The past is one of the weapons the enemy keeps using against believers. He knows you are likely to lose focus, become weak, depressed and distracted. So he keeps bringing it up; just when you think you have dealt with it and overcome. It comes up again and again; remember he is an accuser of the brethren.
Have you found that he uses people in your life to bring up your past? Well meaning Christians, friends or family who know your intimate past will throw it at you with the intent to hurt you when you have a fall out!
Well, welcome to the real world. Everyone has a past. Let us deal with it because it will always hunt you if you don’t. It will be used by the enemy to derail your progress each time you are about to be promoted in life. Making a mistake is not the most important thing, recovering from it is.
God never bring up your past, devil does. Once you asked for forgiveness it is done and buried under the blood. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us (Psalm 103:12)
Your past is gone and buried; there is nothing you can do about it. You can’t go back and re-write history. What you can do is make better decisions and choices tomorrow. The earlier you start the better you feel about it.
You cannot enter into your future until you let go of your past. Your past is excess luggage’s that will keep holding you back inasmuch you keep holding on to it. When you keep holding on to the past, you are saying to God I don’t trust Him enough to take care of it. If you haven’t already, then you need to cast that burden unto God (Psalm 55:22). Let him take off the yoke and bear it for you (Matthew 11:28-30)
Be very careful who you confess all to, yes be very careful indeed. Pastors are men/women that can easily help broadcast your past that was told to them in confidence. “Oh Buky you don’t mean that surely?” Oh Yes I do and it needed to be said. Pastors are human beings just like you and I and they make mistakes too just like you and I.
God is the only one that can truly keep your secrets, secret. He is the only one that can also bring true healing to your pain. Please apply wise judgment and discretion before you confess all.
~~~~~~~~~~ THE BIBLE – OUR REFLECTION ~~~~~~~
The bible is our reflection, have you find yourself in there? Study all the great women and men in the bible, they all have a past. Apostle Paul was a murderer, King David, the man after God’s heart organized for a man to be killed, he was also an adulterer. Moses also killed an innocent person. Now lets talk about the women. Rahab the harlot need I say more, she ended up being in the lineage of Jesus.
Who are you in the bible? Who do you identify with? Study them and see how great your future turned out.
I see myself as a combination of many women in the bible. I see myself as the Samaria woman (John 4:1-25) at the well with Jesus who received grace and mercy from God. I was thirsty and He quenched my thirst with the living water. My life has change for the better and there is nothing the enemy, naysayers, haters and people who know my history can do about it.
The Samaria women ended up being a great evangelist for Christ. I will not allow the past to silence my future. My children’s children will read all about it and see the power of Christ in restoring my life for the better. How about you?
I am also the widow who will not leave the unjust judge alone (Luke 18). I am a desperado who has seen the power of prayer and not giving up on God. Especially when He seem silence and not doing anything about my plight.
Even Jesus had a past, really he does? Yes! Remember how Jesus was conceived? Do you think that everyone believed Mary’s story? Even now in the year 2011 that story is still being doubted and refuted. Can you imagine Jesus hearing the gossip about Him being conceived out-of-wedlock? Thank God that He knew who He was. That He is the Son of the Most High God.
That is where you and I need to get to. You are not defined by your past and you are not who you used to be. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come (2 Corinthians 5:17).
One of the best thing you can ever do for yourself is to deal with your past issues and baggage’s. No.1 thing you can do for yourself is give your life to Christ. Secondly, deal with your past and thirdly, love yourself and others.
You cannot love others truly until you deal with your past. Dealing with your past will make you sensitive to other’s baggage; make you humble and not quick to judge. Then you can love others without being judgmental or envious. Because you know that God loves you just the way you are and why won’t you do the same?
In order to take our rightful place without guilt and condemnation, to possess what God planned for us. When you know who you are, you know who you aren’t, so you know how to act.
We must confront our past; avoidance is not making the problem go away and denial is the enemy of growth.
We must make new and better decisions regarding today and all our tomorrows. Stop procrastinating and grow up.
Surround yourself with people who are worthy to take front seat in your life; let go of the old and familiar and embraced the new and unknown.
Recognize and accept that the person you were in the past is not whom you are today. Stop beating yourself up, how much more do you have to? Don’t you think its time to stop today? Stop rehashing the past. Move on into the future. “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past” (Isaiah 43:18)
In the past when well-meaning people decided to bring up my past, usually I end up beating myself up for nothing. I’ve since find a way to deal with it. I remind myself that “My past is news to them but not me”.
If you judge me by my past you’re behind schedule. ~S.Whyte
GOD’S WORD – FINAL AUTHORITY
Remember that only God’s word is final on your life, so hold on to His words. People may try to be the jury in your life but they can’t be the Judge.
I refused to camp in Marah (bitter), I am already at Elim (restoration).
I will not relive the past for their benefit, it might be news to them but it’s not to me. I am not going to keep going round in circles and keep looking back. That is one of the reasons why it took the children of Israel forever to enter the promise land. Stop allowing the regrets of yesterday to destroy the dreams of today.
So wise up and don’t let others drag you back but most importantly don’t drag yourself back there. You can’t change other people mindset but you can change yours.
PSALM 119:89 – For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.
Everything God says about you is final, accomplished and established so forget what men say about you.
GREAT stuff, very encouraging and honest. I refuse to let my past mistakes determine my future but will use my mistakes as lessons to realise my future.. God will help us to keep keeping on and not dwell in the land of shame, oppression, mistakes and regrets. It takes grace and only the blood of JESUS gives it to us. I pray we take courage from God our darling supporter.
God bless you abundantly for the encouragement and changes.
Doz – Preach it sister! His grace is sufficient for thee. Thank you Lord
Hey Buki,
Thanks for this wonderful words of encouragement. This came at the most appropriate time for me. Letting the past go sometimes can be quite difficult, but just like you mentioned, it can be a bad baggage if we decide to hold on. Letting God take control of one`s life after realizing one`s mistake is the best thing to do. For me personally, this is something i have struggled with for a while and am just getting to the point of forgiving myself and learning from my mistakes. I have decided to let go and let God reign in my situations.
This surely came in at the right time for me and am very grateful for you.
May the almighty continue to help us in all that we do.
you just echoed my thoughts shades. sometimes its reallly hard to let go especially when it affects the now life you live but im learning that there is nothing impossible for our God. If you seek him everyday things will get easier. only he should define me ,thanks bukky.
Mbabazi, it is a daily walk with Him, it is a continuous process. It gets easy and easier with every step. God will strengthen us all as we continually cast our burden unto Him.
Shade, Thank you for sharing, I hear you sister and you are absolutely right. 2 things we have to do to overcome our part is forgiving ourself and others. So glad that you are on the right track. Letting go and allowing God to heal us from it is the beginning of our new future. God is faithful and will show Himself strong on your behalf.
Thanks so much for sharing this..I love how u said denial hinders growth.. If you judge me by my past you’re behind schedule. ~S.Whyte
:-) beautiful….
Diamond, Thanks for your comment, have a blessed week
Well done Buky, very encouraging message coming at a time like this when most of us are looking back at 2010 and trying to make the best of 2011. May the Lord continually bless you. For those of us whose past has a constant reminder e.g. scar, illness or even a child, my encouragement to you today is let God be glorified in your life, let your life be a living message and testimony to others about the Lord's love, grace, forgiveness, reconciliation and restoration.
The past is a guidepost, not a hitching post!
(L. Thomas Holdcroft)
It is time to move on!!!
Hey Ayodele, thank you dear friend, How are you doing? I love your quote "The past is a guidepost, not a hitching post by L.Thomas Holdcroft. Have a blessed week.
sister mi , thank you for this post , for months i have been dealing with' am not good enough for God' issue , it as if my past is hell bent in dragging me back to its shame and I have been so tired and exhausted but God has been so good, comforting with His words and telling me over and over about His love.
The past has claws , it can destroy , and the greatest weapon the devil uses with his lies ,but he has failed because no matter how terrible the past may be , Jesus has died for us and conquered the past mistakes even the future ones
sis, let's continue living for Christ , it's tough but we are able.
Tolu, it may seems like that but thank God we are not moved by our feelings but by faith. We must never buy it his lies and we should continue to seek after God until we start to see His reflection in us. His
Eph 3:16 – I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being
You have definitely nailed it again. It is so hard sometimes to forget about our past and even harder to forget about other people's past especially if you knew them then and not just heard the stories. God is so loving and kind that he does not remember our sins anymore after we have confessed it. My prayer is that God will give me that type of memory loss to the past and unwanted thoughts. I love the quote from S. Whyte. Never heard it before but will surely be my mantra.
Blimey, True talk. It is one thing to forget our own past, it is another thing to forget about other people's. We just have to believe that if God can forgive and accept us then He can do the same for them. God is not respecter of anyone, He has an equal and unconditional love for each person
Steve Whyte is the best selling author of Better Days series. Align yourself and The presence driven Life. I get all his inspirational quote by following him on twitter. A London boy with a big vision, He is a Motivational Speaker, Life Coach, Author & Musician.
LOL at "Pastors are men/women that can easily help broadcast your past that was told to them in confidence."
It is so true o … i know a pastor that regularly betrays confidence. OK he doesn't mention names. But how hard is it to know who he is talking about when he drops identifiers – e.g. a sister once came to me for counseling about her lesbian tendencies. Beautiful sister, works at Apple, has two children, a boy and a girl; her husband is successfully employed at Shell, drives a BMW (specifies model), etc etc … how hard is it for people to know? And even if there were two people who fit that description in the church, some jobless gossips will start speculating – is it sister Bisi or is it sister Bola?
That asides, this rings true, the past is one of the devil's most effective tools for demoralization and killing of dreams and aspirations.
Ola, the past is very effective for sure but God's grace is much more powerful and its available to all. Have a great weekend
Thank you for this article Bukky. A perfect real life example is that of Ted Williams, the man with the golden voice. Although he claims to have stopped using drugs years back, the media still brought up his past to his face and to our own knowledge. Phew! Such is life! But really can we avoid it? Asolutely no! We all have stories to tell. Honestly, if someone told me five years back l would have a history l won't be proud of, l would have told the person he's not wishing me well.
In spite of all the difficulties, heart break, job loss, inner battles we have gone through, God's grace is there to keep, restore and empower us for the future.
Stay blessed!
Ekundayo, Yes I read about Ted Williams and was surprised to learn that he is now back in rehab. We cant avoid the past from being dug up, all we can do is be resolve of it and be at peace. Remember you cant remain in captivity to make others happy. God is a restorer and when we let go and let Him, He fights our battle for us and silence all our accusers.
Yes, God doesn't hold on to our past but the Devil does. I believe holding on to our pasts sometimes hinders our progress in life. We keep on holding to the past even when God is trying to move us forward and to a better place.
EBD – Yes, nothing good will ever come out of holding on to the past. We must continue to let go and let God.
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