Appreciate Your Present
Scripture Reading: Philippians 3:13
“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,…”
Appreciate Your Present
Father, I pray that the things that are behind us will release us today, and that you will give a divine deliverance, a divine release from past experiences that have held us in bondage. I pray, Father, for the grace to look at the present and move into the future.
While thanking God and celebrating Him, I want to encourage you like Paul did in Philippians 3:13. Paul said to forget the things in the past and look to the things in front of you now. The present, which is today, is a present from the living God. There are many who would wish that they were alive today but cannot wish anymore because they have died. You are alive.
The present is a present from God and we must appreciate it greatly; open it up fully to enjoy it.
All the potentials in your present must be utilized to bring a greater good to you and to mankind. Pray, “Lord, give me the grace to appreciate my present, my current circumstance, the reality that is before me now. Give me the grace to appreciate that I am alive and that I can read. Give me the grace to appreciate my children, my family, my spouse, my environment, and my neighbors.” Even if you are single, in your single state appreciate the present that God is giving to you. When you appreciate your present, then you can use it as a stepping stone to your future, which will be a better present that will take you from glory to glory. Your present is precious. Do not waste it; spend it wisely. Forget the past; forget the things that did not work out yesterday; forget about the things that keep pulling you back.
Do you have old friends with whom you cannot pray, who do not think like you, but you keep going back to them because you were very close in the past? You are no longer in the past. The main reason Christians can’t appreciate their present is that they are locked in their past. My prayer for you today is that God will give you a divine release from your past and make you comfortable in your present state.
Many of us are clinging to old relationships. We hold on to people who do not even think of us or remember us. We put them first; we put them above Jesus. Today is your day of deliverance. It is time to let that man, that woman go. May
God give you the grace to move forward today. Proverbs 27:10 says, “…better is a neighbour that is near than a brother far off.” Many of us are bound to people who are not near us, who are far away. We wake up in the morning thinking of them. We think of them but do not even say good morning to our neighbors. We are so obsessed with things that we cannot reach, that we do not appreciate the people around us.
Paul tells us to forget the things that are behind and to reach forward. Say good- bye to the past and reach forward in the name of Jesus. Embrace the present and begin to look around, to see the people around you with new eyes. With sincerity in your heart, appreciate people, greet them, compliment them, shake their hands, hug those you can, and give presents when you can. Spend this time well; forget the past and appreciate the present in the name of Jesus.
Prayer Points:
Lord God Almighty, in the name of Jesus, I pray that you deliver us from every bondage: the captivity of our past, the captivity of negative memories and activities that still bring tears to our eyes. Father, I pray for the grace to appreciate the past, but ask for the ability to call it what it is, the past. May you give us the grace to move forward, to appreciate our present and positively anticipate our future in Jesus’ name. Amen.
