past | Walking Deeper

Encouraging Women to Walk Deeper in Faith and Change Their World

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Are We Dwelling on Past Mistakes?

What have we learned from past mistakes?

Hopefully we’ve learned not to repeat them, but before we can learn from them, we need to admit we’ve made them. Once we do that, without placing blame on everyone and everything else, we can confess it out, be forgiven by God and forgive ourselves.

Yet there are times we dwell. We ponder. We rewind and rerun tapes within our minds.

Let’s remember, good memories can bring joy and recalling them is pleasing to the soul.

But the memories of past mistakes can bring sadness, heartache, and anxiety. We may have made unhealthy, and unwise choices then, but we can make healthy and wise choices now.

Let’s turn our heads from looking back, and keep looking ahead. Let’s be good stewards of the time God has given us.

Because dwelling on past mistakes is a mistake.

It will free us when we stop unhealthy thoughts that begin with:

“If only I would have…”

“I wish I hadn’t….”

“If I had only….”

And replace them with healthy thoughts that begin with:

“From now on, I will…”

“In Christ I am a new creation, the old is gone and the new has come…”

“I will not spend my current time on negative things of the past. Just as I can’t purchase something new with money already spent, I cannot buy back the past with time from the present…”

When we let go of past mistakes, we can look forward to new beginnings.

It won’t always be easy, but God is always there and He is outside of time.

I’ve made mistakes, we all have, and I suspect we may make a few more, but here’s the good news:

When we are in Christ, we are new; the old is gone, the new has come. It doesn’t mean we lose all memory of who we were before, but it does mean we are no longer bound by our past. We are free of it.

We may still be dealing with the consequences of it, but that’s part of the lesson, isn’t it?

But even though God may allow us to experience consequences, it’s not because He doesn’t love us, it’s because He does.

And even if we’ve teetered off the right path, it doesn’t mean we’ve missed the plans He has for us.

Although we may have missed out on a few blessings along the way, it doesn’t mean we can’t experience new blessings .

We may have taken a detour, but when we draw near and seek God, He reprograms our spiritual GPS back onto that right path.

It’s a new day, so let’s walk in this truth:

Do not call to mind the former things,
Or ponder things of the past.
“Behold, I will do something new,
Now it will spring forth;
Will you not be aware of it?
I will even make a roadway in the wilderness,
Rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:18-19

God paves a roadway through our wilderness, and makes rivers in our desert, so we can experience freedom in the present and a future filled with hope.

Are we ready for the freedom of new beginnings?

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christian living, freedom, mistakes, past

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Helpful Ways to Share Our Faith

Where do we go and how will they know?

I never tire of reading the book of Ruth. Sandwiched between Judges and 1 Samuel, God breathed a lifetime of legacy onto the pages, and in just four chapters.

And you know what I love about Ruth?

It didn’t matter where she came from , or what she came out of; a heritage of pagan roots and false gods. She chose new roots of righteousness.

And the fruit of her good decision? A clue would be the family tree from that point on. Here’s a hint, her great grandson was King David. Wowzer, right?

She left her past in the past. I think we all could learn a thing or two on that subject.

If you haven’t read Ruth in awhile, or ever, take time today. It reads like a Cinderella story, but sorry Disney, this is real life awesome.

Like Ruth, our past is a part of our story, but it’s not the end of our story.

Our past story does not discredit our Grace Story, it becomes part of it. tweet it

We all have a past, but we don’t have to live there. In Christ we can walk forward in God’s plans for our future.

His desire is to use you and me to take the gospel to the nations. Don’t let the word nations intimidate you. Your neighborhood is in a nation, so start there.

God doesn’t require a spotless background check. When we are in Christ, we’ve got the job.

All believers have a story of grace and redemption. We’ve got to practice telling it. Cause lost people haven’t found theirs yet.

But how?

We won’t be effective if we’re telling it by yelling it; or sharing but not caring. Sharing our faith is relational. Get to know people and allow them to get to know you. When people know you are real, they will hear what you say. And don’t forget to listen.
What do we mean by Grace Story? If you’re married, or perhaps have a bff, people may ask “so how did you both meet?” Our grace story is telling others of how we met our ultimate BFF, our husband. How our lives were transformed. After all, Jesus is our friend forever, and we the church are his bride. See how that all ties in?
We’ve got to remember this: Jesus died for every person. Then He rose and conquered sin and death for every person. We aren’t sales people trying to sell salvation, we’re more like archeologists, helping people dig deep to discover the truth of their salvation. We share the truth, but they have to choose.
Many belief systems believe in a god or several gods. Some may say they believe in the one true God, and even Jesus. What we want to ask is, who do they say Jesus is? Even Jesus asked this of His own disciples. Peter got it right. See Mark 8:29.

So where do we go?

The post office, grocery stores, libraries, banks, schools… Where do we go consistently? We see the same people there consistently too, don’t we? They may see a lot of people throughout their day, but they will remember the ones who take time to talk to them.

How will they know?

Words are not the only way we share our faith in the gospel. They will know we are Christians by our love; by our deeds, by our service. You don’t get to heaven by good works, but by our good works we reflect Christ in us, the Hope of glory. Hope through the gospel. People need it. We have the key to that hope. Let’s not leave the key under the mat, or our Light under a bushel.

We need not apply for the position of heart changer. That’s the Holy Spirit’s job; we are workers in the harvest and He does the rest. Amen to that!

I did a Bible study called “Why Do You Believe That?” by Mary Jo Sharp. Girlfriend knows her apologetic stuff. Here’s a paraphrased snippet of what resonated with me:

When you meet someone of another belief system, ask them why they believe what they believe. Strike up good conversations of faith, not in a confrontational way, but in a conversational way. You may uncover some misconceptions about Christianity, and be used by the Holy Spirit to clarify them.

Being too casual in sharing our faith, is like wearing shorts to the prom. Let’s not be too formal either, but bring transformation through conversation. Allow the Holy Spirit to lead.

But we too must be prepared to answer the question of why we believe what we believe. Don’t be afraid of a little good ole’ studying. Here’s the link to the study I spoke of. Good stuff: