LEAVING YOUR PAST BEHIND
We, as people of God, tend to be very concerned about our past. We judge ourselves and others according to where we have been. We determine our future based upon things we have suffered or just experienced. It is sometimes difficult for us to appreciate what God is doing for us and where He is taking us because of our pasts.
This type of mentality is detrimental to our spiritual growth. My daughter once preached a message entitled “Get Past Your Past”. In this message, she talked about how the enemy uses our past to take our present out of focus and distort our future. Another minister friend of mine stated: “We are more concerned about our past than we were when our past was our present.” (Pastor Marc Smoot – 2006) We wait until our present becomes our past before we become concerned enough to make necessary changes or even desire to change it for the better. It can be a vicious cycle because we find ourselves stuck in our past and never entering into our present - not to mention looking to the future.
I am finding more and more that we like to carry our past troubles around like a badge of honor. We have the air of “Look at me; I am a child of God. See how I have suffered.” We carry it like an alabaster box and hold it close to our bosoms, when God is asking us to break it at His feet. We think that no one will think of us as being holy and sanctified if we have a constant smile upon our face. This cycle must be broken. Jesus states in the Word of God that :
“No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62)
One might ask the question, “How do we break this cycle of living in the past?” After all, hind sight is twenty-twenty. The Word of God tells us that we are snared by the words of our mouth. (Proverbs 6:2) We need to be like the Little Engine That Could going up hill saying “I think I can. I think I can. I think I can.” The words coming out of our mouth should be all positive. We should be saying to ourselves, “even when there are things circling my stance in God; better known as, circumstances, God can and He will make a way.” My Pastor, Donald A. Wright, preached this in a Friday night prayer meeting. We take life too seriously. Sometimes, we take life too seriously for good cause. Our experiences in life, or our past, is the only point of reference we have, therefore, everything we think, feel or know is based on that reference. Some things are serious, but we have a God who tells us to cast our cares on Him. (1 Peter 5:7) We need to rest in the love of God and trust Him completely. I believe that is what Paul meant when he wrote:
“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14.)
We cannot continue to live in our yesterday. We must press forward.
Therefore, from this day forward, I say, “No more!” I’ve had enough of the long-face. I’ve had enough of the heavy, hung-down head. It is past time to lift up my head because I am a gate. I am an everlasting door and the King of Glory shall come in. The Lord strong and mighty is the King of Glory. (Psalms 24:7-9) Therefore, I must open myself up and let Him in so He can shine forth and then my life will give Him Glory.
The things that have gone wrong in my life may or may not have been MY FAULT, but, nevertheless, it is MY RESPONSIBILITY to cast them over on the Lord. God is faithful and just. He has not let us down, nor will He ever let us down. If we are going to walk this walk, we must trust the Lord to make the right decisions for our lives, or what is the use? I can truly say like MaryMary, “I cried my last tears yesterday.”
I am stepping out of my past, standing in my present and looking forward to my future.
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