Thursday, November 20, 2014

Day 300 - There Is No God In the Past

Thoughts on Michael Wells’ teachings in My Weakness for His Strength - # 114
         
Michael’s book is available through:

Abiding Life Ministries International
Littleton, Colorado
(303) 972-0859       www.abidinglife.com

Notice:  this email is part of a BLOG, called Living Life With a Capital “C”Why a blog?  So that many can receive the weekly thoughts I express on Michael’s writings in an easy manner.


Michael speaks of a very interesting aspect of LIFE…TIME: past, present, and future.  And, he brings us to the point of having to acknowledge in WHAT time of our life are we living.  And his vast amount of discipling gives record of the drastic hindrance (if not, damage) that “living in the past” does to any individual.  Thank you, Michael, for drawing our attention to this!



DAY 300

There Is No God In the Past


He again fixes a certain day, “Today,” saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, “TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS.” --Hebrews 4:7

Man for sure possesses the present and, in a certain measure, the future. Man does not possess the past, ever! If we choose to live in the past, we choose darkness and we exclude God, for He will not move to the past with us. Therefore, every time we venture into the past with our mind and emotions, we venture there alone. In fact, God calls us, always, to move from the past, for to dwell there is to find ourselves in a place where there is no hope. The Jews were in the world without a hope. That is, they were trusting in the things of the past--the law and the security of ritual and formula—and neglecting what God was bestowing on them in the present, which is Jesus. 

Does it not make sense that God wants to be the God of the NOW? We speak of a personal relationship with Him. How can a relationship be personal if it is not a current relationship? To move into the past is to move away from God, and it is sin. Many today are counseled to relive the past in order to mourn over it and work through it; they are even warned that if they do not, their life will remain in constant turmoil. If the past created my problems, why would I want to return and spend time there? In my office I spend up to one hour looking at the past of an individual. The only reason is to bring understanding of its impact so that the person need never go back to it. Living in the past will always thwart growth, not something enjoyable to anyone.

In the past we all had wonderful successes and terrible failures, times of great joy and unbelievable depression. Fine, but now what? Today hear His voice! God says do something today and do not live out of the past, where it is true we provoked Him, but I refuse to discuss that. I want to discuss today. Yesterday is no excuse for today! Many use it as such. “I cannot love today because of emotional hurt yesterday.” “I cannot give today because of all my rejection yesterday. I need to take.” Experience what it means to be a person walking with God daily, a present activity. Not only do we walk with Him, but He walks among us, all in the present. Leviticus 26:12, “I will also walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people.” We need never allow the enemy to steal the present by moving us to the past, and the past is anything that happened before you read this article.

Yellow – VIP, Very Important Point      Green – IT, Incredible Truth        
Red – GP, Greatest Promises
Turquoise – UR, Unfathomable Riches           Pink – PV, Priceless Victory


It is interesting to do a word study through the Strong’s Concordance and find all the verses in the NT that involve “past” or “present,” and phrases that draw upon those time frames.  It is quite apparent that God is interested in man “getting past the past” and living in the present, with a hope to the future.  Period.  The Apostle Paul is one of the most prolific preachers of “today.”

Michael gives us some outstanding principles to get into “today”:
           If we choose to live in the past, we choose darkness and exclude God, for He
will not move to the past with us.   

God calls us, always, to move from the past, for to dwell there is to find our       ourselves in a place where there is no hope.

To move into the past is to move away from God, and it is sin.  If the past 
          created my problems, why would I want to return and spend time there?

               Yesterday is no excuse for today!  Many use it as such.

               Experience what it means to be a person walking with God daily, a present
          activity.

          Not only do we walk with Him, but He walks among us, all in the present.

          We need never allow the enemy to steal the present by moving us to the past,
          and the past is anything that happened before you read this article.

Now…which do you choose?  Walking with God…or, with your past?  I thought so…


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Lee McDowell Christian Ministries
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