DWELLING ON THE PAST

DWELLING ON THE PAST

If you think about it, one of the most detrimental things that we do to harm our spiritual relationship and walk with God is to dwell on the past. We think about what happened an hour ago, a day ago, one month ago, or even years that have already passed. It's ok to have pleasant memories, but when we worry about what is already passed, we get out of fellowship with God. Before going any farther, let's go to God's Word and see what He has to say about this subject. We will be focusing on mainly one Scripture throughout this teaching -- it is that important TO MASTER.

Philippians 3: 13 -- Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before.

Many times, our secret sins that we did it in the past come back into our mind to haunt us and to torment us. I can assure you that the true God would never bring such thoughts to your mind and heart. Remember that it is the god of this world whose ministry is to steal, kill, and destroy. It is him that makes every effort he can to ruin your day by bringing up thoughts to your mind that are negative. In the Word of God, I am going to show you that when God forgives, He forgets. Let's now turn to that scripture.

I John 1: 9 -- If we confess our sins [after we are saved], he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Now why in the world would God be so kind to forgive us of all of our sins and then later on, remind us of them!? It makes no sense, does it? So now you finally know that it is your personal adversary who is bringing these harmful thoughts to your mind. Remember, the secret to the enemy's success is the secrecy of his moves. Now, we have exposed just another one of his many devices.

When you dwell on the past, your thoughts flow at cross-purposes with the Word of God. In more simpler terms, you sin, which means you have broken fellowship with God by not just allowing these thoughts to enter into your mind, but to harbor them and to consider them. Always remember that you may not be able to stop these thoughts from coming to your mind, but you can, by your own free will, stop thinking about them. How do we do this?

First of all, it has been my experience for about 36 years that scripture retemory /memorization is one of the ways that defeats and crushes your personal adversary. For some reason, and if you think about it and get honest with yourself, you will spend hour after endless hour studying information and materials or textbooks and struggling to keep this information in memory. But when it comes to doing this with God's Word . . . . . . . "NOT ME OH LORD!!" Think about it and get honest with yourself. How many Scriptures do you know by heart? So, one of the first things that you need to do to defeat your personal adversary pertaining to this subject of dwelling on the past is to learn by heart Philippians 3: 13 above. When harmful thoughts of the past enter into your mind, you can repeat this scripture and THINK about what God is saying and you can overcome this negative thought that is making its best attempt to dwell in your mind. And take a little tip from someone who has learned at least 100 Scriptures by heart, don't just memorize the scripture for the sake of memorizing. THINK about what you are thinking about. It's God's Word.

I have always found that in my experience of renewing my mind that there is another way to overcome negative thinking. So I am going to present to you a second alternative and it is a quite refreshing and easy way to overcome negativism. Let us understand and review once again that dwelling on a negative past is destructive and self-defeating. And sometimes you can dwell on positive thoughts and pleasant memories to an extreme where it also becomes a distraction. We will present an example of this also. But first let's remember that the subject we are learning deals with sin -- broken fellowship. Dwelling on a negative past or even a positive one (to an extreme) is sin.

Focusing now on our second alternative, we are first going to go to God's Word and study a very clear but extremely powerful principle that we can apply to overcome ANY negative thought.

II Timothy 1: 7 -- For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

With this great scripture, there is a mighty principle that will help you overcome any negative thought IF YOU APPLY the principle. That's a big if.

Now take a look at the scripture and read it again. If you look closely at what God is doing, you will see it that He is overcoming one negative [fear] WITH THREE (3) POSITIVES [power, love, and a sound mind]. Do you see that? It's quite simple. The Word of God works and it never fails. I challenge you to take every negative thought that enters into your mind and replace that negative thought with three (3) POSITIVE THOUGHTS.

Example: You are going about your day and everything seems to be going fine. Then all of a sudden, and it seems to be for no reason at all, that you begin to think about a decision you made an hour ago and even though you know in your heart that it was the right decision, you begin to worry about it. Now why in the world would you make a decision that you know is correct and then later on, begin to worry about it?! You may begin to question it even though it makes no sense at all to do so. What a Christian must realize is that we are in a spiritual battle or contest and you must understand that thoughts such as the one in this example come straight from hell -- they are from your personal adversary and everyone has one. He wants to ruin your day and he can do a good job of it. A person who never studies the Word of God has absolutely no defense to thoughts such as these. We, as Christians, who are supposed to be studying God's Word can fight back and defeat the adversary on every hand.

When you think a negative thought such as the one in the example above, simply counter that thought with 3 POSITIVE THOUGHTS. It's really that simple, but let's take our example and work through it in detail. This is a good example because it also deals with the subject of dwelling on the past, doesn't it? [We are talking about a decision that took place an hour ago.]

In the above situation, you may have had three things that you can be thankful for and look forward to during that same day. THINK ABOUT THOSE THREE THINGS ONE AT A TIME and do it immediately after the negative thought has attacked your mind. And remember to keep it simple. Let's just say that you had a very good night's sleep the night before and you are thankful for that. That's one!! Lets say that you plan to have a very good and tasty dinner that evening and you think about it and it blesses you. That's two!! Let's just say that you realize that you do have eternal life and the thought of the return of Jesus Christ makes you feel even better and gives you hope. That's three!!

It's really that simple and God will guarantee that you have blown the adversary’s negative thought to smithereens. It will just no longer exist in your mind and you will be blessed and you will be more than a conqueror just like the Word of God promises. That's what the Word of God says and that's what the Word of God means. The Word of God works with a mathematical exactness and scientific precision every single time. I shared this principle with a cashier at a food market who was having serious problems in her life. Upon leaving, she looked at me and I can tell she thanked me from her heart for helping her. I didn't want any glory and I still don't -- give the glory to God. He is the one who did everything for us.

Now before turning to some of my research materials to get into this subject in even greater detail, I promised you previously that we would talk a little bit about dwelling on pleasant things a bit too much. The enemy is extremely tricky and as I taught it before and will probably teach it again, "If you think you can't be tricked, you already have been."

Let's say that at some point and time in your life you have had a very pleasant experience with a member of the opposite sex. You know what I mean. You were very romantically involved with someone that made you extremely happy and you think about it quite a bit. In fact, you think about it every day and you also think about it every time you feel down or something is bothering you. You see, this can be taking a pleasant memory to an extreme and extremes are not from the true God, but emanate from the god of this world. So just remember to be spiritually sharp and don't take pleasant memories to an extreme. This can be a very subtle way that your personal adversary can get you to dwell on the past.

Once again:

When you look at the context of the chapter, you will be able to understand that Paul is saying that he is forgetting about his ancestry: Hebrew of the Hebrews, his education at the feet of Gamaliel, and other reasons for his earthly acclaim. Paul was human just like we are and he wanted to enjoy his life and see some profit in it. He knew that this could be accomplished if only he could forget the past -- and what a past he had! I also had a terrible past and many times I wish I could completely forget about it. Now let's take a look at verse 14 which tells us what we should pursue after once we have forgotten the past:

Philippians 3: 14 -- I press [to pursue after or follow earnestly] toward the mark [finish line] for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

In many ways, we are very much in a spiritual competition, sort of like a race or a track meet and the finish line determines the winner. Paul wants to, and we should want to, press toward the finish line which culminates in the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Here is another positive thought you can sometimes think of. Remember, Jesus Christ is coming back as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. They aren't going to nail him to a cross this time -- they are going to run with NO PLACE to hide. Jesus Christ is going to 'clean house' of the devil, the devil's pawns, [his people] and ALL of the devil's devil spirits. This final destruction will end with the permanent demise of Satan and all his devil spirits as they burn in the lake of brimstone and fire mentioned in the Book of Revelation. Tell me that's not a pleasant thought. I have said it before that it takes courage and just plain old guts to stand for the true God in the midst of Satan's world. Most people are moral cowards and will only 'go with the flow' and shake in their boots when it comes to a genuine stand for God and His rightly divided Word. They just go along with whatever their church teaches them and hardly ever pick up the Bible, let alone STUDY it. I used to be like that at first in some ways. I would walk down the street going to a fellowship 36 years ago and I would sort of 'hide' my Bible under my arm like an idiot full of all kinds of fear. But the power of the Holy Spirit within me over time TOOK THE FEAR RIGHT OUT OF ME. It's just gone. God is with us always and the devil and his cohorts better GET OUT OF THE WAY -- HERE COMES A SON OF GOD WITH POWER!!!

You will never defeat your personal adversary unless you CONFRONT HIM. And you better know God’s Word when you do.

So press for the finish line with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and never forget that God even has rewards waiting for us when we get to heaven after Jesus Christ returns. Were you aware of that?

Now heading towards our conclusion, we are going to take a look at a most beautiful and inspiring Orientalism, with such magnificence that only God could have had it recorded. Remember our subject matter -- we are dealing with ‘forgetting the past’.

The reason that God does not want us to talk about or think about negatives such as fears, anxieties and frustrations is because we have been redeemed from this life of destruction. The Word of God says He crowns us with lovingkindness, tender mercies, and satisfies our mouths with good things. There is a tremendous difference here from what you hear coming out of some people's mouths. Think about some of the people you know. Some almost always talk about positive things while the others talk all negatives. When you meet the second type and they shake your hand or open their mouth, they make you feel negative also because it really is contagious. You want to get away from that person who is always complaining, condemning and criticizing, don't you? And you make sure you AVOID them the next time you see them. Now think about the positive person. You feel good when you shake their hand and you sense their goodness and soundness. That negative person needs to hear the Word of God to be able to escape the satanic trap that he or she has fallen into, and that's exactly what it is. If you learn not to dwell on the past, that is one less trap door that is shut to your personal adversary. That is one less way that you will sin and live a miserable life. You will absolutely become more positive in your attitude and it will show in your overall countenance. With all that God has given us, we have no reason not to be one of the most positive, peaceful people in the world. Your life becomes a great witness in itself. PEOPLE WILL READ YOU BEFORE THEY READ THE BOOK. Try not to ever forget that.

Now we are going to study one (1) verse in a most amazing Psalm 103. You should read the whole Psalm before we begin. If you can renew and discipline your mind to forget the past, you can achieve something described in this verse in Psalms.

Psalm 103: 5 -- Who satisifeth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.

When I first learned the clear meaning of especially the second part of this verse, it really thrilled my soul and it still does. It my prayer for you in the name of Jesus Christ that it does the same for you.

God is not talking about a 'fountain of youth' that supposedly exists in the state of Florida in America. God set up the law of time in the physical sense and that is a natural law. But He also set up a spiritual law [which always supercedes natural laws] in the context of this tremendous Psalm which contains a fascinating spiritual truth. We are going to focus on the second part of this verse:

Psalm 103: 5b -- . . . . . . . so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.

What this expression means is that no matter how old you are, you can still maintain youthful vigor and mental aliveness and alertness if you do not burden yourself down with the negatives of this world -- DWELLING ON THE PAST being one of them. Youth is a state of the mind and young people are vivacious and feel as though they can conquer the world and defeat any problem that comes along.

To be able to truly understand this verse, you need to know more about eastern culture and the figure of speech used here. This is a most beautiful illustration that only the true God and Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, could orchestrate. As I was taught, I am going to teach you the greatness of this renewing of youth like the eagle's.

The type of eagle referred to here is found in the Orient and it does a most unusual thing to renew it's strength! It periodically soars to tremendous heights and then suddenly, it will fold its wings under, head straight down, and bomb into the sea with as much speed as it can generate. When the eagle surfaces from the water, IT DOES NOT HAVE ANY FEATHERS LEFT ON ITS BACK, so it must float back to shore and crawl in the bushes until ALL NEW FEATHERS have grown out. Now the eagle has all new feathers and has renewed its youth. Isn't that just tremendous? Now how does this relate to us?

When we GET RID OF all those negative thoughts OF OUR PAST -- all those fears, worries, and anxieties, that constantly burden us down, then . . . thy [our] youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

This renewal of our youth like an eagle's is a benefit that we should never forget. By renewing our mind to God's Word, it allows us to drop off all those things that disturbed us at one time, and in many cases, overcame us. Giving ALL the glory to God, I am 60 years young, but yet in my mind, I feel like a teenager. I feel like I can conquer the world as I continue to make my best effort to keep God first. And I must mention that God's Word also makes you appear quite healthy in your physical appearance with the glory of the Lord radiating in your face and being noticeable in your physical overall countenance. The magnificence of all of these benefits is just too much for words. I can only give God the glory and the thanks from my heart with these concluding statements one more time.

SO THAT THY YOUTH IS RENEWED LIKE THE EAGLE’S.

If only people knew what they were missing. Learn and apply the Word of God in your life by practicing at least this one very important principle and God guarantees you will more fully manifest the more than abundant life. Believe it, the world has nothing to offer you but false promises and a type of functional insanity where you really do not have free will -- while God's Word will teach you HOW to live life to its fullest in every possible area of your life.

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