I'm Ready: To Forget the Past, Press in the Present, and Come to the Future

Lord have Mercy is all I have to say.

Paul's Great Action Plan

As I have mentioned over at Shiloh Church, we are learning from the book of Philippians.  It has just been OUTSTANDING.

This week we were learning from Phil 3:13

13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it,[a] but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead

In this text we see that Paul is not there yet, but he is going in the right direction and not wallowing in the mire of the past.  Can you imagine what would have happened if he did that?  

Who am I to try and teach anybody?  I persecuted these people because of their faith in Christ

It didn't work out on that missionary trip with Barnabas...maybe I should just give it up

I've been thrown in prison and beaten...maybe I should give up.

This is why we should not spend too much time dwelling on the past.

Paul acknowledges that he is not yet where he should be, but he is headed in the right direction.  Pastor Patrick shared with us what he termed Paul's Great Action Plan

Pastor Patrick broke down Paul's Great Action Plan into 3 simple parts

The Past:  I'm Forgetting

The Present: I'm Pressing

The Future: I'm Coming

I'm Ready To Forget the Past

This is a big problem for me.  I like to spend a lot of time wallowing in the mire of the past.  I get angry about previous injustices, past failures and mistakes, and believing that just because it happened in the past this is how it will always be.

It is time to move forward.

I can honestly say that I'm nowhere near where I need to be, but I'm certainly on the right track and I'm FA SHO better than I was 6 months ago.  Lord Jesus.

One of the conscious and purposeful things I'm doing in this next year of life is to STOP hanging out with reminders of my past life.  I'm not that person anymore and I don't care to live in the past anymore and discuss stuff that has no bearing on who I am in the present and will be in the future.

I've messed up, said stupid things, and had epic fails but that has not disqualified me from my future.  I have learned from those mistakes and I am now ready to move forward.  I do not need to spend time analyzing past failures to death or allowing others to rub my nose in it.

This moment contains all moments

Pastor Patrick shared a quote from C.S. Lewis about convergence which I completely identified with.

This moment contains all moments

Everything I have been through and learned is all for this moment of life.  It all plays a role and I don't need to dwell on it, but acknowledge that these moments have helped me grow to my present state.

The Present: I'm Pressing On

I can't lie.  Sometimes I get very discouraged because it seems like this is all for naught and a waste of time.  Maybe I just want something to happen so bad that I'm making it all up.

That lasts for about 5 minutes and then I realize there is no way I could have made this whole thing up.

From that time I sat in Java on Ocean crafting this vision, getting that revelation from God, and all of this training these past 2 years there is NO WAY I could have made this up.

As Pastor Patrick said::  There is a REASON not to give up but to press on.  DON'T GIVE UP.

I truly believe so many people will lose if I give up.  The impact that this time will have on others is invaluable.  I have been anointed to teach, encourage, and lead others to victory and me giving up will just be another sad story of someone who decided to settle for less than God has promised.

Besides this order to lead someone to faith in Christ SO THAT they can become great is too big of an opportunity for me to give up and quit.

I am just going to continue pressing on 

The Future: I'm Coming

Pastor Patrick said this on Sunday and it resonated strongly with me

Your future will happen when your past is in the past.  Otherwise the future will be re-runs

Well Amen.  

I'm so hard on myself that sometimes I don't do something because I remember the mistakes I've made in the past and I let it haunt me.  Well this year my word is: risk.  I'm determined to do things differently because I want different results.

I was selfish, pushy, and aggressive in the past. OK I have learned from that and I will not dwell on it.  I am now waiting on God and being purposeful about being present, connected, and considering other people's feelings.  I just won't let those past failures tie me down and cause me to feel like I don't deserve to receive anything.

I believe the words of Jeremiah:  I have a future and I have a hope.  Certainly the Lord is watching and he will carry out his plans.

Before I didn't have much hope for the future.  I had negative hope.  I had hope that something negative would happen and I would be doomed to live a life of misery because I just wasn't good enough to live in victory.

I AM VICTORIOUS

Yes Lord that is the word of the week, but I truly believe that I am going to win.  Love will win and of course we know God ALWAYS wins.

So I'm ready to forget the past and all of its defeats but I am also ready to forget past victories because that will cause me to become smug and lazy.  Now that I have been walking with the Lord more seriously, I know that once I give over the reigns to God that the victories are so much bigger than what I've seen in the past.

I'm ready to press into the present.  I'm determined to hang on until victory because I believe so many people are going to be helped by my testimony and I believe there is a REASON not to give up.  The promise of someone coming to faith and becoming great is reason enough to keep on going.

I'm ready to head into the future with great expectation and to not believe that I'm going to end up shackled to the chains of the past.

I'm ready folks!  Let's do this!!!

To God be the Glory