Your Yesterday Doesn't Have to Determine Your Today

Morning all.
I just wanted to share something with you that the Lord revealed to me during my quiet time this morning.

Philippians 3:12-14

"I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us."

"Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead..."

Doesn't that sound great? Freeing? Exciting?

It does to me.

Do you realise what Paul is saying here?

Because of Christ within us we can live free of the past and be hopeful of what lies ahead of us in the future.

The past no longer has a hold on you, child of God. 

When I read this verse this morning I realised that so many of my thoughts and attitudes are based around events that happened in the past. My experiences - my past experiences - or, more accurately my perception of those past experiences have been shaping the way I live. That's not wrong or abnormal, in fact everybody does it, it's just that the negative memories hold me back, causing me to be ineffective and defeated. 

But do you see that those mindsets are just an illusion?

We are not ineffective! We are not defeated!

Romans 8:37 tells us that overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, and in 2 Peter 1:3 we are told that God has already given us everything we need for living a godly life.

You + God = VICTORY!

I know it's not just a matter of blocking out the past and being unwise - it's about deciding that the past doesn't have to determine your future.

Your yesterday doesn't have to determine your today.

When we allow the experiences of the past to affect us today we are taken hostage by DREAD.

Dread is a debilitating emotion based on fear and worry, and the reason why we dread (well, why I dread) is because we are calling on past experience.

We dread the dentist because of past experience.

We dread having awkward conversations with difficult people because of past conflict.

When I was pregnant with our second and third daughters I was over the moon except for the fact that I knew what I had to go through when it was time to give birth! I didn't have that dread with our first daughter's birth because I had no prior experience to call on.

Your future is so bright, don't tarnish it by prematurely deciding that there is no hope. 

Forget what negative lessons your past has taught you.

This is a fresh new day and God has great things planned for you!

Please come again soon.

A bientot,

XRebecca

Are You Having an Identity Crisis?

Hands up all those who have ever wished they were someone else?
Perhaps someONE else someWHERE else, doing someTHING else!

We've all done that at one time or another, especially when we've just done something embarrassing and wanted the ground to open up and swallow us whole!

How we see ourself plays an enormous role in our day to day life. It affects our decisions, our relationships...it even affects the way we treat ourselves.

Where does our identity come from?
Most of our self-perception is established in early childhood, coming from our family of origin.
It was here that we experienced love or indifference; acceptance or rejection; security or dysfunction.

It's not only home that gave us messages about ourselves.
Society - and the media that manipulates it - bombards us all with the statement, "If you were a successful human being then your life would look like this".
Our life doesn't match the images on the screen or in the magazines (even the models themselves don't look like that), so we spend the rest of our lives desperately trying to fill the aching void within us with stuff that never truly satisfies...an eternal quest for the one thing that will bring us peace, joy and fulfillment.

I want to tell you that Jesus Christ is the only way to get that peace, joy and fulfillment you are desperate for.
He died on the cross to take away the guilt and shame you feel about yourself, and to pay the price for your sin. He died to give you freedom!
And just as He was raised to life again, so we too can have new life in Him.

When we make Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour, repenting of our sins and asking His forgiveness, something incredible happens.
Everything that is true about HIM, then becomes true of YOU.
When we become God's child we are adopted into His eternal family (Ephesians 1:5), valued as His precious creation (Ephesians 2:20), and nothing can separate us from His love (Romans 8:35).

It's been said that "your who determines your do", and that applies whether you are saved or not.
Seeing yourself  in the light of God's Word and promises is key to living successfully.

Romans 12:2a says,

"Don't copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think..."

Don't let another day go by without taking hold of the life-changing truths found in God's Word.
Hallelujah! Rejoice child of God!

A bientot mes amis,
XRebecca

For a list of identity statements you can print off, go to http://www.ficm.org/newsite/index.php?command=textwhoamiinchrist