Too often we live this life asking ourselves "what ifs." What if I had taken that job opportunity? What if I had become a lawyer instead of a nurse? What would have happened if I had handled that romance differently? What would have happened if I hadn't put my foot in my mouth like that? I don't think this is a healthy way of thinking. It leads to self-doubt and a lack of faith.
Earlier this year my life in many ways fell apart. God tore everything down so He could rebuild it and address the foundations of my life. I am very grateful for the experiences of the past few months but at the same time I have to admit that they were the most painful times of my life. One of the things that were removed from my life was my engagement to a beautiful woman of God. She was the love of my life and I had given her my heart completely. Her breaking up with me was very painful for me. However, God was gracious to me and showed me how even this was part of His greater will and He had my best in mind.
Our wedding date was supposed to be on July Fourth. I spent that day alone. Just me and God. As I sat at Pinkberry, enjoying my frozen yogurt, I looked at my watch and realized that I would have been getting dressed and preparing for pictures had everything happened as I thought they would have. I then heard God clearly say to me that this was the last day I was to reflect on what might have happened. God had closed that door and I was not supposed to wonder anymore. I was not supposed to think about that path anymore.
Too often we live with the mindset of "what ifs". This is an improper mindset. We are not meant to live in the past. We are meant to live in the present. We are supposed to forget what is behind us and to press on towards the goal for which Christ has called us to (Phil 3:14). At the same time we need to address those things that are in our past so that they no longer hinder us. If the past is weighing us down then we need to throw it off of us. One of the ways that we do this is to choose to not live with doubts and second thoughts. We need to allow the refining fire of God to fall upon us in its power and cleanse us from all impurity.
When God sets us free we are free indeed. We are not prisoners of our past or our own mistakes. The moment is now! Peter was not hindered by the fact that he had denied Christ. Paul did not let his past as a persecutor keep him away from his ministry. Paul chose to embrace his identity in Christ and run the race with that mindset. The key is the present. Are you making the same mistakes today? Then ask the Lord for freedom. Are you choosing to live by the old mindsets? Then adopt the mindset of heaven. In heaven there is redemption. God chooses to work with the ones who have messed up and have made mistakes. God is more powerful than your past. He is more powerful than your sin. He is a God of redemption and restoration. His blood covers all.
Some would say that this life of no regrets is wrong. Some would say that it is pride. I say that it is a false humility that says that our sins are too great for God's restoring grace. History is full of God taking the most vile of sinners and using them in His service. To believe any less is to doubt the power of Christ's blood. His blood is the most powerful thing on this earth. And we have been covered by it.
Sometimes God closes a door. When He does we are to look for the open one. Don't think that it is judgement. That is the trap that I fell into. I thought that it was a consequence of my past. In some ways it was- in other ways it was God's grace working in mysterious ways. If we only look behind us then we will never see God opening the future to us. We are meant to take possession of the land that God lays out before us. We are not meant to be experts on our own past. We need to learn from our past so that it will not repeat itself, which is simple wisdom, and press onward. Christ came to set you free! He is not going to beat you up and imprison you again because you made a mistake.
Lord! I thank you for each and every person reading this post. I pray that your Spirit will fall upon them in power right now. I pray that they will be set free from the old mindsets. Lord will you break off the chains of their mistakes. Break off the chains of their past. May they move in the freedom that You have given them. We praise You Lord God! We praise You for You have set us free and we are free indeed. We declare that we will not move back into the prisons of our minds. But we declare that we will walk according to the freedom that You have given us by the power of Your glorious blood. Hallelujah! Amen!
1 comment:
It is regret that keeps us from repeating those sins. If we do not regret our sins than we are not sorry for them.
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