by Charlie Rogers

Have you ever ask yourself or wondered “what am I here on earth for?” What is my life about, what is it meant for here on earth? Am I just here to go to sleep at night, get up, go to a job and spend my day there, come home and start the same old grind over again each day? Or maybe it seems you’re just here to make money and spend it all at Wal-Mart without using any of it for godly purposes and start the same thing over on the next pay period. Maybe you feel you’re to work long hard hours on a job you dislike in order to make those big car payments; we know God does want us to have a nice dependable car, but all this may seem like an endless vicious cycle. For many it may seem like it and that there is no purpose to our life.

Yes, God does want us to have a dependable car and a nice place to live. But I am here to tell you that there is more to life. There is a higher purpose to all this, there is a higher reason to be here on earth.

Paul said in Phil 3:12-16 Pressing Toward the Goal 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.

We are to press toward the goal, not that any of us have attained fully to that which God wants, but we are to continually seek it out and go toward it all of our life here on earth. What are we seeking out, what are we going toward? We are to lay hold on that, we are to reach out for that which God has laid hold of us for. At times we think that we took God in to our lives and we did receive Him, but He also laid hold of us, for a purpose. In order to lay hold of that in which God has laid hold of us for, we have to press forward.

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.

Paul said in this verse that he didn’t consider himself that he had apprehended it, but one thing he did was he put former things behind. In order to press for toward that goal or to reach and obtain that in which God has laid hold on us for we have to leave things behind. To go forward, to press toward the mark, we have to forget things in the past that would stop us or slow us down. We have a goal, the prize of the upward call of God.

Paul goes on and says in verse 15 and 16 let us who are mature have this same mind and if anybody thinks that they are an exception to this God will reveal it to us especially if we are seeking Him first as the word says in

Matt 6:33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. NKJV

As much as some of us would like not to press forward for His high call, we must because we have been laid hold of by God, we must press forward toward it. As much as some of us would like to hold onto old things, habits, hurts and destructions we can’t. To press on and go forward we have to let go and leave things behind. We should all have this same mind, this same rule, no matter where we are in our walk with the Lord Jesus Christ.

So we are here on this earth for something more, the higher call in God by Christ Jesus. Maybe you have a different higher calling than me or someone else. Yet no one is left out of a higher calling.

Rom 12:3-8 Serve God with Spiritual Gifts For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. 4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. 6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. NKJV

We see here that everyone has been given something by God to operate in whether it is to prophesy, ministry or teach. Maybe you haven’t been called to prophesy; maybe you have been called to teach. Maybe your one of those that has received the calling to provide money for the work of the gospel, he who gives, give with liberality. Maybe it wasn’t to be earned by you to spend it all at Wal-Mart after all. Maybe your one who has been given a gift to show mercy, do it with cheerfulness, never ending. No matter what area it is, you have a higher calling.

Not only have you been given this higher calling, but you have been given the grace and faith necessary to find it and walk in it and fulfill it. Paul said through the grace given to me I am able to do this and with it a measure of faith has been given. Yes, we’re all members of the body of Christ and each one has a different thing to accomplish, but every one of us has been given the grace necessary to do it. I have been given grace for my calling; you have been given grace for your calling, an ever increasing grace. Along with it a measure of faith, faith to tap into the grace provided. ,

Rom 5:22 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. NKJV

It’s by faith that we walk into this higher calling that God has for us. Yes, we may start out with only a leading from God (an inner witness), faith the size of a mustard seed. Then through the laws of the Spirit we can increase that faith and tap into His grace and walk into His higher calling, pressing toward that goal laying hold of that in which He has laid hold of us for.

Phil 3:13-14 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.

We cannot press forward toward that goal of that higher calling with out leaving things behind. I have found it is much easier to climb a ladder or to walk some distance without a load on my back while doing it.

Jesus said, in Matt 11:29-30 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." NKJV

We must leave old things behind to go forward in the things of God, in this high call there is no place for wounds, hurts and destructions. If He said He would take on our burden and give us His light burden and we know He will do what He says He will do, then we have no excuse and we must be able to have it. You notice He said in verse 29 we will find rest for our souls? This is where worship comes into a place in our life which brings about change.

Eph 5:15-19 Walk in Wisdom See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, NKJV

Just as an alcoholic fortifies his soul with alcohol temporarily, we can fortify our soul through worship. We then begin to give up things in our life that then result in permanent change. The heavy burden being lifted and ending up with His burden which is light, His peace, His healing and walking into the higher call of God. We need to walk wisely by beginning to spend time in worshiping God and praying in other tongues that we might know by revelation what is the will and calling of God. In the process leaving destructions from the past with God that we might be able to press forward.

Many people have lost loved ones close to them and have never gotten over that loss or past the destruction it caused, only to let it stop how far they go for God and His high calling. It is time to take the things provided like worship, and begins to put things behind that drag us down or stop us, that we might make our election sure and finish the race to the goal that God has for our life.