On a recent ministry trip, I (Theresa) had the opportunity to minister at a women’s retreat. I talked about what we can do when we feel stuck in our walks with God or we find ourselves in a dry season, where we know we should want to read our Word and pray, but have no desire to do so.
Two key phrases I spoke from are “…but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus…” (Philippians 3:1, 11-14 ) and, “…let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us…” (Hebrews 12:1-2)
When I read those verses, I usually think of the sin and past mistakes in life that I need to throw off and forget in order to pursue Jesus wholeheartedly. As crucial as this is, it isn’t the complete picture. Sometimes it’s not just the obviously bad things in our lives that hold us back, but it can be the good things too. Sometimes I find we can get stuck by remembering those times when it was easy to get in the Word and pray and we felt God strongly and we felt freshly on fire, and then wondering why we don’t feel the same in this current season. We also can hinder ourselves by trying to do what God was asking of us in a previous season but isn’t asking of us in our current season. We can hold ourselves back by comparing ourselves to a previous season of our own selves.
We must forget what lies behind, good and bad, and throw off weights, good and bad, in order to keep running with endurance towards our prize Jesus. It’s important to take a moment to ask God what He is asking out of us in our current season and do those things instead of what we think we should be doing or what He wanted from us in the past. I pray this encourages you today in your walk with God and strengthens you to never stop wholeheartedly pursing Jesus in your life!
