29 Sep Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way (Because Tenacity is a Necessity to Fulfill your Destiny) Part 20
Over the last number of weeks we have given you our key verse from II Timothy 1:7, “For God has not given you a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind.” Then we began to teach “10 Truths Toward Tenacity”:
- Tenacious people don’t’ waste time feeling sorry for themselves (Rom. 8:31).
- Tenacious people don’t hand the reigns of their emotional well-being to another (Phil. 4:4)
- Tenacious people embrace change (Ps. 55:19)
- Tenacious people don’t waste energy on things they can’t control (Phil. 2:14).
- Tenacious people are not people pleasers (Prov. 29:25).
- Tenacious people are courageous (Joshua 1:6-9).
- Tenacious people let go of the past (Phil. 3:13-14)
Please allow me to share “6 Life Lessons to Let Go of the Past”:
1.) Never let what you did define you. God hates divorce, but He loves divorcees. If you have gone through the tragedy of divorce, remember it was an event…not a lifetime. Don’t let it define your today.
2.) Never let what was done TO you define you. My mother grew up the oldest of seven siblings. Her father (my grandfather) was a raging alcoholic. He was a very mean drunk. He would often come home in a drunken stupor, would find my mom and then go and grab his shotgun. He would tell my mom, “I’m going outside to shoot the dog and when I return, I’m going to shoot you!” He would then go outside and shoot the shotgun up in the air. Of course my mother did not know that and she would be terrified as she thought she was next! Can you imagine what this would do to a young girl emotionally? Thank God my mom decided a long time ago that she was not going to be a victim but a victor. She was the first one to be saved in our family. She was able to lead most of her siblings to Jesus, her mom and even her alcoholic father. Without my mom, I would not be writing this to you today! She was determined not to let what was done TO her define her!
This week let us continue with…
3.) Always let what Jesus did for you define you! If you know what He did for you and therefore how God sees you in Christ…it will allow you to respond to life from your position not your condition!
4.) Admit it! Quit it! Forget it! The Bible tells us, “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy” (Prov. 28:13). If I confess and forsake my sin (see also I John 1:9), I will find mercy. Isn’t it fun when you find something wonderful you were not expecting?! My son and wife were walking on the beach a few years ago, and it was low tide. Because of the low tide the ocean waters had receded leaving only a few small tidal pools behind. My son spotted an object floating on top of one of the little tidal pools. As he approached, to his delight, he discovered it was a twenty dollar bill! I don’t know about you, but when a 9-year old finds a twenty dollar bill it’s a big deal (when a 53-year old finds a twenty dollar bill it’s a big deal!). He was not expecting to find something so wonderful. In the same vein, when we sin if we confess and forsake our sins, we might expect to find condemnation and judgment, but to our surprise we find mercy!
5.) Don’t nurse it. Don’t rehearse it. Disperse it! The Bible tells us in I John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The Greek word translated “forgive” means to remit permanently. The Greek word translated “cleanse” is “katharizo”. We get our word catheter from it. A catheter is something that drains the poison from a person. When we confess our sins, God permanently remits our sins and drains the poison of it from our lives! Don’t nurse your sin or rehearse your sin, but disperse your sins by confessing them!
6.) One thing I know about yesterday…it ended last night!
Next week we’ll continue our series.