Text: Philippians 3:13-14

Joe Torosian

“Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

As a Pastor, I’m always in the midst of “Miracle Talk,” whether regarding someone’s health, an election, a terrible financial situation, or a horrible family tragedy.

In recent messages, I’ve mentioned that when you don’t think God is working, know that he is working—working, invisibly, according to his will and not yours. 

And that can explain why we don’t always see what we want to see.

As I shared yesterday (Sunday), we can fall into the trap as believers of expecting God to miracle us out of the situations we’re facing.

We want a burning bush when it’s already been done. We want to see the ocean part when it’s already been done. So we wait and see, and our whole life becomes, wait and see.

The scripture above is about pressing on—miracle or no miracle. It talks about pressing on in the face of everything. Straining, moving forward.

When a team gets serious on offense in a football game, it forgoes all the french pastry, which means it dumps the cute, deceptive stuff. Including long heaves of the ball downfield hoping for—wait for it—a miracle. 

Instead, the offense brings in two tight-ends (double-tights) as blockers and starts to grind by running the ball down the enemy’s throat. Relentlessly, play after play, they keep running the ball.

When this tactic is successfully employed, confidence builds. The enemy tires, and a depressed attitude sinks in. The enemy–the defense–discovers it has no answer to the grinding being inflicted upon it.

And the offense, the team running the ball down the enemy’s throat, learns that it doesn’t need a miracle to reach its objective. It only needs to press on. It only needs to go to double-tights and keep punishing the defense over and over again.

The encouragement here is obvious to see.

Don’t wait around for a miracle. Do I believe miracles happen? Absolutely. But until then, I’m going to line up in double-tights and run it down the enemy’s throat—through the relentless grind of faith, prayer, study, and fellowship.

The enemy to our faith, the enemy trying to stop us, cannot stand against us when we get focused—forgo the need of a burning bush—and press on.