Forgetting Those Things Which Are Behind 

“That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11, if I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. 12  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. 13 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, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:10-14

In this scripture the apostle Paul stresses that he wants to know the Lord Jesus Christ in an experiential way. He says he wants to know the power that raised Him from the dead and wants to be acquainted with His sufferings. He even goes as far as to say he wanted to die as Jesus died. His goal is simply if, by any means that he may attain, or experience and participate in the full honor and glory of the resurrection from the dead.

To accomplish this Paul says I press on that I may lay hold of that, or I am pursuing onward to apprehend Christ as He has apprehended me. When we grasp this revelation of Christ personally rescuing us from the jaws of eternal death, then we will desire above all to KNOW Him as Paul did in this experiential way, and hold on to Him for dear life. Hallelujah!

In order to grasp this awesome revelation, we must, like the apostle Paul say, “One thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead.”

When we dwell on the past, good or bad, we are inclined to get stuck there. This makes it hard to achieve our goals and plans for the future, regardless of how small or great they may be. In Exodus 14:15 God says to Moses, Tell the children of Israel to go forward. They had to forget what lay behind. We too must heed that word. We have to keep moving forward in the things of God.

To forget the things that are behind, the apostle Paul had to keep his mind on the Way, the Truth, and the Life Himself (John 14:6). He remained focused on Jesus Christ, and did not look back to all of the marvelous things that he had accomplished in Christ.

Let’s look at some of the life-changing experiences Paul had which he could have hung onto but he purposed to forget them so as to move on towards the greatest prize:

• Saul consented to Stephen’s death - Acts 7:57-60
• Jesus appeared to Saul “brighter than the noonday sun” - Acts 9:1-7
• A cripple from birth healed through the apostle Paul - Acts 14:8-11
• In a vision Paul saw a man pleading, saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." As a result of this, the church in Philippi was started. Acts 16:9-10
• While Paul preached, a young man named Eutychus fell three storeys and died, but was raised back to life again - Acts 20:7-13
• Paul was stoned and raised up back to life again - 2 Corinthians 12:1-6

Paul knew that all of his past accomplishments in Christ were wonderful experiences and glorious memories that he obtained along the way. He had to press forward though, towards the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

“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.” Hebrews 12:1-2

Many of you have great testimonies to share on how the Lord delivered you from the power of darkness, setting you free and translating you into the kingdom of the Son of His love. These testimonies are powerful and we must share them. We can’t dwell on them however, living in past glory like the Israelites, wandering in the desert for forty years.

We must simply give Him the praise, the glory and the honor for all we do, because it’s not about us, but it’s all about Him. The great news is there is so much more in store, as we press on towards the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Hallelujah!

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

Bro. Peter Rahme

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

Bro. Peter Rahme

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