I want to pass on a piece of sage advice I was given. “If you keep looking back, you’ll keep repeating your past mistakes in the present. Instead, choose to learn from those mistakes as to not repeat them in the present to gain victory in the future.”
Fish don’t know they are wet. You only know what you know when you know it. You based your past choices on the information you had at the time. You can’t do anything about your past decisions, because they’re in the past! The only thing you can do with your past decisions is to put them through the FREEdom process today: get at the lie in your thinking, exchange it with the truth from the Word; and then exercise that truth in the Spirit’s power today.
Instead of beating yourself over your past mistakes or bad decisions, learn from them so you don’t repeat them by making better choices in the present. Power through your past rather than relive it. The choice is yours today.
Set “FREE” Nowww
Messes Turned Into Masterpieces
Let’s not leave Firstfruits/Resurrection Day (aka Easter) so quickly. Yesterday we celebrated the fact that Jesus rose from the grave on the “appointed day” God set out in Scripture. It was on this day that we gain the hope that the second death will never touch us and quite possibly the first death as well.
Yet, we must die to ourselves every day. We must choose to die to the area(s) in which the Spirit is convicting us. As we do and choose to exercise the truth by faith in the Spirit’s power, we will experience the freedom and victory over death that Jesus promises.
I love what one author said, “What an amazingly loving and sovereign God we have! He turns our messy life into a masterpiece work of art as we let Him do the work in and around us.” Turning the messes into masterpieces starts with surrendering that area to the FREEdom process. What will your begin and/or continue to surrender to Jesus today?
Set Free Now“W”w
Ready or Not, Here I Come?
Grace is No Fool’s Joke
God told the Israelites that they would enjoy many wonderful things if they listened to and followed Him, one of which would be rain. He also said He would withhold that rain if they didn’t.
Thus, what should the conclusion be if it didn’t rain for one year? Oh, it’s just a dry year. What if it was dry bones for two years? Hey, something’s up. I’m starting to get real hungry. Now, what’s up if the drought went on for 3 years and half years? Hopefully, you’d come to your senses. I must not be listening to and following God.
Israel was staring at idols, which in this case was Baal, the god of the sky and rain. The one true God was trying to get their attention by withholding the rain. All they needed to do was repent, ask forgiveness, start listening and following and the rains would return.
God did His part to get them to return to Him; and yet out of love, He went a step further. He sent Elijah to get their attention (1 Kings 17-18). This is a wonderful picture of grace. God went over and above the call of duty to bring the Israelites back to Himself. He is the source of the good stuff, which in this case was rain for their dusty land and water for their thirsty animals.
God, out of His tremendous love and grace, is pursuing a deeper relationship with us. He brings challenges our way just like He did with the Israelites (Hebrews 12). And like the Israelites, we determine when those challenges will stop. We must decide to get rid of what is between us and Jesus. God’s grace is no April 1st joke. He is that serious about a relationship with you. And, He has and will continue to go to great lengths to draw you closer to Him. Return at the first sight of pain and discomfort, rather than after three and half years!
“S”et Free Nowww
What Are You Staring At?
You’re erecting walls between us. I hear this all the time in marital counseling. It’s usually one partner blaming the other for their marital problems.
Do you know that God has this same complaint against us? We’re erecting walls in our relationship with Him by putting idols before our faces. An idol is anything or anyone we turn to rather than to Jesus to meet our needs (i.e. our drugs of choice).
Ezekiel writes, “When any Israelite or any alien living in Israel separates himself from Me and sets up idols in his heart and puts a wicked stumbling block before his face…I will set my face against that man.” (14:7-8)
Idols are in our hearts, not just some statue; and yet, they block our view of or separate us from God. In essence, they become a wall between us blocking Him from meeting our needs.
So ask yourself today, what are you staring at – Jesus or something or someone else? Let the Spirit point out your walls, so you can take them down in His power using the scriptural FREEdom process.
It’s your choice – you can stare at the wall or you can stare into the most loving pair of eyes you’ll ever see. Let’s pray for each other to make the right choice!
Se“T” Free Nowww
I receive all kinds of newsfeeds from around the world. Most of them have to do with Israel as she is the center of prophecy. Jesus said on the day He rode down Mt. Olivet on a donkey that if the people had only known of His coming on that donkey, they could have saved themselves tremendous heartache. They didn’t; and 35+ years later, Rome destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple (Lk. 19:41-44).