Reviewing YOUR Past.......

[traveller]

"I may not be where I wanna be, but I'm NOT where I use to be!"

Have YOU ever said that statement before, or heard others say it? I often wonder if we REALLY know what we're saying when we do? Ever thought about that?? Well....have YOU??

Until YOU sit back and honestly look back over your past (even as recently as yesterday), you can NEVER appreciate what GOD has done in YOUR life (not anyone else's) before and after YOU became HIS Child. When I look back over my own life, I stand in amazement that GOD would love someone like me (think of the words to the song, "Amazing Grace"). When you really take time to think deep thoughts and remember what you were like BEFORE you ask JESUS CHRIST to become your LORD/SAVIOUR you will then begin to see patterns that our FATHER has woven into your life.

Don't ever get to the place in your Christian walk where you begin to get complacent, and think to yourself, "I've finally arrived". THAT is when you ACTUALLY begin to fall backwards. YOU should always FOCUS and REMEMBER how far GOD has brought you, and not just as a fashionable statement to sound "Christian" (or "religious" as the world identifies YOU) around others of like manner. Our FATHER has ordered ALL your and my steps (Job 31:4....Proverbs 37:23-24). Once YOU see and know this, then you can see HIS discipline, exhortation, and comfort, and KNOW that HE is daily moving in YOUR life. Don't ever think, "GOD doesn't understand how I feel". Don't even say it! Isn't HE with YOU every minute of the day?? (1 Corinthians 3:16)

When YOU and I sit and kneel before our FATHER in prayer and LISTEN to HIM (Psalm 46:10), it becomes beneficial for us to remember HIS promises. None of us came from the same past.....HE operates with us ALL differently, which is why it is very important for YOU to remember that you've walked ONLY in YOUR shoes. And not in those of others....remember YOUR past and what HE so graciously and mercifully delivered YOU from.

Remember the ALCOHOLISM HE delivered YOU from.....the DRUG ADDICTION HE freed YOU from......the LYING TONGUE HE freed YOU of......the ADULTERIOUS AFFAIRS YOU no longer have to stay in......the ALTERNATIVE LIFESTYLE HE said you're no longer enslaved to......the DOMESTIC VIOLENCE YOU no longer have to live under or perform......how HE freed YOU from the Power of PORNOGRAPHY.

Can YOU remember in the past the night when YOU were driving home so drunk or drugged that YOU didn't even realize YOU were driving down a one way street the WRONG WAY? WHO do YOU think was protecting YOU??! Do YOU remember when YOU were in the arms of another who wasn't your wife or husband and guilt drenched your inner being?? How about when YOU were FORNICATING prior to marriage (or marriage wasn't even a possible issue)? WHO do YOU think was grieving INSIDE of YOU??! What about when YOU were "cruising" or driving the "red light disticts" late at night looking for an immoral/illicit affair knowing you shouldn't be there doing so? WHO do YOU think it was shining moral LIGHT on your thoughts (or actions)??!

DO YOU remember these things? Yet when you gave your life to CHRIST HE threw them as far as the east is from the west in the sea of forgetfulness (Psalm 103:12). As YOU and I remember the promises HE has given us in HIS Word, our FAITH should grow and the things we fear should dissolve. HIS presence soothes our fears and frustrations. Don't use the statement I opened this thread with unless you are allowing our FATHER to help you grow through the circumstances HE allows to enter your life. YOU should be remembering the taste only of the "milk of the Word", and be growing on the "meat of the Word". YOU then use your past as your measuring stick.

I don't know about YOU, but I never want to return to my past ways of living. I may not understand everything GOD is doing in my life currently, but I know daily it is changing me more and more into the image of HIS SON, the LORD JESUS CHRIST. Is this how YOU think too? YOU don't learn to appreciate your Christian faith in CHRIST until you occasionally revisit (in thought only) your past. That is when you know beyond a shadow of a doubt just how LOVING and REAL GOD is!

DON'T ever let a great financial job/business or higher formal educational achievements cause you to forget what our FATHER has done for YOU in the past to bring you to where you are in the present. DON'T ever think YOU cannot fall/fail. Some of the saddest people I know have it all together on the outward appearance, but inside of them are all kind of doubts, concerns, hopelessness, and despair. And these are both Christians and non-Christians. For the child of CHRIST I ask for you to please remember where CHRIST has brought YOU from. Don't get upset when HE allows certain failures to occur in your life. These may be your wake-up calls to look, see, and help others around you who you were once just like. Now, GOD has crossed you into their path to be a "LIGHT" or a "BEACON" for them to see HIM through YOU, and to want what HE has given you. Take a bit of private time for yourself, and run your thoughts back. In particular, when you're faced with obstacles that look insurmountable in your life, always remember other times in your past when GOD has delivered you from what you thought was an IMPOSSIBLE roadblock. Remember the times when you thought no one cared, then all of a sudden HE brought someone into your life at just the right moment for whatever the need was. Like a child who is standing in the baseball batter's box, scared to death, looking at the screaming/shouting fans/parents, losing confidence UNTIL the child looks in the stands and sees among the crowd the smiling face of Dad/Mom, who whispers/lip-syncs to him/her, "YOU can do it. Don't worry...when everyone else is booing, hissing, turning their backs on YOU, I WILL STILL BE HERE FOR YOU, win, lose, or draw....remember ME, I will NEVER fail YOU". Review your past.......remember our FATHER's promises to YOU. Then.....thank HIM for the good and bad, the bitter and the sweet, the sad moments and the happy ones, the days of sunshine in your life, as well as the rain....the loud moments and the quiet ones, the hard times and the soft ones. Nothing more.....just Thank HIM and rest in HIS arms!

Look what I found in the archives. Bumping it for those that haven't read it.

[MrLuke]

Yeah I remember quite well - I was possessed and did some crazy stuff but then I'm filled with JOY once I think of the day I was delivered of demons and how I saw Jesus!

I love God, He's great!