Our past is not our master

We have a tendency to let our past determine our future. We need to know our past does not define who we are, it only defines who we were.

God allows our past not to define us, but rather to remind us of where we came from, to hold onto the promise of where we are going and how much we can't do this without Him.

Stop listening to liars, stop listening to those who want to control you, stop listening to negative, deceitful people who either don't know the truth or refuse to acknowledge the truth.

Either way, they are wrong!

Christians and non-Christians alike get caught in the snare of the devil, stop looking at ourselves and all the things that have happened in our lives as chains to hold us back, instead look at the events of our lives as keys, keys to our life that help us to be free, and others around us.

We should take our eyes off of ourselves put them on God and leave them there.

Let Him use the events, the choices, the good, the bad, the chaos, the whatever in our lives, as He sees fit. God will use these things for our good, the good of others and all for His glory.

Our past should only serve as a reminder of what not to do again, if we are free, then we cannot be held in bondage, the curse of sin was broken by Christ, and we are conquerors in Him, not the conquered.

If we are in Christ then we are a new creation free from the bondage of sin and death, I think this should define how we live, don't you?

God’s word says this:

“My soul, bless the Lord, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. My soul, bless the Lord and do not forget all his benefits. He forgives all your iniquity; he heals all your diseases. He redeems your life from the Pit; he crowns you with faithful love and compassion. He satisfies you with good things; your youth is renewed like the eagle. The Lord executes acts of righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. He revealed his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel. The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love. He will not always accuse us or be angry forever. He has not dealt with us as our sins deserve or repaid us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his faithful love toward those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” Psalms‬ ‭103:1-12‬ ‭CSB‬‬

“Jesus responded, “Truly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. A slave does not remain in the household forever, but a son does remain forever. So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free. I know you are descendants of Abraham, but you are trying to kill me because my word has no place among you. I speak what I have seen in the presence of the Father; so then, you do what you have heard from your father.”John‬ ‭8:34-38‬ ‭CSB‬‬

“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father also loves the one born of him. This is how we know that we love God’s children: when we love God and obey his commands. For this is what love for God is: to keep his commands. And his commands are not a burden, because everyone who has been born of God conquers the world. This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith.” 1 John‬ ‭5:1-4‬ ‭CSB‬‬

“From now on, then, we do not know anyone from a worldly perspective. Even if we have known Christ from a worldly perspective, yet now we no longer know him in this way. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come! Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf: “Be reconciled to God.” He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
2 Corinthians‬ ‭5:16-21‬ ‭CSB‬‬​

“Therefore, I say this and testify in the Lord: You should no longer live as the Gentiles live, in the futility of their thoughts. They are darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them and because of the hardness of their hearts. They became callous and gave themselves over to promiscuity for the practice of every kind of impurity with a desire for more and more. But that is not how you came to know Christ, assuming you heard about him and were taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, to take off your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires, to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, the one created according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth. Therefore, putting away lying, speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, because we are members of one another. Be angry and do not sin. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger, and don’t give the devil an opportunity. Let the thief no longer steal. Instead, he is to do honest work with his own hands, so that he has something to share with anyone in need. No foul language should come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need so that it gives grace to those who hear. And don’t grieve God’s Holy Spirit. You were sealed by him for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, anger, and wrath, shouting and slander be removed from you, along with all malice. And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.” Ephesians‬ ‭4:17-32‬ ‭CSB‬‬