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About the episode:

As the world seems to get more complicated, we start to gravitate toward the “simplicity” of our past. We try to relive our “glory days,” thinking it will satisfy and propel us forward. But Jesus does not want you stuck in yesterday. He wants you to live in HIS calling! In this episode of the Jaime Luce Podcast, we study the importance of saying yes to God’s plan for our lives and how to break free from the grip of the past. We also discuss the story of Paul and how turning your back on yesterday allows you to move forward and say YES to the high calling the Father has on your life.

In this episode, you’ll hear: 

  • A biblical study of the book of Acts
  • Why we can’t allow the sins of our past to hold us back
  • How to position yourself to seek out the Lord
  • What it looks like to live out the calling God has placed on your life

About the host:

Jaime Luce’ story begins with emotional and financial struggle as a single mother trying to survive. Today, she has been married to the love of her life for almost three decades, owned two companies, and has become an author and podcaster. She is on a mission to help others walk through the valleys of life with hope and knowledge that God always has a way.  Learn more.

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I’m so excited about this book! I didn’t want to write something that simply told about the financial miracles God has done for me. But I wanted to practically help others know how to have the same kind of results. So this book is a playbook. Just like in sports. It will have the story of the need we faced from small to the astronomically huge and how God provided every time. Then we will give you what I call “the play call.” After you understand the Biblical method that was used you are then given a teaching on how to use that knowledge. I can promise it will give you the tools to change your situation and to realize that “You Don’t Need Money. You Just Need God.”

Full Transcript

This transcript is auto-generated and not perfect. We hope it blesses you.

Because if he gives us the calling, it means he’s equipped us. For him. We were able, we were able to do it, we were able to conquer it, we were able to live it, we were able to do it, we were able to write the book, we were able to lead the class, we were able to teach the thing we were able to prosper, we were able to buy that house and, and do this and build that for the church and send this one. I mean, we were able, these were things we were able to do. Because God called us to it, which means he equipped us, all we needed to do was say yes, and follow him forward by faith.

Welcome to the Jaime Luce podcast. Thanks so much for joining me today, we are going to be talking today about living free from your past, so that you can absolutely lay hold of your future. You know, so many times, we hear the story and I and I don’t think we realize we do this to ourselves, but we hear the story of people’s lives. And in conversation when they’re talking. They can get stuck in yesterday, there are the jokes that go around. We’ve seen comedy movies made about this particular topic, but we call things the glory days living in the glory days and and people who, when they’re 50 are still dressing like they were in high school, trying to be a version of themselves that is much younger, where they felt like they were on top of the world. And that’s even in a best case scenario where they might be happy, to some extent living in what they call their glory days.

Then there are those who have gone through very difficult, difficult circumstances or loss in their life. And because of that loss, they have not been able to move forward, they don’t see a future ahead of them, they only see the pain that they’re living in because of something that happened yesterday. Now, of course, I’m not talking about if something has happened to you today, and you’re dealing with something today, that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m not talking about dealing with grief, though, in an upcoming episode, I will be talking about that. So you’ll want to be looking for that. But today we are talking about what it is to be able to to actually live and walk in the calling that God has placed on your life. And not every calling of God is that doesn’t mean that you’re all going to be pastors, it doesn’t mean that your whole gonna be in such an evangelist or or a missionary. God puts callings on our lives. And it can look different for every person. If you are a young mother of young, young children at home, you’re called to those kids. You’re called to care for those babies and to raise godly children. That’s what you’re called to at that moment. We all go through seasons and changes. I’m not talking about the ebbs and flows of life. I’m actually talking about accomplishing what you know, God has put you on this earth to accomplish. And if you don’t know what that is, it’s time to spend some some real time It’s time to invest in prayer and fasting to hear from the Lord. I’ve been reading just in my personal daily reading. In Chronicles, sometimes they teach out of that sometimes they teach out other things. But this morning, I happened to be reading about King Jehoshaphat. And I was really struck because King Jehoshaphat was considered a very good king. The thing that the Lord was so pleased with he named two things in particular, that King Jehoshaphat did very well. One was to tear down false idols, to make sure and go out through the land and tear down false idols. The other thing was that he had purposed in his heart to seek the Lord. So whenever he was going to make a decision, he had made it his heart’s desire and will the think the action that he would take as he would seek, what does God say about this? He’s, he put his heart in a position to seek the Lord. He had made up his mind to seek the Lord. What’s interesting about that, though, is that twice, he made a critical error and twice it was the exact same error. So there There was something causing him.

The error was that he made an alliance with the enemies of God, even though it was Israel at the time, they were very evil kings, and the people were very much doing evil and not pleasing God at all. And King Jehoshaphat would make an alliance with that King. And the Lord got very angry with him. And, you know, it’s we can we can get so close to really doing what God wants us to do. I mean, King Jehoshaphat, did amazing things. He, he made it his regular practice, to send out into all the regions of Judah, the priests and the Levites, so that they would teach the people what God had said, What were God’s laws, in essence, to teach them Torah. He was teaching them what was written, but based off of commandments that they knew God had given what were the seasons of God, what were the face in the seasons? What, what did God expect? What were the Levitical laws that they were to follow as God’s people. And all of these efforts were fantastic. I mean, he really tried to turn the hearts of the people to God, to live a godly life to seek after God. And yet he missed, missed it on a couple of things that were huge. And so as I was pondering that, and thinking about how we we sometimes we really nail it, sometimes we really miss it, and and to me, and this is just my opinion here. And it might be different for you, I’m not you. So you know, depending on what has gone on in your life, I was trying to think what would have caused him to want to make an alliance? Is it something in his personality? Is it? Is it something that he saw done around him and the kingdoms around him? And he felt like that was the kingly thing to do? Was he trying to somehow impress what what was the reason that he did this? Now, interestingly enough, when he became intertwined with King Ahab, he did ask him, but don’t you we need to hear what God says He was even seeking the Lord in that. And yet, he didn’t realize he had made wrong alliances. And we can make, I’m making an analogy here.

So stick with me, we can make a wrong Alliance in our life, not just with people around us, with organizations around us in the natural, we can make an alliance with our past. I really was thinking that for King Jehoshaphat, it might have been that this was the practice he saw his father do. And his father was a good king, for most respects. Now, he blew it in the end of his life, but he he had watched him reign well. And they made practices of, of dealing with other kings, and I’m assuming he watched his father do this, but we can make alliances and stay connected with things not just people, with memories with things that took place in our past. And we can have wrong thoughts about those things. We can think that I need to make peace with my past. You know how many people spend years there’s a famous line in the movie for a pretty woman. And it’s a line where the man the main character, man in the story set has had an awful relationship with his father. And in that awful relationship, he cut off contact had not spoken to him and the father died. And this man admits that he went to a therapist for a while and it said it cost him 1000s of dollars and so many years for him to come to the place that he said I am angry with my father.

And that in essence, it it helped him in no way he wasted time and energy trying to make peace with something in his past. That he could not go back and change or do over and we can get stuck in a for all of us. We can we can have good memories in the past that we get stuck to and we just want to live there. We just want to camp out there. We don’t ever want it to be different. We don’t We stunt our growth because we don’t want to move on from that place. We were happy right there. We look back. And we think, you know, I went through this at one point because you can you can go through a period of thinking, Oh, well, when we were doing that, in life back when the kids were little, you know, people can back when the I just wish the kids were little again, and I could do that again. Or you could say, you know, boy, when I had that job, that was really that was a great time, and I really enjoyed my co workers. And that was, you can you can get stuck on good things, you can get stuck on great things, you can get stuck on the mighty things that God did. I mean, God’s done some miraculous things in my life. He’s done miracles that are are enormous miracles, I wrote about them in my book, you don’t need money, you just need God God did the miraculous in in finances, and and providing for us. I went through a period where God really touched me physically. There’s God has done miracles, I’ve seen him do miracles in the life, the lives of friends and family members are true miracles. And yet we can look on a miracle and get stuck there and never move on to what God has next.

There’s a little meme that I saw. And every once in a while it pops up in a social media scroll. And it’s the picture of Jesus and a little girl and they’re facing one another and the little girl is holding a little teddy bear. And Jesus has he’s facing the little girl, and he’s holding out his hand, implying for her to give him the teddy bear. But what she doesn’t know is that in his other hand, which is behind his back is a giant teddy bear. And we struggle with this, God is saying, Give that to me, I have something better. And we don’t want to let go of what’s familiar. We don’t want to let go of what we know. We don’t want to let go of, of what is comfortable. We we we just get stuck in yesterday. You can be somebody who cannot seem to move forward because of the sins of your past. And you rehearse it and you you despise it. And you you think I’m disqualified. God can’t use me. Folks, Can I remind you that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. You’re no worse than anybody else. We’re all guilty, me included. We’ve all sinned. grievously. We’ve all sinned grievously sin as grievious. And you might actually be living in consequences of that sin. But that sin, and even the consequences of that sin does not disqualify you from the plans God has for your life. That’s why he saved you that he knew we needed a Savior. And we needed a Savior so that we could live the plan that God has for our life. It doesn’t matter what you did wrong. Now we want to learn from our mistakes, of course, but it doesn’t matter. You can’t go back and think what if? What would be different if you can’t get stuck on the what if wheel, your wheels will turn for ever on the what if wheel and you’ll never get off? There are endless what ifs and you will never know the answer to the what ifs. You won’t know the answer to the well, should I say that? I’ll move on. We know how many times you probably seen this in your own life. I have people in my life. They’ve gone through some very, very difficult circumstances. You know, real life altering circumstances. And life is still tough. There are still really tough circumstances. But folks we can choose not to live in our path. And where I’m going with this today is we’re going to talk about Paul. Because if let’s just Okay, before I go to Paul, I want you to understand even biblically, let’s take naturally let’s just take naturally, if I am walking down the street, okay, I’m just going for a walk or something. I hear something in my past. There’s a loud crash that goes on behind me, my behind me represents my past, okay, I hear a loud crash behind me. And I turn around to see what’s going on. But I keep walking. Because life keeps moving. It’s like being on a conveyor belt.

Have you ever been in the airport, and you’re in a hurry, and you take those little escalator things to help you keep going, and you’re moving, even if you’re not walking, you’re moving, the world is moving forward, whether you’re walking or not the world keeps going. And God’s plan keeps keeps going, Time keeps going, time does not stop. And you turn and you look behind you. And you just keep going, what’s going to happen naturally, you’re either going to crash into somebody, something, you’re going to fall down. At any rate, embarrassment, or pain, or both is going to ensue, right? I mean, this is at the very minimum, this is very least you could end up with really bad broken bones, you could hurt somebody else. There’s a, you know, the gamut of things can happen. I remember my mother telling me about when her when she was younger, and she, her mother and her sister were in a very serious, serious car accident. And they ended up in the hospital. And her thought was at that moment in time, because of what had happened to them. And that and the traumatic stuff that took place and what they were dealing with physically. For them, it felt like time stopped. Time kind of stood still, because everything around them stopped, their normal activities could not go on. They were stunted for the for that moment, they were dealing with the problem at that moment. And they saw some people down in the cafeteria, eating their food talking, just having a normal conversation talking. And it was at that moment that they realized, wow, our world has stopped but nobody else’s has. And that’s because the truth is the world doesn’t stop. When we’ve got issues. When we run into problems. The world doesn’t stop, time doesn’t stop. It just keeps marching on. And if we look at the story of Lot, and Lot’s wife, Lot’s wife was given a warning an angelic warning, angels literally came to hit take them by the hand and drag them to safety, to remove them and protect them from destruction that was going to come. I mean, literally, I have a hard time grasping the depth of what was going on in her heart and in her mind, but it is the crux of what I’m going to talk about because she could not follow the instruction to not look behind her. Don’t turn around. Don’t look at what happens there. Don’t remember yesterday, don’t think about what’s behind you. With all of your mind with all speed with all diligence. Let’s run forward. I mean, they were told to run to escape, run forward, do not look back. Why? Because it will kill you.

And with Lot’s wife it did. It turned her into a pillar of salt, she chose to look back. And we have a secret that was given to us. The keys the answers given to us in Scripture. All over the place, Jesus came that he would set the captives free. So if you’re held captive, he came to set you free. There are a million scriptures and I’m only going to give you a couple that refer to this. But Jesus when we come into his salvation, when we accept Him as our Lord and Savior when we give Him our little our life and he becomes our Lord, our Savior and our Lord. He now has completely severed us and set us free from our past and the sin of our past. He gives us a brand new beginning. So I’m not going to give you tons of scriptures that talk about that, that you’re forgiven. And you’re set free. That’s all through Jesus’s ministry. But I am going to focus today on Paul because if of anybody have anybody, Paul is the one who had a past that he’d want to forget because of where God was calling him to. I mean, the whole reason we want to forget our past, folks, is because Jeremiah 2911 tells us that God has a plan for us. It’s a good plan. And it’s to prosper us. There are things he’s ordained us to do from the womb, that he is calling us to. And when we stand before God at the end of our lives, we do not want him to show us the picture of what we were supposed to be the things we were supposed to accomplish the things we should have done for him, and what have and could have. Because if he gives us the calling, it means he’s equipped us. For him.

We were able, we were able to do it, we were able to conquer it, we were able to live it, we were able to do it, we were able to write the book, we were able to lead the class, we were able to teach the thing we were able to prosper, we were able to buy that house and, and do this and build that for the church and send this one. I mean, we were able these were things we were able to do. Because God called us to it, which means he equipped us, all we needed to do was say yes, and follow him forward by faith. Jesus said, Follow me. Don’t look back and follow the example necessarily of others. Follow me now there are great examples of what how people follow Jesus. And we should follow those examples. Paul himself said, Follow me as I follow Christ. But we have to know that God is calling us forward. He doesn’t want us stuck in yesterday. He doesn’t want you bound to what you did. He doesn’t want you bound to what was done to you. He doesn’t want you bound in thinking. I mean, look at the life of Joseph, he was called to run a nation and to lead them through serious famine in prosperity and be able to do it. If he would have lived in his past, he would have felt betrayed, unable to trust anyone to do anything with anything he would have left lived his life mentally in the pit that his brothers threw him in, of not being loved and accepted, respected all the things you’d need to run the country the way it should. He was relied upon and put in prison, he has all the sob stories of having his his favor ripped from him because of his coat was gone. And the love of his father was taken from him and he no longer had relationship with his family. He had so much he could have lived in self pity. And he chose not too he kept going forward with the thing that God called him to God called him forward with a dream. And Joseph believed and kept moving forward. So if you have your Bibles, I want you to get them out.

And I want you to turn to the book of Acts. And I want us to look at Paul’s life. Let’s start with chapter eight, Acts chapter eight. And I’m going to be looking these up with you. I didn’t write them down on a separate paper. So I’m going to take the time when you look them up to but acts eight verses one to three, just to show you who Paul was and his past that he had to overcome. Okay, so his name was Saul before it was Paul. Saul was one of the witnesses and he agreed completely with the killing of Stephen. Now, even before I move on, what was Steven guilty of nothing. You know what Steven was guilty of feeding widows. He was put in charge as the spirit filled man by Peter to feed widows. Feed the feed the hungry, those who don’t have anyone to care for him. This is the kind of man this was the kind of man that while he’s dying, he was so loved. The Lord was so close to the Lord, so full of the Holy Spirit that he saw Jesus. He saw Jesus.

And this is the man that Paul is agreeing with standing by agreeing with the Stephen while Stephen has been stoned. A great wave of persecution began that day, sweeping over the church in Jerusalem and all the believers, except the apostle apostles were scattered through the regions of Judea and Samaria. Some devout men came and buried Stephen with great mourning, but Saul was going everywhere to destroy the church. He went from house to house, dragging out both men and women to throw them into prison. Now let’s look at Acts nine, verses one and 291 in too. Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers. I mean, this is serious stuff, folks. So he went to the high priest. He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation. So you can see this asking for cooperation. He had ties with men who stood as enemies against God’s people. Asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the way. He found there. They they said if you were a believer, you were those of the way the way of Christ the way of these new Christians were living.

Let’s now look at Acks 22 verses three and four. It says Then Paul said, I am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in silicea. And I was brought up and educated here in Jerusalem under Gamaliel. As his student, I was carefully trained in our Jewish laws and customs, I became very zealous to honor God in everything I did, just like you all today. And I persecuted the followers of the way hounding some to death, arresting both men and women and throwing them in prison. Now let’s turn to Acts 26. And verses nine to 11. I used to believe that I ought to do everything I could to oppose the very name of Jesus, the Nazarene. Indeed, I did just that in Jerusalem, Authorised by the leading priests, I caused many believers there to be sent to prison, and I cast my vote against them when they were condemned to death. Many times I had them punished in the synagogues, to get them to curse Jesus, I was so violently opposed to them, that I even chased them down in foreign cities. Folks, this is this is Paul, who wrote two thirds of the New Testament, Paul, who gives us the most in depth, description of the Gospel, the beauty of the gospel. This man had a past, he had a serious past. And he knew that God had given him a calling. That calling was from Jesus Christ Himself, telling him that he was going to preach to those who were the Gentiles as well as the Jews. Let’s look at let’s look at that.

Let’s look at Paul’s conversion. That’s an X nine, one to 19. Let’s go there. Hi, my name is Jamie Luce. I wanted to share with you some information about a brand new book and titled you don’t need money, you just need God is a playbook for miraculous provision. And I want to share it with you because it solves the problem we are all facing right now. The economy is going crazy. Gas prices are soaring. There’s wars and rumors of wars, we’ve got everything hitting us all at once, with interest rates rising. You need to know what to do and so many times we think we need the money. But you don’t need money. I’m telling you, the answer is you need God. And that’s exactly what we want to teach you through this book will give you practical ways to know what to do and how to do it so that you get answers now. You can find my book on Amazon. You can also go to Jamie loose.com. You can also find this book at you don’t need money, you just need god.com This book is available today. I’m going to start in verse three. As he was approaching he Paul was approaching Damascus on this mission. A light from Heaven suddenly shone down around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Who are you Lord Saul asked, and the voice replied, I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting.

Isn’t that interesting that Jesus is saying you think you’re persecuting men? You’re persecuting me. You’re doing this again. as me, David had the same realization when he was confronted with Nate by Nathan the prophet. And it’s like, Lord, I have sinned against you and you only have I sinned. Even you know, it doesn’t no matter who the other people are, God is saying when you sin, it’s against me. You’re sinning against me. Let’s see, let’s continue. Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do. The men was saw stood speechless, for they heard the sound of someone’s voice, but they saw no one. So picked himself up off the ground, but when he opened his eyes, he was blind. So his companions led him to the head by the hand to Damascus. He remained there blind for three days and did not eat or drink. Now there was a believer in Damascus name and a NYAS. The Lord spoke to him in a vision calling Anna NYAS. Yes, Lord, he replied. The Lord said go over to Straight Street to the house of Judas. When you get there, ask for a man from salt Tarsus named Saul. He is praying to me right now, I have shown him in a vision of a man named Anand is coming in and laying hands on him so he can see again. But Lord, exclaimed Anand is, I’ve heard many people talk about the terrible things this man has done to the believers in Jerusalem. And he is authorized by the leading priests to arrest everyone who calls upon Your name. But the Lord said, Go for Saul is my chosen instrument, to take my message to the Gentiles, and to Kings, as well as to the people of Israel. And I will show him how much he must suffer from my namesake. So even in this call, we know that he’s gone.

He’s has his past, he has these wrong connections in his life. And yet he gets saved. Jesus confronts him in the middle of it, and says, Paul, it’s time to do something different. It’s time to turn away from yesterday. Let’s move forward. I’ve got a call on your life. I’ve chosen you. You’re going to preach to the Gentiles, you’re going to get before kings, and you’re going to save people in Israel. So Paul, went from his place of, of, oh, gosh, what I won’t call that? Well, he just he just decided to get up and leave his past. I mean, he just had to make the decision. It’s the old analogy that you’ve, you’re sitting in a cell that’s been locked up, you’ve been locked up there forever. And you don’t realize that the lock has been opened. And you could have gone free anytime. But you have to get up and go out. You have to walk free. You if you stay in the prison, that’s your choice. Jesus has set you free, you get to get up and walk out. You don’t have to remain there. So Paul went on to preach. He went on to believe the call of God he went on to live the call that God had placed on his life. And he went on to preach the gospel for over 10,000 miles. And he established for teen churches. Well, how did he do that? How did Paul overcome the guilt and the shame of his past? How did he overcome the memory of Stephen stoning and all the beatings and the arrest during you know, we just read to you in chapter nine, verse

15, or 16, it says, And I will show him how much he must suffer for my namesake, Paul while following God, okay. This is why you have to continually not look back, continually not look back, to keep your gaze on Jesus to keep your focus forward. Because even while serving the Lord while doing what he was, should have been doing. Same thing with Joseph while being a good child and being favored and having promise that God has given you, you suffer things, things happen in life. It rains on the just and the unjust. The Word says, There is a time for everything under the sun, according to Ecclesiastes. So what happens to Paul in his yes to the Lord in His desire in his Yes, to turn away from his past to not look behind him and to move forward? And God? What was what was that? In that turning that he was able to do? How was he able to walk away from that and lay hold of what God has called him to do? And in that doing, and in doing that, in saying, yes, being able to do it and doing it still suffer? He had beating NGS, he had shipwrecked, he had snakebites, he had prayers, imprisonments, he had relational issues, people desert him and leave him.

Paul went through it all, folks, he went through it all, I really doubt that there are many of us who can say that we have suffered the amount that Paul suffered. I know we’ve suffered, I’m not minimizing what you may have suffered, please hear me, I’m not minimizing it at all. I’m just saying this man continually over the course of his life, suffered many, many things. And he counted it a joy to do it. I mean, how do you do that? How do you walk away from your past? How do you not land and stay stuck in your pain? And keep moving forward? enjoy doing the thing that God’s called you to do? How do you do that? Paul didn’t go back and dissect his history, like so many left to do, sitting in a therapists office, just talking about the past and rehearsing the old stuff over and over and over and over again, he didn’t try to find the problem in his childhood. He didn’t lament that he wasn’t raised differently, in a different household, with different parents in a different city. He did under a different government, he didn’t blame those around him in the government system, he was living in those who would arrest him the way that the Greek government ran. He didn’t blame the church, or the leaders of his day, he didn’t blame the Pharisees who trained him. He didn’t blame Gamaliel, who trained him up, he didn’t blame any of these leaders in his life. And we can get stuck in that trap, we can think, you know, things would have been different if that what if we’ll, if I wouldn’t have had this, if I wouldn’t have gone through that.

If I wouldn’t have been born. You know, in the country, I’m in to the parents I’m in to the ethnicity that I am. The to the sex that I am. You weaken, though, in fact, the world right now is trying to convince you of that very thing that you can deny all of those things, just live in denial of all those things, and that you are whatever you want to be, you identify however you want to identify. And none of those things are real things. Of course, they’re real. Of course, they’re real. But there is a way there is a way a way to deal with life when things have been difficult. There is a way to do it. And Paul teaches us how he used one tactic, folks, you get the one big key for today, he used one tactic that continually propelled him both in faith and in action. Because you can call yourself a person of faith and never take action. Do you know how many Christians there are who say that they have faith and believe in God, and they never do anything. They never get up and do the thing that God called them to do. They’re always saying, Well, I’m waiting. God promised me. God promised me that thing. But you know, I’m just waiting. I’m just waiting on God. No, folks, faith is action. Faith is an actual action word. And it means that by faith, you get moving. You believe that God’s going to do what God said, and you take the necessary steps, what are we doing? We can’t remain stuck in this mess, we have to move forward. Philippians 312 through 14, this is what Paul wrote. And this is the key, this is the key. He says I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things, or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection, for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. Know, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it. But I focus on this one thing, forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead. I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God through Christ Jesus is calling us. forgetting the past, folks, we have to make up our mind. I literally have to forget what happened yesterday. And you can say that that’s impossible. No, it’s not impossible. With Christ, all things are possible. In Him, all things are possible. And we have to decide to get up out of yesterday and to walk focused, pressing forward to lay hold of the very thing that God has called us to do. There are things that he has provided in our future that we will never lay hold of, if we don’t get up and walk away from yesterday, if the power of that is in your hands your decision today to get up and to forget yesterday, whether it was good or bad, and walk in obedience to the call that God has placed on your life with your focus on Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone, he alone is your hope he alone is your future, he alone is your promise. And in him, all those things are possible. forgetting the past, forgetting the past, let’s forget the past.

This is what this is what he told us. He did, how did he do it? This is how he did it. He forgot the past. He pressed on. Don’t stop, don’t camp out. Don’t build a house in the middle of yesterday. Get up, tear it down. Let’s move forward. Let’s get up from here. No matter what’s happened in the last three years, it was a pandemic, no matter what’s happened in sickness in our lives, no matter who we know that this has affected greatly, or what financial things have come upon us because of it. We’re getting up from here, we’re not staying here. We are the call of God, we are blessed going in and we are blessed coming out. If we do it God’s way we rely on God, He is our source, he is our provision, we will be successful, we will have the victory, we will attain the thing that was that he has laid in front of us to lay hold of and attain. Forgetting is definitely not dwelling. Forgetting is not dwelling, it’s not running over that mill over and over again. Forgetting is forgiving. If you have something, someone that has hurt you, I know the comfort you think you feel in holding on to it, you don’t want to forgive them because you’re afraid that if you do, that it’s unjust and that they don’t have to pay for what they did. It’s fear that keeps you there. fear keeps you in your yesterday, fear keeps you in the pain, because you’re afraid that if you let go of it, then somehow it was okay that it happened. Well, it wasn’t okay. And they won’t get away with it. There are always God is just God is just so what you have to do is you have to trade your fear for faith in Jesus Christ. I’ve said that in the in the past, that if you say you’re a person of faith, and you actually have to believe if you’re a believer, then you believe Jesus is who He says He is. And he can do what he says he can do that he did what he says he did. So in that belief of who he is, he is the just judge. Will not the judge of the whole earth do right? The scripture says He will do right. Your God will do right. He knows what is right. And he knows what is right past your issue. past your pain. He knows what’s right for you in your tomorrow. He knows what’s right for everyone. He’s just He’s righteous. You can trust him. You can trust him to be the judge for your life. You can. He’s a good judge. He loves you.

And his plan is to take you from this place into a blessed tomorrow. But you have to forgive. You might feel like Peter and St. But God, they’re still doing it. They’re still doing it today. How many times do I have to forgive and I’m sorry. I know that this shakes you up. But Jesus said 70 times seven Peter, you just have to keep forgiving. In the same day, they can come to you seven times in the same day. You have to forgive them because I forgave you. And no matter how many times you’ve messed up, I have forgiven you. I love you. And I know that your life moving forward needs forgiveness. If God didn’t forgive us, folks, we’re dead. That’s the end. You have no valid future if you are not forgiven and Jesus Christ. Life goes beyond this natural realm. Your eternity. Your you’ve got hell and eternity without salvation period. And if you are someone who is dealing with unforgiveness, you have to understand Jesus continually forgives you. You can come to him right now. You Could no you know, you mouthed off, you shouldn’t have done that you treated somebody wrong, you got puffed up and pride, and you did things you shouldn’t have done and you relied on yourself. You relied on other people you made wrong alliances, you’ve done, whatever you’ve done. And you can know that you can come to God right now, and he’ll forgive you. He expects the same from us. Fate, forgetting is letting go now forgetting and letting go or two different things. Forgetting is I’m going to forget about it. Letting go means I’m not just forgetting.

Okay, I’m turning loose, so that my hand is open for what God has in front of me that I’m able to lay hold of what God has put in front of me, the path in front of me. Forgetting is faith, because it’s faith in justice and God’s judgment. Forgetting is going free. Finally, going free. Having your heart freed from the pain and the disruption of life. It’s the chains of yesterday can fall off, folks. Jesus told Peter, because Peter blew it. Peter denied Jesus more than once. And in that denial, Jesus told him he was going to do it before he even did it. Peter didn’t even believe he was capable of doing it, then he does do it. But what were Jesus’s words to him? When you are converted, go strengthen your brothers. He’s saying it’s okay, Peter, you did, you’re gonna do this, I’ve prayed for you. You’re gonna realize that you can still have faith in me. And I still have a future for you. In fact, you’re going to take your place among your brothers, the other disciples, and you’re going to strengthen them. I mean, that’s pretty powerful. You’re going to strengthen them Peter. First, John one nine says, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We can have no memory of yesterday in Jesus Christ. Did I write down that scripture? Yes, I did. Let’s look a second Corinthians 517. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold, the new has come. Look at Matthew 1821 and 22. Then Peter came up and said to him, Lord, oh, I read you that I’m sorry. That’s how off that’s that’s the Scripture reference. You’re gonna want to write that down? How many times do I have to forgive? That’s Matthew 1821 and 22. Let’s look at Romans eight one.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, Hebrews 1017. Then he adds, I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more. Can you see how great God is that our God forgets, he forgets, He’s showing us this is my character, and I can impart this to you. This should be your character as well. I will remember your sins no more. Isaiah 4325 says, I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake. And I will not remember your sins. I will not remember your sins. Hebrews 812. Four, I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins. No more. Folks, it’s time for us to turn our back on yesterday. And to look forward and say, Father, whatever you have for me this year, I’m going for it. I’m doing it. I’m not letting anything stop me. I’m going to do what you’ve called me to do. And I am forgetting yesterday, good or bad. If even if there were good things yesterday, there are even greater things ahead of me as I follow you, and I learned to forget what is behind. Together, folks, let’s do this. Let’s forget what is behind let’s press on toward the prize of the high calling of Jesus Christ on our life. Let me pray for you. Father, I thank you for everyone

A Lord, I thank you that right now there is a special grace coming on them, that they are able to forget yesterday that they would feel the warmth and comfort of your love of your forgiveness of your washing of your strength and empowerment and grace to get up from that place and to walk free from that cell of yesterday, that you have a beautiful plan for their life and you will see to it, if they will follow you with all their heart, their mind, their soul in their strength, if they will believe you are a just judge if they will believe that you are good, and that the plans you have for them are good that you are their provider and you will provide father if they will lay hold of you. They will be able to live the beautiful plan that you have made for each and every one of their lives. I thank you for the grace today. I thank you for provision. I thank you for open doors, I thank you for confirmations. I thank you for new relationships. And I thank you for all of your forgiveness. We trust you with our lives Lord Jesus. And it is in the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. Amen.

So we thank the Lord today, I want you to take a little bit of time just thank the Lord for His goodness and faithfulness. Remind yourself of how good God is. And that he is always faithful, He will be faithful to you, he has a good plan for you. And if you’ll take advantage of it. Someday when you see him face to face, you’ll say Yes, Lord, I did that. You asked me to do that. And I did that you will become all that God has destined you to become and you will accomplish all that he has set out for you to accomplish. I pray this was a blessing to you. I hope you will join me next week. Do me a favor, like click that like button and share subscribe. And if you’re listening to this on podcast, I invite you to go on and give us a good review. Let the the message of the gospel gets spread by your help. By doing that, and all of our little algorithms, and we would really appreciate it I’d love to hear from you. You can send me an email at mail at Jamie loose.com and you can find all of my social media and all of the other episodes, whether that be podcast or YouTube, on my website, also my blogs at Jamie loose.com That’s J A I M E L U C E .com. Thanks again for joining me today be blessed. We’ll see you next time. Bye bye.