Get Out of The Past

Posted by Christina Scovone on Sunday, January 24, 2010

Hello My Friend/Guest,

Today is Saturday January 23, 2010 and we are reading through the Bible in a year. Today's message comes from the reading of the Book of Exodus, chapters 17-19. If you would like to read the chapters along with us here online you can Click Here to read them or copy & paste this URL onto your browser: http://www.readytofollow.com/bible-january-23

Title: Get Out of The Past

Okay, so you had a pretty good life, made a good amount of money, had a great job, house, car, pretty much everything you wanted. Then all of a sudden life gets completely turned upside down. Years pass with no real progress as you constantly remind yourself of what you had and try everything to get things back to the way they use to be. If I have learned anything over the past several years it is, that no matter how much we try to get things back to the way they were, it is, in fact, the past, and we go no where while we remain in it. Of course, it is good to reflect on the past in order to remind us of where we were, but we should not let the past determine our future. Holding on to the past keeps us from seeing the wonderful blessings waiting for us, that go beyond what we had. The Israelite's are a prime example of this, while they were in Egypt they became accustomed to living as slaves, they were not happy about it, but in a sense they felt secure to have food and a roof over their heads. Now, all of a sudden, the life that they had been accustomed to was turned upside down and here they were walking through the wilderness heading toward the promised land. The sad thing was that they could not see the blessings that were before them because they would not leave the past behind them. “And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the LORD, and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink. Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the LORD? And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?” - Exodus 17:1-3. By now they should have realized that God would always be there to provide them with there needs, yet every time they faced an obstacle the first thing they would do is remind Moses of what they had in Egypt. How were they going to see the promised land if they could not even leave Egypt behind them?

Why do you think God would lead His people to a land without any water or through any obstacle for that matter? He wanted to show them that all they had to do was trust and depend on Him and He would take care of them. “And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.” - Exodus 17:5,6. Moses hit the rock and water miraculously came out of it. If that is not a clearer picture of how God provides for His people than I do not know what is. You know, we can get so accustomed to things as they are that we forget that God is with us and in order for us to come to that realization He will send obstacles our way. Think about it, when everything is going our way, do we spend more time with God? Probably not. In most cases we do not even realize what we are doing, in fact, we tend to depend on Him less because we get a false sense of security when things are going well. Coincidentally, the same thing can be applied to our salvation. It is amazing, the second we accept Christ into our lives the Holy Spirit begins working in us and convicting us, which keeps us away from doing certain things. Of course, now God and Satan are fighting to keep us on their side, so we face obstacles, which either strengthen or lessen our faith in God. Praise God though that once we are saved, we are always saved, so if we fall away from God, we will not see Satan in hell, but God in heaven. Those who are led by the Lord must expect to encounter many unexpected situations that will test their faith in the faithfulness of God. Job or emotional stress, discontent, fault finding, hate, jealousy are all evidence of the flesh demanding its own way, but, more seriously, they are expressions of distrust in the wisdom and goodness of God. It's easy to praise the Lord when our needs are quickly met, but it gets harder when we are faced with problems. However, faith is not based on favorable circumstances, but on the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is time to get out of the past, whatever you have been through, it is time to let it go, if you want to move forward in life and see blessings beyond what you ever have seen, you have got to stop living in the past. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” - II Corinthians 5:17-21.

Enjoy the rest of your day/night and God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina

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