The Daily Word of Righteousness

Pressing Toward the Mark, #17

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. (Hebrews 11:13)

Behold these promises afar off, as did Abraham. Confess you are a pilgrim and stranger in the earth. Lift up your cross and take a step toward the vision of the fullness of Christ. Do not look back—even one time. Push on against every temptation, every distraction. Endure hardness as God leads, with the eyes of your faith fixed on Christ.

As you draw closer to Him, His Glory will transform you until you are in the image of Christ and in restful union with the Godhead. The saints in light are cheering you on for without you they cannot "be made perfect" (Hebrews 11:40).

You are a warrior, a fighter in God. The hordes of Hell will come against you but God is leading you against His enemies. You are bringing the Presence of God Almighty into the land of promise. Your unwavering faith, given to you and maintained by God's impartation of grace to you, is providing the means by which God can judge and cast out the enemy.

The true disciples of Jesus, striving for God's perfect will, have their eyes fixed steadfastly on the full, perfect attainment of that for which they have been grasped by Christ. Christ has laid hold on us with the end in view of our full grasp of the inheritance that God the Father has promised to the heirs of salvation. Christ is desirous that all of His beloved younger brothers return His grasp by cooperating with the Holy Spirit until they possess Himself, His image, His Life, His dominion.

At His glorious appearing each of us will rise to meet Him in the air but each will receive a different reward. The special place in the land of promise we stake out for our own, as Christ directs and gives us the desire, is possible of complete attainment by us. There is a unique reward for each disciple whom Jesus chooses.

How much of a claim we are able to stake out, to grasp, to hold, depends on the faith and diligence with which we seek Christ. It is foolishness to believe that a careless believer with one eye on Christ and the other eye on the things of the flesh will inherit the fullness of the promises of God in Christ. The Scriptures state the rewards will be given to the overcomers.

What is your attitude toward God's land of promise, God's rest? Is your heart like that of Joshua and Caleb? (Numbers 14:7-9). Do you believe that the Lord God of Heaven is able to give you complete victory over the enemies in your "land"? Or are you of the same spirit as the remainder of the Israelites who provoked God with their unbelief and complaining? (Numbers 14:11,12) Do you have a willingness to fight, as did Jacob, who took his inheritance out of the hands of the Amorites with his sword and bow? (Genesis 48:22)

Ask God for a vision of Christ. Make the possessing of the fullness of Christ the first and greatest desire of your heart. Reach out for the boundless glory of resurrection life. Believe that your personality can and will be created in the image of Christ. Continually desire and groan for the redeeming of your mortal body from sin and the putting on of your house from Heaven, your body of eternal glory and power.

Determine to rule all things through Christ. Let your thoughts be full of sharing in the majesty and authority of Christ. Submit yourself to God always so that you can inherit with Christ the highest throne of the universe. It does not matter what you suffer to get there, it matters only that God desires that you inherit all things (Revelation 21:7).

Be serious in your quest for God. Set out immediately and straightforwardly to find the Lord. Do so with all the integrity and diligence of which you are capable. God is a rewarder of every soul who sincerely seeks Him. He will not disappoint you. You will inherit your possessions in the land of promise!

"Give me this mountain!" Caleb cried.

And Joshua blessed him, and gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh Hebron for an inheritance. (Joshua 14:13)

Jesus, your "Joshua," will not disappoint you. You will inherit your "Hebron" in the land of promise! (from Pressing Toward the Mark; The Land of Promise)