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For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God [proclaiming the Father’s own message]; for God gives the [gift of the] Spirit without measure [generously and boundlessly]! (John 3:34)

“Press toward” expresses the idea of pursuing after or follow earnestly. Paul kept his eye on the goal. He did not allow anything to deter him from his goal. This word “mark” has the idea of “the distant mark looked at, the goal or end one has in view.

I run toward the mark, so I can win the prize of being called to heaven. This is the prize God offers because of what Christ Jesus has done.(Phillippians 3:14) The first declaration of the prophecy is that God's presence will be with his servant. He who has called him will not leave him to the task alone. God — of his great power, his glorious majesty, and his purifying holiness. To give their fears and troubles in prayer to God, who will guard them in Jesus, the one who has passed into death and back again. He is the beginning and the end, and everything is always under his control. He commands Israel to not give in to fear because God promises that he is with them. He says he will strengthen and help them and uphold them with his righteous right hand.

I, LORD JEHOVAH, I have called you in righteousness and I held your hand and I have empowered you, and I have given you as a covenant to the people and a light to the nations. (Isaiah 26:3)

And He shall stand and shepherd and guide His flock In the strength of the LORD, In the majesty of the name of the LORD His God; And they shall dwell [secure in undisturbed peace], Because at that time He shall be great [extending His authority] [Even] to the ends of the earth. (Micah 5:4)

You made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet. (Psalms 8:6)

He makes my feet like hinds’ feet [able to stand firmly and tread safely on paths of testing and trouble]; He sets me [securely] upon my high places. (Psalm 18:33) God's word teaches us that faith is the expression of our confidence in God's promises and His work in our lives.

Confidence is defined as a feeling or belief that one can have faith in or rely on someone or something. To persevere requires confidence in God, and unless we remain faithful to the end, we shall not receive the rewards God has promised.

God Himself is also our “great reward.” This reward is not because we maintain our confidence; rather, it is the retaining of the confidence that allows us to receive God's promises. Persistent faith in God is the condition for receiving eternal reward. Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. (Hebrew 10:35) Lord grant us a strong sense of faith in You, knowing that You will always be there with us as we rise day to day.

James taught the relationship between faith and works. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. So too, faith, if it does not have works [to back it up], is by itself dead [inoperative and ineffective].

But someone may say, “You [claim to] have faith and I have [good] works; show me your [alleged] faith without the works [if you can], and I will show you my faith by my works [that is, by what I do].” You believe that God is one; you do well [to believe that]. The demons also believe [that], and shudder and bristle [in awe-filled terror--they have seen His wrath]! But are you willing to recognize, you foolish [spiritually shallow] person, that faith without [good] works is useless? Was our father Abraham not [shown to be] justified by works [of obedience which expressed his faith] when he offered Isaac his son on the altar [as a sacrifice to God]? You see that [his] faith was working together with his works, and as a result of the works, his faith was completed [reaching its maturity when he expressed his faith through obedience]. And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND THIS [faith] WAS CREDITED TO HIM [by God] AS RIGHTEOUSNESS and AS CONFORMITY TO HIS WILL,” and he was called the friend of God. You see that a man (believer) is justified by works and not by faith alone [that is, by acts of obedience a born-again believer reveals his faith]. (James 2:17-24)