HIGHER VISION Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Phil.3:8-14) There are those who are satisfied with a little spirituality injected into their lives from time to time. They will go to Church on Sundays and maybe even on Wednesday night, but overall there is really no difference in their daily lives than anyone else. Then there are those who have caught a glimpse of something higher. They hear, as it were, a Voice calling them to higher ground. This Voice comes from beyond the traditional status quo. It will take more than a Sunday sermon to satisfy this longing that is in their hearts. It will take more than just a Wednesday night prayer meeting to fill the hunger that rages within them. They just don t seem to be satisfied with all the religious trappings of the nominal Church. What is wrong with these people? While everyone else is excited with the hyper and frantic music intended to get the Spirit moving, these people seemed more annoyed with it all. All the hoopla doesn t seem to move them. Oh, they are just spiritually dead, some would say. Are they? Or are they just not moved with man s attempt to move the Spirit? It s not that they don t get excited and emotional, but they are not moved by man s attempt to excite them or move them emotionally. When God moves they will dance before the Lord just as David did. When the presence of God is there, they will be uninhibited and you will see a love for God expressed in many forms. They will dance, they will shout, they will bow down, they will lay prostrate on the floor and whatever other way they may express the thrill of His presence. These people have seen something and have heard something from another dimension that causes them to be willing to forsake all and press toward what Paul calls the prize of the high calling. Most folks just want to get to heaven and escape hell. They have a mental image of what they think heaven is like. It probably isn t much different than a heavenly Disney Land in the sky. Images of all sorts of carnal ideas are pumped into peoples heads as they listen to preachers give their ideas of what heaven is going to be like. Walking down golden streets, living next to Jesus with grandma, golden mansions silver lined. They will play harps throughout eternity, polish their halos while sitting on clouds of glory. They dangle their feet in the celestial waters of the river of life having nothing to do and all eternity to do it. This just doesn t excite those who have heard the Voice from a higher realm. This just doesn t excite those who have seen into the realm of the Spirit and caught a glimpse of the ascended Jesus Christ. Now don t get me wrong, these people will get excited, but their excitement comes from the presence of the Lord and seeing their Lord in all of His glory. All of this other stuff that is pushed off on those sitting on pews listening to the carnal interpretations of what heaven is going to be like will just not move those who have a higher vision of being conformed to the glory of God. 1
Sometimes these people don t really understand (probably all the time) this call that is ringing in their soul, they just know there is something inside pushing them beyond the status quo of the Church world. They will operate in the gifts and see many things that are just simply amazing and beyond natural reasoning, but there is something pulling at their hearts for more. Oh, there will be those who will settle for less because they don t see anyone around them moving in what their heart is crying out for, but there are those who just won t let go of that longing deep within that can only be satisfied with the reality of Jesus in their lives. Now don t get me wrong, these people love to see the miraculous, but not at the expense of the very nature of God. As a matter of fact, many have left off the gifts of the Spirit in an attempt to see the nature of God developed in their lives. They have seen and heard about those who have been used in the gifts of God, the power of God, and have seen the down fall of many. They began to realize being used in the gifts to do mighty miracles doesn t make a person spiritual, it doesn t mean they have matured in the Lord. The signs and the wonders, as wonderful as they are, don t develop the nature of God in our lives. Look at the Church in Corinth; they came behind in no gift and yet Paul called them carnal. (1Cor.3:1-4) We, as human beings, seem to swing from one side of the pendulum to the other. We will focus on being used in the gifts or we focus on having God s nature developed in us. There is a balance. We look at the life of Jesus and we see both working together, we see the very expression of God in a human being and at the same time we see the power of God working the miraculous all around Him. We love the miraculous because somehow it makes us feel like a somebody. People begin to notice us. We begin to get invited to speak at the mega Churches. We become a household name. We are seen on TV. Yet, when it comes down to everyday living, there is so much that falls short of the nature of God. I m not saying everybody you see on TV or who has a mega Church is this way, but just because you see someone on TV or they have a mega ministry doesn t mean the nature of God is developed in them. Yes, we all have room for development in our lives, but when we see someone who is used in a mighty way in the gifts we seem to think that equates to spirituality. I m not trying to bad mouth anyone, but there is a longing in my heart as well as others to see the day when we walk in the reality of the kingdom of God. This reality will be a balance of power and nature. It will be a demonstration of God in every area of our lives. The glory of this day will be such that the nations will come to brightness of our shinning. (Isa.60:3) The glory of this day will be so great we will be able to impart this same glory to creation and set creation free from the bondage of corruption and bring them into the glorious liberty of the children of God. (Ro.8:19-21) The glory of this day will be such, unlike the glory Moses had coming down off the mountain, it will not fade or just be a passing glory. It will be a permanent glory. We have all been in meetings where the glory of God was so intense, it was days before we seemed to get back to normal. Those meetings that just left you in awe of the presence of the Lord. Ah, but sad to say, the glory did fade. We didn t want it to, but it did. All of the mighty moves of the past, as magnificent as they were, all faded into the back ground and are nothing but faded memories of those who were blessed to be involved in them. What happened? Those glory days began to fade as we had to turn back to our natural lives. We had to face our everyday affairs and somewhere in our everyday life our awareness of the presence of the Lord faded. Some involved in such moves of God turned to the arm of flesh; they allowed the flesh to creep in; pride, arrogance and other sins and God just withdrew His presence and the glory lifted. 2
Did God forsake us at those times? Absolutely not! He did withdraw His presence. We could say, He gave us over to our own hearts lust. (Ro.1:24) We might not like to think of it that way, but when we persist in our own ways, God will, as it were, back up and let us have what we want till we get our fill. Then while the meat is in our mouths and leanness in our souls, we realize this is not what we were after. (Ps.106:15) For some reason man has always put his hand to the move of God and when he did God began to back away. Oh, but glorious day as God has begun to work in a people who will not put their hand on what God is doing. They see a prize only God can give. I say a prize only God can give not meaning we sit down and do nothing. Oh no, we will press through all attempts of the flesh to suppress us and rise to overcome even as Jesus overcame. THE PRIZE So what is the prize? Is it going to heaven? Why did Paul count all else as dung and press toward this prize? Why was Paul willing to lose all for this prize? Listen to Paul s words again. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ. (Phil.3:8) That I may gain Christ. To the casual bible reader these words won t stand out, but to that hungry soul, who is hearing a Voice from above, they will jump off the page. They will make the heart leap within. To the average believer, they have already gained Christ when they got saved. Jesus came into their lives, He took up residence in their heart and now they are on their way to heaven. Is that what Paul is really talking about? Is gaining Christ Jesus just a matter of getting saved? This word gain gives us the idea of getting or increasing. In the world of body building they talk of making gains. They simply mean your muscles have grown bigger. In the world of the stock market you make gains when you invest a little and the company you invested in grows and the value of your shares has increased, you have made gains. The King James version translates this word as win, that I may win Christ. Paul counted all things as loss so he could win Christ, gain Christ. He laid aside everything so he could acquire Christ. Paul wasn t trying to have an initial salvation experience with Christ, that had already happened. Paul was wanting to come into the fullness of all Christ is. Oh yes, we have received all Jesus is in our spirit, but His life in us has not found its fullest expression through us. We have not been totally transformed into the image of Jesus Christ. When we realize we are to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ in every area something comes alive within us to press toward this goal. Notice Paul said he was pressing toward this goal. He didn t say it would just happen because he had a born again experience. Paul had to press toward the mark for the prize. A prize is not something that is just given to us all, it is something which is won. When I was in high school I used to run track. I ran the half mile. When I showed up for a track meet they didn t give me a gold medal for showing up or for being on the track team. I had to run the race and be faster than everyone else who was running. Now, unlike my high school track meets, we are not running against 3
each other, we are running against the forces of darkness of this present age. We are pressing through these forces which are trying to keep us from coming into the full realty of Christ within us. Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Heb.12:1-2) Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. (1Cor.9:24-27) Despite what the modern Church world would say, we can walk even as Jesus walked. (1Jn.2:6) Jesus walked in the fullness of God. (Jn.3:24) When we catch a vision of walking in the fullness of the Spirit in this life and what that really means, such a vision will cause us to press toward the mark for the prize of the upward call in Christ Jesus. When we see the joy set before us, we can endure the cross. (Heb.12:2, 1Jn.3:3) For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. (Ro.8:18) Note, everything the devil can throw at you, he will. He knows when a people rise to walk in the fullness of the Spirit, it will mean his ultimate defeat. When these sons rise to the throne, having overcome all things (Rev.3:21) they will totally displace the devil and his angels. (Rev.12:7-8) Not to fear, we have the ability, in Christ, to overcome all things with the victorious life within us. We have the same life that has already overcome all things, including death. Hallelujah! But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. (Ro.8:12-13) But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. (2Tim.2:20-21) Friend, the trumpet is sounding! Catch the vision. We can rise above everything that would hold us back from walking in the full reality of the life of God, which is within us. We can walk as Jesus walked, now! This is the good news! Don t let the world, the Church world dupe you into believing it can t be done in this life. Rise up, take hold of the victorious life of Jesus Christ and soar into the heavenlies to the throne of God. ARISE [from the depression and prostration in which circumstances have kept you rise to a new life]! Shine (be radiant with the glory of the Lord), for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon 4
you! For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and dense darkness [all] peoples, but the Lord shall arise upon you [O Jerusalem], and His glory shall be seen on you. (Isa.60:1-2 Amp.) Now is the time! Today is the day! 5