Further Up, Further In! Phil. 3:14-15AMP (Vision 2025)

Let’s go further in His kingdom, and further into His glory. (For Aslan!)

Let’s consider the Last Battle, by C.S. Lewis.  It’s last chapters, chapters 14 through 16.

An excerpt from Chapter 14, Night Falls on Narnia:

“Peter, High King of Narnia,” said Aslan.  Shut the Door.”

Peter shivering with cold, leaned out into the darkness and pulled the Door to.  It scraped over ice as he pulled it.  Then, rather calmly (for even in the moment his hands had gone numb and blue) he took out a golden key and locked it.  

They had seen strange things enough through that Doorway.  But it was stranger than any of them to look around and find themselves in warm daylight, the blue sky above them, flowers at their feet, and laughter in Aslan’s eyes. 

He turned swiftly round, crouched lower, lashed himself with his tail and shot away like a golden arrow.

“Come further in! Come further up!” he shouted over his shoulder.  But who could keep up with him at that pace?  They set out walking westward to follow him. 

An excerpt from Chapter 15, Further Up, Further In:

“Then he breathed upon me and took away the trembling from my limbs and caused me to stand upon my feet.  And after that, he said not much but that we should meet again, and I must go further up and further in.  Then he turned him about in a storm and flurry of gold and was gone suddenly.”

And, from Chapter 16, Farewell to the Shadowlands: 

“Of course, Daughter of Eve,” said the Faun, “The further up and the further in you go, the bigger everything gets.  The inside is larger than the outside.”

Everytime the phrase “further up, further in” is uttered, in the ending chapters of chapters 15 & 16, the characters experience something or encounter someone more grand than the last or the surprise is bigger than the last; and it never ends but continues until Lewis decides to end the story because this wasn't the end of Narnia but actually it's beginning. Just as it will be when we get to heaven. Until then we have been blessed with the Holy Spirit here on earth and with it we can go from glory to glory through His power until Jesus returns to take us home. This is the goal we run towards. We run further up and further in. (These are the last days.)

Phil. 3:14-15amp

 I press on toward the goal to win the [heavenly] prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

[15] All of us who are mature [pursuing spiritual perfection] should have this attitude. And if in any respect you have a different attitude, that too God will make clear to you. 

Acts 2:17-21 AMP

[17] ‘And it shall be in the last days,’ says God, ‘That I will pour out My Spirit upon all mankind; And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, And your young men shall see [divinely prompted] visions, And your old men shall dream [divinely prompted] dreams; [18] Even on My bond-servants, both men and women, I will in those days pour out My Spirit And they shall prophesy. [19] ‘And I will bring about wonders in the sky above And signs (attesting miracles) on the earth below, Blood and fire and smoking vapor. [20] ‘The sun shall be turned into darkness And the moon into blood, Before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes. [21] ‘And it shall be that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord [invoking, adoring, and worshiping the Lord Jesus] shall be saved (rescued spiritually).’ [Joel 2:28-32]

Spoiler alert:

In the Last Battle (the last Narnia book in the series) Susan never returns, furthermore you never see Susan again after the second book Prince Caspian. Why? Because unlike Lucy and Edmund who are in every story thereafter, Susan gets caught up in the things of the world. Hint, hint. And forgets about Narnia, however Peter shows up at the end of the last battle: Peter never lost his "childlike" faith. Matt. 18:1-6; 19:14

Don't get caught up in this world. In order to go further up and further in you're going to have to let go of the things in this world. (Rich Young ruler, Lk. 18:18-27; Matt. 19:16-22)

The vision for 2025 is to turn our eyes away from worthless things (Ps. 119:37) so that we are not distracted from the goal to win the heavenly prize (Phil. 3:14-15).  We want to go further up in the kingdom and further into your glory this year Lord.  

#prodigalpastor #furtherupfurtherin #Aslan #CSLewis #Narnia #devotional #Vision2025