Don't look back ...

Genesis 19:26
"But Lot's wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt."

Lately, I have been studying the women of the bible and when I came across Lot's wife I was blown away at what one verse could carry. Lets recap the story of Lot: Lot and his family lived in Sodom and the city was so wicked that God told Abraham He was going to destroy the city with fire. Abraham tried to bargain with God by saying "What about all the innocent lives?" So God told him "If you find 50 people who are good, I will not destroy the city." However, that was not enough for Abraham. He tried negotiating again and again until he got to 10 people. So God said "Ok I will send my angels and if they find 10 good people, I will save the city." Unfortunately when the angels arrived at the city they only found good in Lot and his family. The angels told them to flee for their lives and when the fire fell they were not to look back. When they left the city, the temptation became too strong for Lot's wife to handle that she looked back at her city and she became a pile of salt.

There are 2 parts I want to discuss:

1. The city - It really irritates me when people say that God causes destruction ... no He doesn't. We do, by sinning! It is initially our faults. Sin is what we do instead of what God wants. When we sin, we cause destruction. Sin causes bad things to happen, not God.

2. Lot's wife - She was warned by the angels not to look back ... but she couldn't resist. The sin of her own city destroyed her. Same goes with us. When we sin, we repent and flee before destruction occurs, just like Lot's family. However, when we look back on our sin it destroys us. When you look back on your sin, without realizing it, you allow that sin to have a window back in your life.

Have you ever sinned and for some reason you can't help but continue to look back on your sin? Do you ever realize how much it affects you? I know for me it is very hard to not look back and live in the regret of what I have once done. Daily, I have to remind myself that I do not live that lifestyle anymore. If you think about it, it is kind of a slap in the face to God when we constantly remind Him of our old selves.

Micah 7:19 "You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea."

Psalms 103:12 "As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us."

From these 2 verses we can infer that God casts our sins so far from Him, that He doesn't even remember them. How amazing is He! He has such grace and mercy! If the God of all creation casts our sins, why shouldn't we? We should repent and not look back. Don't be like Lot's wife and fall into the temptation of returning to your sin.

Philippians 3:13
"Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead."

Looking back is a sure end to going back!

Right now take a moment and think of your past ... let this be the last time you look back in regret. Don't think long enough to let it consume you and affect your life! Just look back and think ... you may not be where you need to be, but thank God you aren't where you used to be!

"Time Heals All Wounds"

What a cliche saying that title is! "Time heals all wounds." But I want to redirect your thinking of this quote: time heals all wounds only when YOU take time to heal all wounds. Doesn't that put a twist on things?!

Take a look at the picture to the left. When we are hurt, as humans we become very guarding of our hearts. It's like the picture, we put a block of ice around it to protect it. But ice eventually melts, over time ...

If you want old wounds to heal, you have to take the time for the wounds to heal. One thing I have learned is when you bury the hurt, you bury the healing. You can't continuously bury pain and hurt, you have to face those emotions and deal with them. If you bury the hurt you damage your opportunity at healing correctly. You may heal ... but only temporarily until the hurt resurfaces. Once the hurt resurfaces, you end up back at square one and you will have to relive the hurt all over again. (And we all know that's not what we want!) Avoid this ... take the TIME to heal the wounds. Healing doesn't occur over night, it occurs over time. Burying the hurt is an over night healing, it's a quick fix to a long term problem. The pain is not fully healed unless you take the time to heal.

If there is one thing I have learned it is that healing not only takes time, but requires faith.

Hebrews 11:1 - "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."

No one wants to feel pain. Cause pain hurts. When hurt occurs, we all hope the pain will go away ... that is faith. We have to have faith that the pain will not linger, that it is just temporary. We don't see into the future and we don't know what is to come ... only God does. But we have faith that "what we do not see" is pain free; that when the healing time is over, all the pain will be gone. That is faith.

Don't put a time cap on the healing process. Realize it takes time, and may take more time than you want. But hear me when I say: you HAVE to fully heal! Waiting for all the pain to go away can be long and trying ... but you are building your faith. I once read this quote: "Don't fear or resent the waiting periods in your life. These are the very moments where seeds of faith blossom." How awesome is that! It can be a bittersweet feeling ... waiting is not what anyone wants to do, but faith is something we all want more of!

"Faith doesn't take the pain out of suffering, but faith prevents the infection of despair!" -Jackie Kendall

Despair is defined as "the loss of hope." When you are suffering and hurt, don't you lose hope? We all do! Faith may not remove the pain, but it brings back the hope you feel like you lost! Don't rely on faith to remove pain, cause you will be disappointed. However, you can rely on faith for hope!

So, I guess the saying is correct "time heals all wounds." BUT ... you have to take time to heal all wounds! Right now, I encourage you to dig deep into your heart and ask God to reveal old wounds! Find some? I am sure we all have wounds waiting to be healed! Ask God for the faith to face the wound ... now take time to HEAL!

The Life or Death of Word

"If you want a positive life, you can't have a negative mouth"
- Joyce Meyers

This morning I was listening to a sermon by Joyce Meyers and she stated the quote posted above. How true is that quote!! ... This woman of God has such wisdom! People always wonder why they are struggling in their lives and why nothing seems to be working out right ... stop and think about what you are speaking! Are you speaking life or death?

Proverbs 18:21 "The tongue has the power of life and death and those who love it will eat its fruit!"

That is such a strong verse! How our lives turn out depends on what our tongues confess. Ever think about something you said in your past about your future ... and you see it now in your present? Is it really what you wanted? Were you speaking out of life or death when you declared that vision for your life? So many times, we speak death into our lives out of emotion and we end up regretting what we get in the future. We become unsatisfied with our very own words. Talk about living by the phrase "you will one day eat your words." Lately, I have realized how much negativity I spoke into my life out of emotion. There are things I said when I was younger that I wish I never would have said because I see them now and they are affecting my very present moment. I am learning daily to live with a mouth that speaks forth only positivity. It's hard. But if I want a happy and successful life, I need to speak positively and bring forth the breath of God into my words and my atmosphere.

Look at the story in Ezekiel 37:1-14. God told Ezekiel to prophesy over the dead and dry bones. When Ezekiel did, the bones flooded with life and the breath of God! The same thing happens with situations, trials, and circumstances in our lives. When you look at an area of your life or a situation that looks like dead bones, what will you do? Will you walk away and let the bones decay or will you look at those bones and prophesy life back into them? If we would just SPEAK positively over our lives, God would bring life to them!

Start calling things that are not as though they are! If you want something to happen, declare it to happen and watch it flourish in front of you! You have to get stuff from the Spiritual realm into the natural realm using your MOUTH as power!

Romans 10:10 "For it is with you heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved."

Believe it in your heart AND confess it with your mouth. You can't believe something without confessing it. When you confess from your mouth, you create a stirring in the atmosphere! Your mouth releases the supernatural breath of God into the natural realm and creates a wind in your life for things to shift!

Let me challenge you with this : the next time you face something tough or something doesn't go the way you plan it .... say something positive! One of the hardest things is to have a problem and say something positive! Overcome what the world would have you do in a dead situation! Remember, when Christ died. He overcame DEATH! Therefore, nothing ... NOTHING in your life is dead ... you have the power to bring life back into your dead bones!