Day 140 - Living in the Present - Future

I had to work today. It was day number 18 of work this month, one more to go tomorrow. I really hate working on Sundays. I didn’t mind it and didn’t worry about being of since we were having night services at church. I figured if I worked in the morning, I would make church at night. If I worked at night, I would go in the morning. But we stopped night services for the summer a couple of weeks ago. It messed me up because I was already scheduled to work these last two Sunday mornings. So I missed church again today. Well I really wanted to hear a good message and a friend had given me a CD of Graham Cooke’s titled “Legacy”. She said that I would enjoy it and I did. But it’s one of those messages that you have to hear a couple of times to get more out of it. I did get a couple of points that were very applicable to me right now. There are many more points, but I will have to go back and dig them up later.

Ever since Julia’s death I have been fighting with the desire to stay in the past and live there and the knowing that I have to press into the future. I have written about it an many occasions. I must live for today with my eye on the future rather than my eye on the past. Really, that is how we all should be living. But the problem is learning how to do it. How does it work? I’m still learning and my struggles and successes are well documented. What Graham says is that living in the “present future” is living in your present identity but calling your future destiny into the present to help you. I know that sounds strange, but don’t aren’t we told to speak to things that aren’t as though they were? If we know what God Has called us to be. We know who we are to become then we need to begin to step into that identity even before it has manifested. Our focus needs to be on how to become who God has called us to be. Bu focusing on how to become, we begin to be. In other words, we have to cooperate with Holy Spirit.

Abraham was 100 years old, Sara was in her 90’s. The promise of a son still had not happened. Abraham and Sara had to look past what they saw as reality and call fort what they knew to be their destiny. Part of that looking toward their destiny was to cooperate with Holy Spirit. They had to have intimate relations with each other even in their advanced age. It’s more than just believing. It’s taking action on your belief. This is giving me definition on some things that I have been dealing with in the outskirts of my thoughts. I have to learn to be more proactive about my destiny. Ever since Julia died, I have known that in order to get Divine Justice, I had to fight. But fight what? I know we have to fight the enemy, but we have to fight much more. I have to fight my own compliancy sometimes. I have to fight my own self-doubts and the lack of significance from the past. I heard a phrase on TV tonight surgeon said that surgeons could often be wrong, but never have doubt. That goes for us in the Kingdom as well. Sometimes we will miss it, but we must never doubt that we have the authority to go after it. I still have the passion, but time is critical. I want to make an impact on the world. Yes I said the world, not just Marietta or Atlanta. No not even just the US, but the whole world.

We all will leave footprints, how big they are I believe consist of two things. First the destiny and race that God has called us to, and second, what we do to fulfill that destiny. It’s not about how many people, or how big a ministry you have. The real question is when I am gone, did I do everything to fill the footprint that God had designed for me to fulfill. If I have done that, then I will have done well. So that’s my goal. First, to understand what that footprint is; second to see how big it is; and third to cooperate with Holy Spirit to fill it in the remaining time I have.

So I am choosing to live in the present future. I live in the present. I live today but I live today looking at the future. In that way, the future begins to shape how I live today. The focus of my life becomes today and not yesterday. The past is part of my inheritance that will help me, but the past is still the past. I must, and will focus on the future in living my life. The future is what will shape the present. I know I am saying the same thing in different ways, but as I write this, I’m trying to get it. I think that I am getting it, but it is an ongoing process and I will continue to come back to this theme as the year progresses. If we can get this, we will be propelled into our destiny. So I need to spend more time looking over all the prophetic words I have and seeking to know more about my destiny. I will have to make time tomorrow after work to spend some quality time with Holy Spirit. It should be a good day.