From Darkness to Light: Breakthrough is Coming
What sets the bible apart from every other form of literature? Why have some people sacrificed their lives to translate the bible into languages the people can understand? The answer is that it contains the most important, world-shaking truth, that it makes every other book insignificant by comparison. All other literature is trivial in nature, compared to the bible.
Here in the first letter of John, the apostle, we find that he and the other disciples ‘heard’, ‘saw’, ‘looked upon’, and ‘touched’ God the Son, Jesus Christ, the Messiah of the world. This is John’s proclamation:
"This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all."
1 John 1:5
So what now? We are pulled out of darkness. We have connected with God. We know the truth of Christ - so what do we do with this light? With this life?
We press on! We press toward redemption…We move forward towards our breakthrough! Just as Paul did:
13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. -Philippians 3:13-14 New International Version (NIV)
Some people describe life as a journey full of twists and turns; a journey leading toward the fulfillment of our visions and dreams. It is the ways that we navigate those twists and turns that makes some people different from others. It is essential to find a breakthrough through the twisted path…..to the place where our dreams will be made real in the world.
So what is breakthrough? Breakthrough is characterized by a major progress or overcoming some obstacle. This word is more than just a concept or idea -- it is an action. I pray that we will no longer be people staring up the stairs to success but people who take that important step - people who are doing something to achieve their dreams.
Let’s break Paul’s verse down.
"..But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called us heavenward in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:13-14 (NIV)
Let us see and imitate what Apostle Paul did in one of his breakthroughs in life – moving from a persecutor of the church to a greatest preacher of God's Word to the Gentiles.
"..but one thing I do"
To experience our breakthrough, there's one thing that we need to do. Sometimes we got distracted by all of life’s obligations. Breakthroughs come to those who are focused. We must learn to prioritize our goals in life.
"Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,"
Forget the past failures and victories that cause us to stop dreaming. See and trust that God is doing something new in our lives. As God said in the book of Isaiah, "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?" (Isaiah 43:18-19) Unless we learn to let go of the things in our past that hold us back, we will not perceive God’s “new thing.”
"I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."
Never doubt your calling. You are called for something. God has called us heavenward and has placed dreams in our hearts. He did not place them there to die, but that those dreams would become a reality!