The first week of January God began to speak to me through the phrase, “It's words (the Word) that matters most.” You can read the archived post with this title here on the blog. There were several key scriptures I was led to read and jot down in my journal. Among those were Ephesians 4:29, Deutoronomy 30:14, I Thessalonians 5:23 and especially the following scripture....
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, oh Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.”
After viewing 8 messages on DVD about the brain, which focused on the concept of renewing the mind, I was then led to pull out the book Battlefield of the Mind by Joyce Meyer. As I look back on the first three weeks of January 2012, I can see God's leading each and every step of the way. As Joyce shares in her book, “you must think about what you are thinking.” I was becoming more focused on just how powerfully our thinking influences our attitudes and beliefs, influencing our actions and behaviors and ultimately becoming the framework of our lives. So many problems in our lives are rooted in wrong thinking patterns. Satan offers us wrong thinking but we don't have to accept the offer.
This morning God took me one step further in my own journey as I listened to a teaching by Creflo Dollar titled NO MORE FEAR. I was getting my coffee in the kitchen when the teaching began. I heard him say, “Turn to Psalm 78:1-10.” It was at that moment... his first words... I knew God was about to take me to a new level of healing. For quite some time now I've been attempting to write a book and one of the scriptures that was the basis for my writing was Psalm 78:1-10. You can read this passage in several translations at http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=As the teaching began, I soon discovered the focus was going to be “letting go of the past and pressing forward to your future.” In verse 9 it says, the children of Ephraim were armed and carrying bows, yet they turned back in the day of battle. Before the thirty minute message was over, I was certain the battle for myself and many others is in these two words...
“Turning Back”
I'd like to share my notes and thoughts so that we can all defeat FEAR in our lives and PRESS forward to God's high calling.
Panic or fear is unrealistic ground...no support for it... no reason.
How do we allow ourselves to walk in groundless fear?
Satan HAS to get you in your past to move you into fear.
Look where you have been …
a failure
hurt and wounded
abused
cheated
You will start thinking about these things and begin to expect the same. Fear of the future is based on what happened in the past. But with God, failure in the past does not mean failure in the future!
Philippians 3:7-17 (the whole thing is so amazing but let's focus on verse 13)
“....but one thing I do [it is my one aspiration] forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.”
How many times have I read this scripture and even made an attempt to put it into practice. But this morning, I saw for the first time how deeply our thinking is involved in the PRESS as Satan opposes us in our thoughts about the past.
Thoughts of ….
Guilt
Shame
Condemnation
Failure
Unforgiveness
Bitterness
Resentment...
These are all rooted in the past. I cannot doubt if I don't even consider past.
I can't be envious, jealous, unforgiving, afraid to have relationship..... if I don't consider the past.
Faith is based on Future but
Fear is based on the Past....
In Luke 9:62 Jesus says, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back [to the things behind]
is fit for the kingdom of God.” (I'd like to add a note from the message I listened to... “doesn't mean not fit for heaven.. but now fit for kingdom, victorious living.)
Isaiah 43:18 “Remember not the former things, consider not....God is doing a NEW thing.”
Genesis 41:51 Manasseh meaning “forget the toils”
Ephraim meaning “fruitful”
Had to be a Manasseh before there was an Ephraim
So you've failed, been abused, wounded and hurt, cheated...
Get Up!
Micah 7:8 “Rejoice not against me, O my enemy! When I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light to me.”
Let go of the crutches, the story of abuse, the wounds, the wrongs done to you...
It almost killed you but PRESS! Tell the story in Victory...
God has new things, new mercy, new victories...
PRESS FORWARD!
Genesis 19:17
Don't become a pillar of salt... stuck, stranded, paralyzed in the past.. Escape for your life..
Do Not Look Behind You....
Ten years can come and go and you will be in the same place.
Paul got it and he wants us to get it too...
He'd persecuted Christians but he said these words...
“I've wronged no man.”
This was his statement of faith and it can be ours too...
FORGETTING THE PAST... PRESSING FORWARD... NO REAR VIEW MIRRORS... ALWAYS FORWARD...GOD IS DOING A NEW THING...
PRESS!!!!
