SAY GOOD-BYE TO YESTERDAY

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SAY GOOD-BY TO YESTERDAY

 “Say Good-bye to Yesterday”

By Pastor Mark Taylor

“For a righteous person may fall seven times And rise again, But the wicked shall fall by calamity. (Proverbs 24:16).  

Christians are not “perfect”.  We are forgiven and we have the presence of God in our lives through the Holy Spirit, but we will all still make mistakes and fail ourselves and others from time to time.

The first step in saying good-bye to yesterday, is to acknowledge to ourselves and to the Lord that we have failed.  “Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me.”          (Psalms 51:1-3).  Feeling like you are the victim and blaming others for failures in your life will not allow you to put your past behind you. Change your response to failure by accepting responsibility.  To move forward today, you must learn to say good-bye to yesterday’s hurts, tragedies, and negative events.

Next, understand that God loves you right now for who you are.  You cannot do anything to make God love you more than He does right now.  I know that it is a hard concept to accept because others do not love and accept us unconditionally, but God does.  “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” (Romans 8:1).  He demonstrates that love by continually forgiving us and giving us opportunities to start over.  “The mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, And His righteousness to children's children, (Psalms 103:17).

Finally, in this process determine to release the event and move on.  You do not have control over how other people feel about you or what you have done, but you do have power to control your response to the event.  Holding grudges and repeated the event to yourself and others will only prolong the pain.  “but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before.” (Philippians 3:13).

Many people before you have failed in business, relationships, and in accomplishing personal goals.  The average entrepreneur fails 4 times before they make it in business.  They have learned how to lemons in to lemonade.  Thomas Edison believed “ Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up”.

When we don’t what to do, then we need to ask God for guidance, because He does know the solution to our problems and can help us overcome failure.   “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” (James 1:5).  I would like to share a few strategies that successful men and women have learned in overcoming failure.2

• Reject Rejection.  Do not give up because others think you have failed.  The Lord has not given up on you. “For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." So we may boldly say: "The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?" (Hebrews 13:5-6).
• Don’t blame God and others for your failures.  He is the source of your help, not the source of your problem.   Remember how far you have come and give God glory for what you have.  Remember Job’s attitude about failure. “And he said: "Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD." In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.” (Job 1:21-22).
• See failure as only a temporary problem.  “For a righteous person may fall seven times and rise again.” (Proverbs 24:16).  
• Keep your expectations realistic and achievable.  Ask for God’s will to be done in your life. “You ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that." (James 4:15).
• Instead of dwelling on your failure, focus on your strengths. God has made you with special abilities and made you for a special purpose. “I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.” (Psalms 139:14).
• Don’t be afraid to start over.  Fear will bring procrastination and eventually stop you from overcoming failure. If you have the Lord Jesus in your heart, He will help you start over. “But Jesus looked at them and said, "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible." (Mark 10:27).
• Don’t get used to failure and make the same mistakes over and over again. “If you always do what you’ve always done, then you will always get what you’ve always gotten”.

A great future is awaiting the children of God in this world and the one to come - Don't Quit – Don’t Give Up.  The Lord is on your side.

SOMEONE CARES A LOT ABOUT YOU

Someone Cares A Lot About You

by Pastor Mark Taylor

“The very hairs of your head are all numbered.”  (Matthew 10:30)

God cares about you so much that he knew all about you physically, mentally, and emotionally before you were born.  “Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.” (Psalms 139:16).   And He loves you in spite of all your problems you have acquired since you were born. You were made with such care that even the number of your hairs was not by chance.

God knows more about you than you know about yourself.  Not one hair falls from your head without God knowing about it.  If each hair is valued, then our minds and souls must have much more value.  "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16).  

If God numbered your hairs, then He knows you personally and will be there for you when you have needs. “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:6-7).

Just because you are thought of with such detail, His love does not exempt you from the trials and difficulties of life.  Our Lord Jesus suffered while He was on this Earth and He warned us that we would to.  "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." (John 16:33).  No matter how difficult your life is, if you remain faithful to the Lord, you have great rewards waiting for you.  “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:18).  

No one likes to suffer, but sin has brought chaos and problems into the world.  Sin is an agent of decay.  Once sin comes into a relationship, a community, or an individual it begins to destroy.  Satan’s goal is to undo what God has done by introducing sin into things that God has made “good”.

God cares for you by preserving you in this evil world.  The good news is that God is not just sitting back and watching evil destroy you.  In the book of Genesis, evil had become so widespread that God decided to destroy the whole world, but “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD” (Genesis 6:8).  God wants to spare you from the evil of this world because “He cares for you” (I Peter 5:7).  He is helping you fight evil.  “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”  (1 Corinthians 10:13).

God cares for you by reversing the chaotic cycle of sin in your life when you accept the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior.    “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).  

God cares for you by demonstrating His love to you.  “For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:7-8).

God cares for you by providing a plan and purpose for your life.  “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.” (Jeremiah 29:11-12).  “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him." (1 Corinthians 2:9).

Because God cares so much for us, we need to care for others.  “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.”  (1 John 4:7).

Because God cares so much for us, we need to care for God. “I love the LORD, because He has heard My voice and my supplications. Because He has inclined His ear to me, Therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live.” (Psalms 116:1-2).