Pressing On

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This word seeks to speak encouragement into the Body of Christ.

There is freedom to be found in our relationship with the Lord.  Enjoy...

Pressing On

submitted by David 5/7/01

All Scriptures are New American Standard Version unless otherwise indicated.

It was roughly three years ago that I met with an unusually restless evening late in the night, which led me to blindly turn on the television set in my sleepy stupor.  I typically view very little television, and usually when I’m met with restlessness deep in the night I learn before long that the Lord wishes to meet with me in prayer. 

As I flipped on the television set, I recognized a nature documentary in motion.  The setting was that of a beautiful aerial view of the Amazon River in South America.  And as the camera began to zoom-in on a portion of the riverbank, I observed a man in khaki safari gear, wading into the river with pant legs rolled up to his knees.

The man was of Latin origin, of dark complexion, and was bent over, stealthily probing the river floor with his feet, very near the bank of the river.  As well, he was unarmed, though he appeared to be hunched over in an offensive posture, not unlike the posturing of the Greco-Roman wrestlers as they advance toward one another at the onset of a round.

It was quite obvious that this man was stalking something just beneath the surface of the water.

In a flash the man plunged headlong into the water shallows, moments later reappearing intertwined with an enormous snake.  With his hands speedily groping the snakes’ jaws in hopes of clamping down on them, the snake managed to plunged one of it’s fangs or a series of teeth, deep into one of the man’s hands.  And with camera hungry/viewer appetite for the extreme, a close up of the man pulling his impaled hand from the snake’s jaws revealed a deep laceration.

In seconds the man managed to gain a momentary stranglehold on this beast of a snake, at which point an assistant quickly placed a crude tourniquet on the man’s wrist, markedly slowing the blood flow from his wound.  The injured hunter then laughed-off the incident, and stated in Latin something to the effect that this kind of injury was “all in a day’s work.”

In a few minutes this violent scene settled into relative calm.  And as it did so I began to sense the unmistakable entry of the Spirit of The Lord into my living room in this later hour—this despite my fuzzy thinking and bed hair.  He had given me little time to present myself properly to Him upon His entrance.

Sensing the presence of the Lord while viewing this bizarre scene on television, I was certain that He was to shortly impress something upon me of a prophetic nature. And as I have often found to be characteristic of prophetic promptings, impressions, dreams, revelations and the like; they are quite often filled with color, adventure, mystery, drama and even humor.  

I began to grow warm all over, and the sounds in my television set seemed to fade into a distant murmur.  As this occurred I was nearly certain that this is what I heard spoken to me:

“What you are observing in this hunter is a caricature of the power and authority that I am beginning to impart to my vessels within the last days church.  The serpent is soon to meet his end, and he will ultimately be rendered powerless within the grasp of those among my servants who will stand and believe that my power and authority is at their disposal. This serpent symbolizes the fears faced by many within my last days army, and the wound you’ve observed in this struggle represents the wounds my veteran soldiers will need to overcome if they are to fully overcome the serpent’s schemes in this hour and fulfill their earthly destinies.” 

Moments following this divine communiqué, the volume in the television set moved back into earshot, and I heard the commentator state the following:  “The Anaconda snake reportedly grows to a length of 33 feet, and can weigh-in at 550 lbs.  Further, this is the very first recorded video footage of humans on the offensive with such a snake.  Our researcher has yielded remarkable and startling breakthroughs in our understanding of this snake, by dispelling the ageless misconception that the snake itself is the aggressor in this scenario.  The fact of the matter, and as we have now come to understand, is that it appears this snake is in fact fearful of man.  This contrary to the historical notion that aside from the Lion, this snake is of the most feared predators within the animal kingdom.”

With this analogy in mind, in addition to increasing reports of miraculous healings and deliverances taking place around the globe, it has become quite clear that the Lord has begun to release power and authority over the schemes of the Devil like never before.  And in this light, Luke 10:19-20 takes its place among the signs of the times, to read: Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall injure you…the spirits are subject to you…

As well, never before has the promise in Romans 16:20 held so much fiery authority: The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.

Following two decades now, and through countless opportunities and experiences within varying facets of teaching, prophetic and pastoral ministry, I have had the awesome privilege of observing literally thousands of Gods servants freed from the bondages of psychological and emotional trauma, as well as the associated spiritual torment and anguish.

The core of my delight in playing a small part in so many cases has been that of my personal struggle with having experienced and endured extreme traumas as well, incurred as early as my toddler years.

But rather than expound upon the hideous personal injustices, wounds, traumas and trials that I have faced, please trust me when I offer that the associated pain and turmoil has consumed much of my adult life.  And this leads us to the unveiling and exposure of one of Satan’s grand schemes. For it is my belief that Satan recognizes unusual destiny upon God’s saints, at a very early age.  In fact, when he can place his clutches upon the lives of the very young, he will do so.  My infancy and toddler-hood were no exception.

This said, I believe it to be one of his master schemes within the lives of the Saints, to so traumatize them at a young age, that they then spend the bulk of their adult lives groping about in psychological and emotional confusion and defeat, rather than spending the bulk of their adult lives embracing and fulfilling the call, ministry and destiny upon their lives.

You may read deeper relevance into this concept as you would consider that I have personally met thousands of drug addicts, alcoholics, prison inmates and sanitarium residents, who have recognizable calls on their lives of such magnitude that they often appear to parallel the destinies of some of the greatest Christian figures in history.  And as a Believer, it doesn’t take much more than average intuition, perception and discernment to recognize unusual destiny upon the Lords Called.

What I have observed then, is destiny—interrupted, destiny—intercepted, and destiny ultimately—thwarted.

The mere law of average dictates that a sizeable number of the readership of this essay can very much identify with having been traumatized at a young age.  As well, I can confidently state the likelihood that within this number, at least half therein have spent nearly their entire lives simply recovering from traumas of one form or another. As such it is quite common to encounter the need for healing of such throughout the Body of Christ.

Through many colorful opportunities within itinerant teaching and prophetic ministry engagements over the years, I have encountered without exception, at least a handful of Believers within a given congregation who have in a sense, decommissioned themselves from the fulfillment and the carrying-out of significant ministry which had been planted in them over many years.  And for many of these dear ones, the callings, ministries and visions had been planted in them from childhood, to later find confirmation over many years and through many encounters, in the form of words spoken over them by those moving in the revelatory gifts.

These Saints are often those who have fallen into sin of one form or another, have endured marital abuse, divorce, legal and/or financial carnage, substance abuse, sexual abuse, disappointments and failures of a moral, ethical or spiritual nature, to include perhaps the violation and failure of their personal standards of character and integrity.  And these failures, points of pain and trauma often occurred during their Christian walk, and quite often while holding positions in leadership within the Body.

We now approach the unveiling of yet another of Satan’s master schemes; a scheme that often comes in the following form—a message whispered to one of these wounded Saints, when they find themselves at their weakest point in depression and despair.  And it goes something like this: “You received tremendous cleansing and healing when you met the Lord. You know, you really did.  And you were really cultivating substantial intimacy with Him.  You were beginning to embrace humility and the trademarks of Christian maturity. You began to exemplify the “fruit of the Spirit,” and your fruitfulness in ministry was plentiful. You were stepping-out and into strong gifting and anointing; but you’ve blown it.  You were forgiven of your failures as a non-Believer when you met Him.  But now, well now you’ve sown the cords of disobedience into your soul, as yet a Believer, and these cords will eat at your soul for the remainder of your life, and you will never fulfill the breadth and depth of the longing in your heart relative to the calling on your life.  You’ve been disqualified.”

This, dear ones, is a lie straight from the Abyss.  And it is akin to the lie that “you will never be healed of the traumatic violations of your childhood, because if you were meant to be freed from them, they would have been erased from your psyche upon your conversion.”

Though it is true that some wounds require healing well into our Christian maturity, it is also true that you will find ultimate deliverance, freedom and healing from these deep violations, wounds, tragedies and failures.  For though it is true that your wounds mold the very character and nature of the ministering agent within you, thus granting you the authority to speak healing and wholeness into the same within others; they must yet be released from their residency upon the psyche, and they must be freed from harbor within the soul. 

Your healed wounds, seasoned with the anointing of the Holy Spirit, can be powerfully used to minister to those who suffer like injuries.  The sensitivities created by your wounds therefore lay the foundation upon which one can see into the wounds of others.  However it is these very elements of sensitivity and vulnerability of the same that make for a prime target in the form of return-visits from the evil one.  And his evil visitation most often takes on the form of graphic reminders of how you may have contributed to the near destruction of your own life, to include the near destruction of the lives of others.  Guilt, shame, despair and ultimate despondency then creep-in and quench the flame that once fueled your vision for the fulfillment of the Lord’s call upon your life.

We’re all accustomed to the phrase, “the bottom line.”  Could we not so call the last chapter, in the last book of the Bible, the bottom line?  Consider this: Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city (Rev. 22:14).  This in close association with: He who overcomes shall inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son (Rev. 21:7).

Note the verb tense in “wash” (Rev. 22:14).  This denotes an ongoing process versus a one-time transaction.  This to say that when you soil your robe, or when your robe has been soiled by any means, you must simply wash it, again, and again, and again, each time it is soiled.  And for your persistence in this washing, you will in fact receive the very right to the tree of life. 

It is crucial in understanding then, that persistence is the vital key in our overcoming.

If you’ve been a part of the family of God for any length of time, you have heard reference to Philippians 3:13-14, which reads: Forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on…toward the upward call…

During the past three years I have observed literally thousands of figurative prisoners set free from deeply seated psychological and emotional wounds, in one moment (forgetting what lies behind), through the revelatory gifts in action.  And just moments later, through the same gifts, I have seen these very people affirmed in their gifts, callings and ministries (pressing on and embracing the upward call).  I have observed this process take place within the context of but a few minutes time as my wife and I have shared the supreme privilege of delivering a message representative of the two primary tenants in Philippians 3:13-14; a message delivered within the context of itinerant visits to churches throughout the Midwest and Southeast.

By the day, it has become increasingly clear to me that God is truly in the business of healing, delivering and recomissioning the wounded and battle-weary Saints among us, for the pointed purposes of equipping and training the final generation of the Army of God. 

As a former U.S. Navy sailor who also trained quite extensively with Marines, I can tell you that it was the battle veterans that had gone before us who molded we new recruits into battle ready form.  With their scars, their pain lines around the eyes, war stories and wisdom, they possessed the battle-ready savvy or “grit” which had to be imparted to each individual within the amphibious assault group I represented.  And with this analogy in consideration, I trust that you the reader have begun to feel the stirring and rekindling of your tremendous worth and purpose in getting back on the saddle, and getting back into the fight.  For there is presently an enormous army of young recruits being groomed for the final hour, that need the very training, mentoring and modeling you can provide.

Having surfed the Southern California coast for nearly twenty years, it was quite traumatic to ultimately move to the Midwest, a move resulting in a nine-year withdrawal from the sport.  To then in recent years return to relative nearness to the Carolina coast, I’ve returned to the sport with passion that even surpasses that of my teen years.

Upon my recent return to the sport, I have discovered that surfers are now surfing a number of spots around the globe that are actually producing waves in excess of 60 feet in height.  In fact, at the writing of this article, just a few days ago a man was awarded $60,000.00 for riding the biggest photographed wave of the year, which measured an estimated 66 feet in height. 

I am now aware of three locations around the globe that are producing the largest ridden waves in surfing history.  In addition to this phenomenon, consider that within the past twenty months (of the writing of this article), the earth has sustained the deadliest combination of frequency and intensity of earthquakes in recorded history.  Add to this a shocking crash in the stock market in recent weeks, followed by a tremendous wave of job lay-offs; economic turmoil throughout the globe; world attention upon the tiny nation of Israel at an all time high; and as of just a few days ago, a volatile political stand-off between the United States and China, and we now have the makings of what one might very well consider the stage-set for events leading into the final harvest—a prelude to the final conflict.

The signs of the times have never before been so clear, colorful and obvious. One might consider events such as these, that representative of end-time contractions, not unlike those that precede the birthing process.

We are in fact heading toward a final battle.  And I believe a heavenly military draft has been actuated.  The young recruits being drafted cannot ultimately face battle until the battle veterans are in place, governing boot camp and grooming battalions.

It is time to press on, and to re-embrace your upward call.  And in doing so I can think of no better analogy than that representative of the lives of three men who embraced and embodied this concept at the birth of the 20th century.

The early 1900s represented an era in the United States largely known as the “Industrial Revolution.”  During this period three economic magnates collectively and single-handedly fueled the United States economy and thrust it into a rate of growth and health that has yet to be paralleled.

These men were Andrew Carnegie (steel industry), J.P. Morgan (banking and finance), and J.D. Rockefeller (oil industry).

At the height of the ultra successes represented in these three men, a young and bright journalist become unusually intrigued about the notion of discovering the secret to success which surely had to be resident and common among them. 

Following repeated and persistent requests, this young journalist was ultimately granted interviews with each of the three.  Interesting to note is that neither of the three were aware that the journalist intended to interview the other two at the same time, and with the same quest in mind.

With each of the interviews, the journalist concluded his privileged time by asking one final question.  The question was this: “How do you define your genius? What constitutes your economic genius?”

Each of these men, again, completely unaware that the other two were being presented with the very same question, remarkably, answered almost verbatim, that which was stated by the other two. 

Their collective answers were this: “My genius?  You must understand my good man, that I was born of average intelligence.  I have been given nothing on a ‘silver platter.’  In fact, I have had to work for every thing I own.  I was given no ‘breaks’ along the way.  I’ll tell you how I define my ‘genius’; I have been a miserable failure, and I have lost every last penny to my name on more than one occasion.  I have had everything, everything completely collapse around me.  Yet when it did, I lay there under the rubble, listening to the debris settle over my body, breathing-in the dust hovering just above the floor, and then paused to collect my thoughts.  Shortly following I took in a deep breath, began to gently move the enormous weight of the debris, painfully pulled myself onto my feet, stealthy made my way through the rubble to ultimately find a glimpse of daylight, stood in amazement at the enormity of the carnage about me, took in yet another deep breath, exhaled, dusted off my hands, looked back over the rubble one last time, fixed my gaze skyward and then walked away from the catastrophe and never looked back.  I persisted young man.  This then is how I define my genius: persistence.  Persistence is genius.”

And it is persistence (pressing on) that is being required of you now, dear ones.

You really must forget what lies behind.

If you have been personally responsible for creating the collapse and destruction of lives around you, or for nearly destroying your own; have cried out for forgiveness, cleansing and restoration from the Lord, and have as well asked for the forgiveness of those you’ve wounded, the tasks remaining are one; believing that God’s mercy is much greater than our ability to terminally incriminate and incarcerate ourselves, and two; understanding the supreme importance of seeking the daily renewal of your mind (Romans 12:2), which reads “be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

How do we “be” transformed?  We do it through two very simple means: 

First, we pray daily, without waiver, that God cleanse and renew our minds.  Pray this literally.  Second, we enter into the secret place, the Holy place, the quite chamber of our one-on-one time with the Lord, early morning, every morning, for the remainder of our lives.  This is where the transformation takes place, and this is where the carnage, rubble, destruction and associated loss and pain is healed and restored.  This is the place where we are given the grace to forget what lies behind. And this is the place where you are given the grace to press on and to embrace the upward call, again.

The glorious annals of those who have gone before; the countless martyrs who with their very lives have laid each stone in the pathway that has led to the religious liberties available within many parts of the world today, are filled with examples of those who have given significant portions of their lives to entering into the Holy Place of one-on-one time with the Lord—first thing in the morning, each day of their lives.

The accounts of Corrie Tin Boom, within the Nazi death camps; the accounts of Madame Jean Gouyon having enduring tremendous persecution and imprisonment; and the accounts of Viktor Frankyl, yet another of the Nazi death camp survivors, tell tales of those who have found solace and sustenance in the practice of crying out to God in the wee hours of morning—long before the masses about them have begun to stir up the vain and agonizing repetition of the drudgery within prison life.

Madame Jean Gouyon especially, paralleled also by the likes of Basilea Schlink, cultivated a life of early morning prayer that so saturated her day, that it was said of onlookers that she often resided in a state of heavenly presence that was unaffected and unaltered by any measure of opposition within the context of a given day.

Surely Madame Gouyon was but following the example and pattern set by our Lord, so clearly established in scripture: And in the early morning, while it was still dark, He arose and went out and departed to a lonely place, and was praying there (Mark 1:35). 

Yet long before the earthly life of Jesus, this pattern of early morning prayer was gracefully modeled by King David: In the morning, O Lord, Thou wilt hear my voice; in the morning I will order my prayer to Thee and eagerly watch (Psalm 5:3).

I have always likened the practice and the experience of early morning prayer and quite time as that symbolic of climbing a mountain—coming closer to the face of God with each step.  In this light I can think of no more colorful representation of this process than that represented in Moses as he regularly ascended Mount Sinai to seek the face of God: …Be ready by morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to Me on the top of the mountain (Exodus 34:2).

Later in this chapter we observe the result of Moses’ time with God: …It came about when Moses was coming down from Mount Sinai…that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with Him (Exodus 34:29).

Moses’ encounter is also a profound representation of the purist form of ministry we can engage in within our lifetimes—the very ministry unto the Lord.  And once we have served Him in this way, within the context of a given day, everything else that transpires within the course of the day as it unfolds bares His trademarks and semblance (“his [Moses] face shone”). 

With this Holy radiance emanating from our faces following our meetings with God, face to face; whether we then go on to count toothpicks for a living, or speak to a crowd of 100,000 thousand unsaved hearers within the context of a day, we are equally fruitful as Gods very nature has affixed itself to our being, and we then conduct His “ministry” regardless of what we put our hands to. 

Just prior to Moses’ encounter with God on Mount Sinai, the Lord explains the profound benefit of Moses’ obedience herein, which equally echo’s the endless blessing of the same for us, if we will but do likewise and ascend this mountain each morning: Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand…(Exodus 33:21-22).

Is it not in the very “cleft of the rock [Jesus]” that we long to dwell?  For this cleft can and will sustain us from the most hideous of wounds, and will as well keep us safe from the self destructive course of the thoughts and feelings which so permeate our minds following our grave failures.

We can find this cleft, and we can enter-in, through the simple practice of early morning prayer, quite time and devotion.

As I seek to draw to a close my plea for your entrance and presence into this quiet chamber, I wish to allude to an excerpt of a timeless statement made by the late Dietrich Bonhoeffer concerning the place and practice of early morning prayer:

“The entire day receives order and discipline when it acquires unity.  This unity must be sought and found in morning prayer.  It is confirmed in work.  The morning prayer determines the day.  Squandered time of which we are ashamed, temptations to which we succumb, weaknesses and lack of courage in work, disorganization and lack of discipline in our thoughts and in our conversation with other men [and women] all have their origin most often in the neglect of morning prayer.”

While “underway” (out to sea) and behind the wheel (as a Helmsman) in the U.S. Navy, I often found myself enduring the dreaded “mid-watch,” a watch duty of four hours in length, which spanned the dreadful hours of 12:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m.  Once relieved of such duty, I would then have to awaken at 6:30 a.m. to begin the standard workday, itself often lasting twelve or more hours.  Yet as dreadful as this mid-watch was, I recall countless occasions when despite my extreme fatigue, I would realize the supreme silence and stillness of the night.  It would dawn on me that all that I could hear was the subtle drone of the “screws” (massive underwater propellers), the gentle breaking of a glassy wake at the bow of the ship, accompanied also by an occasional and distant murmur of a fog horn from another seagoing vessel.  I also knew that 99% of the ship’s crew was fast asleep.  And though I felt such a tremendous amount of responsibility, I would sometimes lose the weight of such, and feel as if I had entered another realm of some sorts.  What I didn’t realize at the time; was that I was being met and wooed by the very presence of the Lord in those hours.

If you are representative of 97% of the workforce in the United States, as well as many other developed nations, you find yourself fast asleep during the wee hours of 3:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m.  And within your sector of society, the world itself seems fast asleep.  Your conscious mind has resigned for the night.  However your subconscious mind maintains antennae—which grope about like the sensors on a snail’s head—absorbing elements of the spiritual activity waged about you as you remain in such a vulnerable state. 

In this state the evil one will often seek to visit and torment us through nightmares, and through other dark invasions and intrusions.  We can actually pray protection from these dark visitations over our minds prior to retiring at night.

Yet in the same context, and within these very hours of deep sleep and subconscious vulnerability, I have found the Lord most active in my life and in the lives of others; first in the form dreams, and secondly, through gently awakening us, and prodding us to rise and seek Him.  Job 33:14-16 reads accordingly: Indeed God speaks once, or twice, yet no one notices it.  In a dream, a vision of the night, when sound sleep falls on men, while they slumber in their beds, then He opens the ears of men, and seals their instruction.

If you will pray for His visitation in dreams, and will pray for His visitation to beckon you to your knees deep in the night, He will be faithful, and will ultimately grant you such encounters with Him.  When this does occur, I encourage you to muster ever fiber of willpower at your disposal, and crawl out of bed long enough to receive His Holy download.  And in doing so, you will receive His transforming grace; a transforming that will enable and empower you to forget what lies behind.

There is not a Believer among us who has not visualized the awesome fulfillment of being used in miraculous ways to save, heal and deliver the lost and broken among us.  Equally so, there are few among us who have not “earnestly” pursued the spiritual gifts (I Corinthians 13:31) in such a way that we hunger and thirst for daily opportunities to be used of God in the measure that He has gifted and anointed us.

I am no different in this pursuit to be used of God.  Yet in all my pursuing, and following two decades of such the pursuit, I’ve come to a place wherein more than anything else, I simply long to be of encouragement.  For if we can but simply leave a meager deposit of encouragement in another, we are feeding the eternal purposes in an individual who has been made in the very likeness of our Creator; and a person of infinite worth. In this light, loved one, I sincerely hope that in some measure I have found a way to encourage you through what I’ve shared. 

If I had the time and space, I would have expanded upon the horrendous pain and trauma I’ve endured in my 40 years.  Yet suffice it to say that I have experienced your pain, dear one. I have fallen to the depths of pain and agony that can bring human beings to the very brink of the willingness to cease to exist; a measure of grief wherein one can actually give themselves up and cease to live, through sheer will.  And yet in and through the dark valleys that I have crawled, Mount Sinai has always been within view—standing as a beacon of hope, healing and restoration.  And this mountain calls out to you as well. 

Forget what lies behind; press on; begin ascending this mountain in the early morning, forsaking fatigue and resignation to life, and enter into that “cleft” in the rock that will not only renew and sustain you from now until the fulfillment of your assignment on earth, yet will also propel you into the fulfillment of the calling, ministry and destiny that has been affirmed in you over so many years.

You’re going to make it, loved one.  There’s an army of young eyes looking to you for guidance and equipping.  The call is going out.  Will you embrace it?

Remember - Your input is welcomed & encouraged!