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Dusty · 09-01-2007, 07:03 PM

Living Beyond Your Past

Kenneth Hagin Jr.

Have you ever seen a person walking down the street who
turns around to look back at something, when—

bam!—he
runs into something else? Because that person was looking in
the wrong direction, he probably suffered pain or embarrassment
or both!

The same could be said about a person’s walk with God.
After you’ve been born again, looking back at your past can
cause you unnecessary guilt, pain, and feelings of embarrassment.
You have to live beyond your past and look to your
future, because your future is as bright as the promises of God!
I want to let you know that even though you have a past,
you also have a future. Maybe your yesterdays weren’t all that
pretty, but if you’ll let God help you, your todays and tomorrows
will be beautiful.

Someone once said, “Don’t waste a day regretting yesterday.
Instead, make memories for tomorrow.” And one of my
favorites is, “There’s no use looking back unless that’s the
direction you’re planning to go.”

Everyone has a past to deal with, but God wants you to
realize that there is life beyond your past. The prisons of the
past will try to keep you from living today!

Looking back can be very dangerous. When Lot was told to
leave Sodom with his family, the angel told them not to look
back. But Lot’s wife looked back and she turned into a pillar of
salt (Gen. 19:15–26). I think one purpose of this biblical
account is to remind us that once we’ve been born again, once
we’ve started walking with God, we are not to turn around
and look back at our past.

With God, your past no longer exists. So don’t turn around
and look at the past. Doing so will hinder your progress
toward the future God has planned for you. After we accept
Christ as Savior, we have a future bright with the promises of
God. But we must choose to walk in it!

The enemy realizes that if he can get us to live in our past,
the only thing we will produce are excuses. He understands
that if he can keep us from looking at tomorrow in the light of
God’s Word, he can keep us from being the success that God
has called us to be.

God is not looking for perfect people, because there are no
perfect people. God does not use people who have a perfect
past. He uses people who rise above and beyond their past to
follow Him.

To get beyond your past, you must understand that God
has changed your identity (see 2 Cor. 5:17)! You are no
longer the person of the past. You are a new person in Christ,
and now you should only identify with the things of God.
You must also realize that your past mistakes have been

forgiven because of the blood of Jesus. God is not keeping

track of sin. He has wiped your slate clean. God forgave you,
but you may be having trouble forgiving yourself. When you
asked God to come into your life, He forgave all of your sins.
He wiped them all away. Now you must forgive yourself.
After you’ve forgiven yourself, you must go a step further
and forget the past. Philippians 3:13 says, “. . . But one thing I
do: Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is
ahead” (

NIV). The word “forgetting” in this verse means

choosing to neglect

.

You have to make a decision that you’re going to neglect
your past! You’re not going to think about it anymore.
Instead, stay focused on the fact that God has a bright future
for you. The next time your past starts to bother you, I want
you to point at yourself and say, “I am a new person in Christ.
Any mistakes I’ve made are under the blood, and I’m not
going to think about them anymore. God has called me to be

a success. My future is as bright as the promises of God!”

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