God wants you going forward
You have a challenge of seeing yourself the way God sees you.
As you see yourself, so others will see you.
The command is to walk, or live, by what God has to say about you, not by the opinions of man.
You cannot conquer what you don’t confront, and you cannot confront what you don’t identify.
Psalms 34:4, 7, 15, 17, 19;
4 I sought the Lord, & He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.
7 The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them.
15 The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry.
17 The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles.
19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.
Choose to live free of guilt & shame.
How do I do this?
Invite Jesus to go with you to your painful past
The bible tells of a story about 3-friends of Jesus: Martha, Mary, & Lazarus.
Lazarus died, & by the time Jesus arrive his body was wrap & trap in the tomb.
Lazarus sisters were all mourning.
Their emotions were scattered; they were confused, angry, & sorrowful.
Jesus said to Martha the oldest of the three;
John 11:34 And He said, "Where have you laid him?"
Jesus did not ask Martha to tell Him about Lazarus’s illness, death, or burial. He said “Show Me”.
Jesus says the same thing to the person who has experienced death in part of your soul. “Show Me”.
God asks the person to revisit that scene in your memory so He might heal that memory.
How?
We are to cast down every imagination that is not alignment with God’s highest & best for our lives.
2 Corinthians 10:5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,
We cast down the horrible memory in our life by inviting Jesus to the scene.
I don’t know the pain you may have felt in the past.
I don’t know when part of you died.
But I do know this: if you invite Jesus to that memory, if you show Him that scene & invite Him to enter it; He will give you a now word for your past pain.
His now word to you will be one of healing & restoration.
He will revive the part of you that died in that old memory.
Take Jesus to the place where your heart was broken.
Take Him to the place where the crime or trespass against you was committed.
Take Him to the place where you sat in abandonment after being rejected.
Take Him to the place where you heard the stinging criticism that cut you to the core.
Ps. 147:3 He makes the broken-hearted well, & puts oil on their wounds.
John 11:25-26
25 Jesus said to her, "I Am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.
26 And whoever lives & believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?
John 11:43 Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth!"
John 11:44 And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Loose him, and let him go."
The person who was dead came forth.
The Son of God, the voice of eternity spoke and called him forth.
There was no way he could remain in the grave, no power that could hold him there.
He came forth... • immediately • obediently • just as he was
The person who was resurrected received the personal attention of Jesus. Note the attention & the thoughtfulness of Jesus: “Loose him, & let him go”.
Allow Him to be with you & heal you.
Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
God is omnipresent. He is outside of time.
He is just as real in the past as He is today.
He is just as real in your past memory as He is in your present thinking & feeling.
Jesus desires to rewrite the script of your life so that it’s not about human failure, but divine success.
Isaiah 43:13 From time long past I Am God, and from this day I Am He: there is no one who is able to take you out of My hand: when I undertake a thing (plan), by whom will My purpose be changed?
Reject regret & self-pity
Chose to forget the words of criticism that were aimed at you, or the cutting remark that was made about you.
Chose to think about times in which you know you did well or experience words of praise or encouragement.
Chose to focus your thought life on those things that are challenging, positive, & worthy.
Take charge over your memories & your thought life.
Immerse yourself fully in a new project, a new dream, and a new opportunity.
Don’t waste your time with “what if”.
Nothing is accomplished by living in a memory.
If you continually to rehearse the old thoughts about, what might have been, or what should have been, your likely to become discouraged & very likely won’t do anything to improve your own situation.
Your discouragement today will become the “what if” and “if only” state you will dwell upon tomorrow.
The truth is your future is brighter than your past!
There nothing so dark that God’s light can’t shine into.
There’s no pit so deep that God can’t lift you out of it, dust you off & clean you up, & send you down the road toward a good goal.
Philippians 3:13-14
13… but one thing I do, letting go those things which are past, and stretching out to the things which are before,
14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
I go forward to the mark, the reward of the high purpose of God in Christ Jesus
Turn your face toward your future
Yesterday is in the tomb. Today is in the womb.
What you are intimate with today is what you will birth tomorrow.
What you think about & dream about in the secret place of your own heart is what will give birth to your future words & behavior.
There is nothing you can do to change your past.
You can, however, have a serious impact on designing your future.
Mark 11:22 So Jesus answered and said to them, "Have faith in God.
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, “declares the Lord, “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, Plans to give you hope and a future.
Isaiah 43:18 Give no thought to the things which are past; let the early times go out of your minds.
Isaiah 43:19 See, I am doing a new thing; now it is starting; will you not take note of it?
