Rewriting the past

The past can be altered by the present, and the future is shaped by our past.

In other words, your whole life can be thrown off track simply by the way that you perceive what was.

Our past journey with God is essential to moving forward, especially in seasons like we are currently in.  Even the smallest testimony of His goodness must be held onto and embraced as it truly was.  The moment we let in the lies of Him being late, or not providing enough, or always filling our lives with pain, is the same moment our journey begins to leave His path for us.

There’s a reason why Paul talks about gratitude in all situations and seasons.  Gratitude allows me to see everything as purposeful and useful for God’s kingdom.

We read stories of the persecuted church and martyrs around the world who were tortured and killed and yet never lost their faith in Jesus or their belief in God’s goodness.  How is this possible?

How is it that some can go through tragedy and come out stronger, and others seem to come out buried by their hardships?

It truly begins in our minds.  Our perspective.  And this begins to be shaped in our childhood.  We are not all afforded upbringings that are conducive to the Kingdom of God and His perspective, but that is what is so amazing about salvation and sanctification.  It is the moment of stepping into a new beginning, a new opportunity, and then the journey that makes this new revelation a reality in our lives.

But, make no mistake, you cannot keep the misguidance from your youth willfully and continue on the journey with Jesus.  It is one or the other.  It is His kingdom and His will and His path.  Any other belief is a deception that comes straight from the deception in the garden and seeks to elevate us up to a level of being the god of our own lives.

And honestly, if this is the path that you would prefer, then that is your choice, but do not attribute Jesus to any of it, for your own sake, and for the sake of His kingdom.

I wrote a blog a while back that is a short story called, ‘Pieces of Jesus’, which touches on this topic in story form. You can find it by clicking here.

I am learning in this season what it means to make ‘The Lord my refuge’ (Ps.91). To come in under His covering and allow Him to work out all the details of my life, and although it is difficult it is also necessary, for so many reasons.

But, getting back to rewriting our past.  This is why journaling can be so helpful, because it takes us back to those moments where God came through, and reminds us of what we experienced in that moment.  The enemy will try to place the feelings that you had prior to the breakthrough over top of the whole situation and drown out the elation you felt at the moment when you were on the other side of the trial.  He will try to steal the testimony, simply by overshadowing the story, through connecting your negative feelings and perspective now, to those painful situations of the past.  And before you know it your whole past journey with God and with others looks very dim; like this whole time what you’ve endured has stolen from you and what you wanted or expected out of life.

This is what we must guard our hearts against.  It is the seed of ungratefulness and it will grow weeds all across the garden of your heart.

It is time that we become really good gardeners.  That we wake up each morning and remind ourselves of God’s truth above all else.  Otherwise, we will be deceived and we will walk down a path of destruction.

When we give our lives over to God and allow Him to lead us, we find that the abundant life that Jesus spoke of exists all around us, no matter our circumstances.  If you want The Abundant Life, no matter what surrounds you, then there exists no other way than to die to yourself and your desires and follow Jesus.

What’s funny is that our flesh screams at us to not go this way because we will never get anything good out of life.  And yet, for all the times we’ve followed our flesh and come out empty-handed, it’s still so easy for us to listen to that voice.

It’s time to step out onto the water, in faith, and walk to Jesus.

This is what I will be pursuing this week, will you join me?

-To tend the garden of my heart and guard against as well as pull out weeds of distrust, doubt, fear, depression, lust, greed, counterfeits, etc.

-To work through my history and make sure I see my past pain the way God wants me to see it.

-Forgive those who have hurt me, and remove my judgment of them and release it to God.

-Work hard at what has been given to me to do right now.

-To ask God how He is doing, and wait and listen for His response.

It is a journey we are on, let’s make each step count for The Kingdom of God!

I wrote a song years back called 'The Gardener' dealing with this issue of caring for our hearts.  You can listen to it here.

I also address this issue of the garden of our lives, in my latest book, 'Before the Clock Ticks'