A Pastor's Prayer

This Sunday we ended the service with a benediction that was paraphrased from Philippians 3:10-14. Here is a prayer for each and every one of you!

I want you to know Christ--yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Not that we have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at our goal, but we press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of us. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But here is one thing we ought to do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,  we will press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called us heavenward in Christ Jesus.