Hope For Today
Daily Encouragement for a Healing Heart from the Word of God
Deep pain and brokenness have a way of making Bible study difficult. To help bridge the gap and re-ignite our hunger for the Word of God, we’ve put together a daily devotional designed to help us all lean into God as we heal. May we seek Him daily!
Let the morning bring me word of Your unfailing love for I have put my trust in You. Show me the way I should go, for to You I entrust my life. Psalms 143:8 (NIV)
- Hope For Today
September 20 - Philippians 3:7-14
I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with Him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God's way of making us right with Himself depends on faith. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised Him from the dead. I want to suffer with Him, sharing in His death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead! I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
Can you relate to Paul's sentiments in these verses, or do they seem a bit over the top to you? I know that for me, there are times when this is not the attitude of my heart. I see the accomplishments of my life (especially my amazing children) and take pride in my legitimate achievements, just as Paul once did. But, the more I experience the refining work of Christ in my life, the less I feel defined by those accolades, and the more I want to be known simply as His dearly loved daughter. I find myself praying to Him and asking for more and more and more of His Spirit. How I long to become one with Christ! How I want my faith to grow, and to know Him more and more! Don't you feel the same? Unfortunately, pride continues to pull at us all. None of us has achieved the perfection to which we've been called. God is still working. He's still refining. He's still filling us with His Spirit and growing our faith. But let us press on! Let's never be satisfied with anything less than knowing Christ and becoming one with Him! He saved us in order to perfect us, and He will one day accomplish it. So let's strap on our running shoes, and get in the race with the finish line in mind. We were called to perfection. Let’s run to win that prize.
- Verse of the Day
Come back tomorrow for a new passage, a new verse image, and a new encouragement here at Hope for Today.
Love what you see here on Hope for Today?
There’s a lot more content here at His Dearly Loved Daughter Ministries!
Check out our Blog Page Here, or our HomePage Here.
Would you love to stay connected and get emails each week including personal updates, updates about the ministry, and promotions for new posts, features, and events? Use the button below to subscribe today, and you’ll get a bonus 5-day devotional focusing on the goodness of God.