Living Our Future
We were born again to do something on earth, not to go somewhere, like heaven, according to Psalm 115:15-16, “May you be blessed by the Lord (legal owner), the Maker of heaven and earth. The highest heavens belong to the Lord, but the earth he has given to mankind.”
We have an assignment here on earth, and the final statement will be “Well done!” Not “Well Waited!” Or “Well Said!” That’s why we have to do something. People don’t change, until they are angry. We have to get out from our dull thinking or on the stage of doing nothing. Paul got hold of his assignment, what he was born to accomplish? Jesus apprehended Paul for this, even when he felt he was not qualified or had issue of self-concept, like the past prophets of long ago. What did Paul have to forget? The thought of murder. Like Moses was a murderer and a fugitive. Who am I? Moses was dealing with self-concept issue. He was struggling, when God was sending him to do his assignment in Egypt because of what he did in the past. Remember, God does not hold our past against us because our future is too important to Him. Thank God for forgetting.
It’s after our tragedy that God begins our greatest work. If we fail, then it’s our choice because we decided not to succeed. If we lose, then we decided not to win. We must be like Paul, forget! What is behind us? Our past imprisons our future. Nothing lives more within us than our past. It’s always there and it haunts some people, like a shadow hanging around them. It’s always ready to paralyze or stop our future. Constant threat to the dreams or vision, we have in our hearts. This stronghold must be pulled down!
Let’s break down the key, law or principle of forgetting our past, so we can enter our future. In Isaiah 54:4, it says, “Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.” First, Fear not! What do people fear the most? That they will repeat their failure. People don’t try because they’re afraid, like President Donald Trump said in his book. Our past failure doesn’t mean it’s guaranteed, we will not fail again, but it’s an opportunity for us to learn from our old mistake. Then, God said, “you will not be put to shame.” Shame is not a permanent condition. Every success in life will fail. However, don’t quit! If we understand life, then we understand failure is part of success. It’s part of the components that make success happen. God said, not to be afraid and ashamed because that’s when we decide to maintain our failure. When we see our failure as an opportunity to begin again, then it’s a temporary experience. If there’s no pressure, then there’s no progress. If you’re going to be successful in life, then there must be an agreement that you are going to live it. We don’t want life to live us, we want to live life. Life has everything we need, but we have to go get it.
Life is like Goliath, always threatening us. It will even call us names, like you’re lazy, slow, stupid, weak, timid, etc. We have to prove to life, we are not! People who failed decided to fail. Nobody fails without their decisions. That’s why God never accepted anybody in the scriptures as a failure. Like Gideon thought he had everything figured out. The Lord ignores his weaknesses because God knows what he put in him. He thinks he’s a coward, but God said, “You are a mighty man of valor!” God will always contradict our own conclusion about ourselves, like we have no influence, I’m the weakest in my family, I’m nothing, and so on. It’s our experiences that depresses, confuses or disgrace us. That’s why God said, “neither will you be confounded or disgrace.”
One thing I’ve learned, we don’t grow in good times. Forgetting is an act (action) of the will (decision). Memories don’t go away, we send them away. Like Moses and Paul have chosen to forget. They acted to forget, then they decided to create new memories. We can use our past as a testimony. Never confuse our events (divorce, incest, thief or a killer) with our life. Or our experience with our work (becoming yourself), who we are or our potential. Our potential with what we did. Our value still exists. We can’t lose it. It’s up to you, if you want to be a person of value or influence. You’re worth more than what you’ve done. It’s the value of the thing, not what happens to it. Our best memory will drown out bad memories. You will it. Creating new memory makes it easy to forget. Use our past to push us to our future that’s how we know we don’t remember our past. We are not free, until we can use our past to our advantage. Our past is conquered, when we can use it as a testimony. Use it as an illustration. If not, then we are still not free. Like Moses and Paul, they admitted they killed people in their books. They can talk about it, so they are free! When we are free from our past, we can use it against the devil. Do you know you can drown out your memories by being busy with your future? You will forget the shame of your youth. Reproach is a sense of shame, guilt, sorrow, sadness or regrets. Forget what you felt because it’s not true. God wants us to feel worthy again. The problem with forgetting is remembering. That’s why we have to use our memories in a way that we will forget. We use our memory as a testimony, and then we forget the validity of our memories. Now, you’re ready to conquer your future! Decide today! Grace (Holy Spirit) is with you! Peace!
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