Your Past Does Not Define You

But if we confess our sins to him, he can be depended on to forgive us, and to cleanse us from every wrong. (And it is perfectly proper for God to do this for us because Christ died to wash away our sins.) 1 John 1:9 The Living Bible

Good Morning Girlfriends:

Listening to many people's stories about their past and all the things they have been through is sometimes quite shocking to hear, especially when the person that stands in front of you is not that way. I knew a young fellow, back when I was a teenager, he was a guy that was always smiling, laughing and filled with lots of life and excitement, but on the other side, he always seemed to be getting into trouble. In and out of jail from vandalizing and burning down old buildings, in and out of police cars from drinking openly in throughout the town he lived in, he shared that drugs were usually involved. Admitting that he did not hang around the best of people at the time, it didn't lead him down a very good path in life.

Samson in the Bible was born as God's chosen one that was going to protect and lead God's people to freedom, but that is not what he wanted for his life. Samson had a downfall so to say, he liked women, maybe a little too much, this was his weakness. There were three things that he was not to do, it was known to him and his family. Samson was not do drink wine, he was not to touch dead bodies or cut his hair, he ended up doing all three, and this was a covenant with God. God used Samson for his strength to fight against the Philistines. At the end of Samson's life for the first time he understood what his mission was, even though he had been physically blinded from having his eyes burned out, but spiritually he understood what God had wanted.

In the Bible, Saul was a man who killed the Christians, then when he was on the road to Damascus, he had an experience with the Lord, it was there that he got his life turned around and God used him to spread the gospel. Matthew in the Bible, was a tax collector, who took money from the people, it didn't matter whether they were poor or not, (just like today, really) but Matthew ended up being one of the men that Jesus had called to follow Him.

Girlfriends, whether a person has been in prison, been involved with drugs or being addicted, whether a person was a perpetrator over someone or they were the victim, it doesn't matter. God does not see us the same way the world may see or remember us from years ago. Your past mistakes in life are meant to guide you, not to define you. Everyone on this earth, including the people in the Bible made mistakes. We don't have to pay for our mistakes for the rest of our life, why...because of what Jesus did on the cross, we are forgiven when we repent from our old ways, The blood of Jesus that was shed on the cross is what washed us clean, that means we are forgiven when we turn from those old ways. There are many good people that make wrong choices, it doesn't mean they are bad, they are human.

Remember this, that not only are we not defined by our past but, with everything each and every one of us has been through, God has been preparing us and He never wastes our pain, our experience, our story, it will be used for His glory. So remember this as well, that you cannot start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last one. That means that you are forgiven, so remember your past no more because Jesus doesn't see you as that same person, our sins, our past has been thrown in the sea of forgetfulness. (Micah 7:9) Psalm 103:12 tells us that, "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us." So if God does not keep record of our past, then why should we, Amen.

Let's Pray,

Father God, I praise You and I thank You dear Lord for loving such a sinner such as I. I'm so ever grateful that You have blotted out my sins. Lord, as each of us has a past, Lord there is not one part that you hold against us because it has all been washed under the blood. Lord, I thank you that You can use each of us for Your kingdom to help bring others in. Lord let our stories be used to share Your love and Your story in the mighty name of Jesus, Amen.

Be blessed dear ones and pass the blessings on.