PAUL

We have utilized the Word of the Lord in 2024 to open our hearts and spirits to RE-ESTABLISH what God desired for us to build and continue to build.

Then, in 2025, we obeyed the Lord as He told us to XPAND our thinking, increase our faith, and XPAND our abilities.

We have come together, learned much, and begun to apply it not only within our own four walls but by going out and reaching out.

This year, I believe we will APPREHEND that which He is calling us to do.
THE MEANING OF APPREHEND
From the Greek word katalambano (Isn’t that a fun word?), meaning:

• to take eagerly
• seize
• possess
• attain
• come upon
• comprehend
• find
• obtain
• perceive
• overtake

To understand what this means for us, let us look at what Paul taught in Philippians 3.

Philippians 3:3

For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.

Right from the start, we must realize that it is only by joining what Heaven has given us—the precious Holy Spirit—that we can fulfill what God has called us to do, individually and corporately.

Paul goes on to explain that if anyone could have relied on natural wisdom, status, or zeal, it was him.

Philippians 3:4–6

4 Though I also might have confidence in the If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so:
5 circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee;
6 concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

But when Paul recognized what was truly of heavenly value, he shifted his entire life.

Philippians 3:7

But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.

He counted all the world had offered him as loss. That word means detriment! It wasn’t just of no value—it was holding him back.

Oh Church, let us start this fast right! Let us understand that even our natural abilities, status, or influence are nothing if Jesus is not at the center.

Paul continued to explain the true pursuit:

Philippians 3:8

Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ.

This is why I love Paul so very much. In the world’s standards, he looked as if he had “made it.” But when he awakened to the fact that there was a heavenly alliance waiting for him, he saw all that as rubbish—it had no eternal value.

Philippians 3:9

And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.

Notice his heart; he wanted to be found in Him. Not by his works, but by faith.

That is how Paul apprehended God’s will for his life—a will that changed his world, their world, and ours.

Philippians 3:10

That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.

Can you hear Paul’s desperation?

I pray we share that same desperation—the kind that comes from longing to do whatever it takes to know Him (Jesus) and to walk in the power of the Holy Ghost.

To operate with the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead—to be so fully aware of Him that we no longer care about the cost. Whatever it takes, we must be willing to lay down our lives and pick up the life Jesus gave His for us to have.

Philippians 3:11

If, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

To die to self is to resurrect from our dead ways and step into heavenly partnership.

The Holy Spirit—the very third Person of the Godhead—has not only been sent to us, but upon our salvation, He lives in us.

Oh, how I long to grow in the knowledge of that Heavenly Alliance! I pray that all of us do, for He will teach us all things.

Philippians 3:12

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.

Even Paul was never satisfied with where he was in his understanding of what Christ had made available. We must never stop pressing in—or pressing on. If we do, we become stagnant or complacent.

When you exercise and start feeling better, it’s easy to skip days at the gym. What happens? You lose what diligence built. The same is true in our walk with God.

The Church must decide to live for God and keep pressing into Him—to press on to accomplish what has been assigned to us.

This is not a “have to.”

This is an invitation—an invitation to experience Heaven working through you, to enjoy the opportunities God opens for you to walk through.

This brings joy, purpose, and the fulfillment of your deepest desires—because now your heart beats with His.

Philippians 3:13

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.

Don’t measure your status by past accomplishments.

We all have “wins,” and we can thank God for them—but we can’t live in yesterday’s victories. We must also forget our failures, and even the failures of others that have hurt us.

Give them—and it—all to God, so you can reach forward to the future He has prepared.

Philippians 3:14

I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:15–16

15 Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.
16 Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.

If we don’t have this mindset, I pray—as Paul did—that God will reveal it to us, so we can move forward together in unity.

When we recognize what we must do and how we must do it, we will walk in one accord.

PRAYER
Oh God,
Please help us not to take this time lightly, but to be determined that this fast will change our lives…not for a few months, but for a lifetime.
Thank You for giving us the opportunity of Heaven’s Alignment.
Help us push aside distractions that keep us from being perfectly Aligned with Your heart and Your assignments.
I pray that every hindrance clogging Heaven’s perfect flow through us will be broken NOW, in Jesus’ name.
I pray an anointing over these pages—that they will come alive with the Holy Ghost’s agenda, and that Your fire will fill our hearts, so that we may become the Church You intended us to be.
Amen

WORSHIP/VIDEOS
Steffany Gretzinger – Knowing You

Chris Tomlin ft. Steffany Gretzinger – O Lord You’re Beautiful