What is next?

Anyone who is moving with purpose in their growth and life in God will ask this question from time to time. How do I get there? is often the next question we ask once we know what is next because we have never been there before. We need to know what to do, what changes to make, what things to expect. Thank God we are not left to our own abilities to figure it out. Otherwise, most of us would be tossed to and fro by winds and currents and never get a bearing on directions and goals that bring us into new, exciting and productive dimensions of life. Here, then, are three realities that bring us to the knowledge of the next and how to get there.

1. The knowledge of who Jesus Christ is in you
"...the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord" (Phil. 3:8) is the first thing that we need. Seek to know Jesus Christ, for out of our knowledge (relationship and interaction) will come everything else we need. This is always our starting point. If we need a breakthrough, we need to know Jesus in a greater way. If we need new ability, or anointing, or supply for anything, we need to get to know Jesus Christ in a greater way, for he is the source of everything we need. If we need a new vision or purpose for our lives, in him all these things exist. More than that, Jesus Christ is everything we need. The more we know him, the more we know everything else that comes from him.

2. The knowledge of who you are in him
We need to know who we are in him. If we can see ourselves as we are seen, know ourselves as we are known, our self-image will change. It is this personal change of self-image that brings us into the next in our lives. We need to know who we really are in God’s sight and believe who he says we are. Without this change we won’t be able to see what is next. “Be found in him...” (Phil. 3:9)...and seek to understand what is understood of you by Jesus Christ. (Phil. 3:12)

3. The knowledge of who you are for him
“I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4:14) Next is the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. It is the goal that is revealed to us through who he is in us and who we are in him. We press towards the goal that is revealed to us as for a great and precious prize. Our eyes are opened not only to the next but how to get there through Jesus Christ. This is the knowledge that we need: who we are for him, that is, what we are called to do for him. This is the next that we need, and it is freely given as we freely give ourselves to Jesus Christ.

“..Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith” (Heb. 12:1-1)