Pressing On

PRESSING ON!

by Jon R. Welker

God can use us, even in a unique way, only to the degree that we are submitted and willing to let ourselves be used. But it requires a clear "vision" - without a clear vision, a prophetic vision, knowing what you are preordained or predestined for, you will fail to succeed and cast off restraints in your life (Prov. 29:18). It is not a matter of whether something succeeds or not, nor how many people join you or agree with you, because the Lord doesn't work that way. It is what God wants to do in a particular time, and whether you are aligned with His Will and pressing on in that vision..

If you knew in advance, or had prophetic vision, that something was going to happen or that people were going to reject you or your endeavor, and that there might be suffering or difficulty involved, could you still give yourself with enthusiasm and the same strength as if you didn't have that knowledge of the future?

I'm going to quote some Scriptures from Moses in Deuteronomy, and also Acts and elsewhere, where it speaks of that very thing: knowing in advance what someone or people would do, and yet continuing to press on. Luke, speaking of the Apostle Paul, states in Acts:

"But the Lord said unto him, `Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto Me, to bear My Name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: for I will shew him how great things he must suffer for My Name's sake.'" Acts 9:15-16

Moses spoke at length of what was going to take place in the future, in Deuteronomy:

"For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days; because ye will do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger through the work of your hands." Deuteronomy 31:28

Jesus also said some things about what He knew was going to take place in the future. He knew that He was going to go to Jerusalem and be crucified (Matt. 16:21). Not only did He know the events of His death, but on a particular occasion after His resurrection, it is recorded:

"...And when He had spoken this, He saith unto him, `Follow Me.' Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, `Lord, which is he that betrayeth Thee?' Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, `Lord, and what shall this man do?' Jesus saith unto him, `If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou Me.'"

He also knew that all of His disciples would forsake Him.

"Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave Me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me." John 16:32

"But all this was done, that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook Him, and fled." Matthew 26:56

We who believe in Him have been preordained (predestined) to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.

"For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified." Romans 8:29-30

That's our predestination.

RESISTANCE TRAINING

Everything that we go through in our lives is designed to get us to that place - to be conformed to the image of Christ. We are encouraged...

"...To press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:14

That word "press" is a very similar word as that used in regard to weight-lifting. When weight-lifters talk about a press, they are referring to lifting of weight. But what does that mean, and what does it require? It's called "resistance training." Whenever you press, it implies there is resistance. So, when you press on toward the mark of the prize, you are going to encounter resistance. That is why the wilderness experience was given. It's resistance training - it involves pressing on towards the mark.

However, you can hit the mark, but it could be the wrong mark. What a tragedy. There are a lot of people who press on to a mark, but the tragedy is that they hit the wrong mark. Again, if you are pressing on, you are going to encounter resistance.

Fulfilling the sufferings of Christ does not necessarily mean sufferings in the sense of getting your toenails pulled out, or getting physically tortured. Sufferings equate to obedience. Let's consider a Scripture that combines the two words:

"Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered." Hebrews 5:8

There are things that we endure that are part of our sufferings because we are involved in obedience. If you knew that there were going to be those who rejected you, or those who would fall in the "wilderness experience," would you continue on? Moses knew what would happen to most of his people because the Lord told him:

"Because all those men which have seen My glory, and My miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted Me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to My voice; surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked Me see it: but My servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed Me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it." Numbers 14:22-24

"Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob; because they have not wholly followed Me: save Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite, and Joshua the son of Nun: for they have wholly followed the LORD." Numbers 32:11-12

Moses knew what would happen. If you knew that there were going to be many who were not going to make it, would you stay in "the camp" (as a Christian, or ministry)? Would you continue on? Moses was faithful. And Joshua was faithful. That is what God is looking for. "For many are called, but few are chosen" (Matt. 22:14). Yet the Lord also spoke of being "called, and chosen, and faithful" (Rev. 17:14). We are in the time of dying "systems" and the diminishing influence of the church. God is doing a new thing. Many linger for the things of "Egypt," the things that should be left behind, the things that are of death, and are death. But the Lord says:

"Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert." Isaiah 43:18-19

OLD KING OR NEW THING?

So when God is doing a new thing, why should His people ask, "Why can't we live like other people? Why can't we be like them?" If you do, you are longing for the dead systems of a dying world (Egypt). You are longing for things that God has already declared will pass away. He wants to take us forward into the promised land. He wants us to press on. Israel was brought out of Egypt and away from Pharaoh who was king, or ruler. God provided them with elders and judges, yet that was not enough for them. They wanted "to be like the other nations" around them!

"Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, `Nay; but we will have a king over us; that we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.'" I Samuel 8:19-20

"Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, and said unto him, `Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.'" I Samuel 8:4-5

"Give us a king. Let us be like everybody else. We want to be just like them." And so the Lord said to Samuel,

"Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them." I Samuel 8:7

But God didn't hide anything from them. He let them know what that king would be like. The king would:

"...Take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. And he will take your daughters to be confectioneries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers." I Samuel 8:11-13

He would also tax them:

"And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants." I Samuel 8:14-17

God spelled it out for them! So they knew! And what was their answer? "We still want a king."

Therefore, they got a king. And later the Lord said through His Prophet, "I gave thee a king in Mine anger, and took him away in My wrath" (Hos. 13:11). That principle is still happening today. Therefore, be careful about what you desire and salivate over that belongs to the systems of this world which are dying - be they educational, religious, forms of government or rulership, or whatever. Such are out of those dying systems which are a part of the "Egypt" of this world. But God wants you to press on towards the mark of the prize of the high calling. He wants to lead you into the Promised Land. But if your eye isn't single towards that purpose, it's evil, and therefore will have darkness and how great that darkness will be.

"The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!" Matthew 6:22-23

That's exactly what the children of Israel did in sending out the spies ("eyes"). They came back with an evil report. Joshua and Caleb brought back a good report because their eye was single (their vision was to press on toward the mark - the promised land!).

The Lord will have a people who will enter into that land of spiritual fullness. So, what do you hanker after? What do you long for? Do you desire to be free from the dying systems of this world?

"Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert." Isaiah 43:19

That's where God does a new thing - in the wilderness! God wants you to forget the sins, the defeats and failures, yet He doesn't want you to get too high-minded about the triumphs and the victories. Both of them can hinder you. He wants you to press on toward the mark. Keep going forward, and don't be afraid to go the way that nobody else has gone. Don't allow yourself to say or think: "But this isn't the way that other people do things"; or, "This isn't the way that the "Gentiles" are living. Jesus told His disciples:

"...What is that to thee? Follow thou Me." John 21:22

PRESS ON!

THE PROMISED LAND LIES AHEAD!

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