away.

“I want you to stop worrying about yesterday.”

Now This was going deeper than the single conversation from the day before. It was going to all the little mistakes I made and was dwelling on each day instead of praying. These things that I was allowing to separate me from God. The noise in my head and heart when trying to pray become almost unbearable. Part of me was scared to accept this answer, after all if I don't worry how will I get the motivation to do anything about these quote unquote problems. Then the message on Sunday from pastor Luis was about belief, and holding fast till the end to our faith and our boasting in the hope we have in Jesus Christ. Holding fast till the end, sounds a lot like persevering doesn't it? And as I read chapter 9 of on being a servant the closing Scripture is Philippians 3:12-14 which read “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but that I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

There is much beauty in this Scripture to pull from, but what hit me like a ton of bricks was the line Forgetting what lies Behind. This is essential as I have found out. I need to let God's grace cover yesterday, and forget what lies behind in order to strive towards the goal, in order to persevere. I must forget who I was and remember who I am in Christ. I must not be jealous of those who seem to make more progress then me or try to keep ahead of anyone else in my walk with Christ. When running a race you must not look back to see how your rivals are doing you slow down and lose time, you must not look at your rivals in front of you and become disheartened, you must not let mistakes from earlier in the race distract you, you must focus on the goal.

My Goal in prayer is to draw closer to God, and to hear his heart for those around me, and pray in accordance to His will.

Application.

To pray without becoming distracted.

How,

Today I wrote out my prayers, and this helped me to confess sins in a way they didn't stay inside of me, it helped me express my desires to God and feel closer to Him. It helped me shew away the thoughts of yesterday and worship Him today. I will try this again tomorrow.