Your Past is PAST!

Most people refuse to move forward because of past mistakes and failures. The devil uses regret and remorse to keep people ashamed, so they won’t grow in Christ and be used of God.

This surely was my case for many years. I figured that not only had I failed so badly, but if people were to find out how sinful I’ve been, they’d never listen to me.

But the Lord pointed me to men of God like king David who had been an adulterer and murderer, and many others that God used in spite of their horrible past. Look how long it took the early disciples to trust Paul who had been a persecutor of the church. But Paul believed in God’s forgiveness. He said, “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in Whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Col 1:13-14)

We may be a product of our past, but we don’t have to be a prisoner of our past. We are not a victim unless we choose to be. We can rely on God’s forgiveness. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1John 1:9)

Nobody is perfect except by the blood of Christ. Look at some of the greatest men in the Bible, men of faith, but all of them made mistakes. They all became shining examples, not of their own greatness but of their utter dependence on God.  Nobody is ever good enough. We are all fallible, we all make mistakes, we all have sins, and it’s only the grace of God that we are saved.

In spite of all of our sins and shortcomings, failures, mistakes and unsaintliness, God can still save us and use us. We can still be used of God if we will just receive His awesome gift of forgiveness. Only Jesus is perfect which is why He had to come to save us. “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.” (Jn 3:17)

If we are truly repentant, we can expect God’s complete forgiveness. True repentance means a complete metanoia, (Greek for a 180 degrees turn around). God said that our sins would be blotted out of His memory as far as the East is from the West. (Ps 103:12) There’s one verse that really nailed it for me. “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.” (Isa 1:18)

I got so sick of being tied down by my past that I finally agreed with the devil. I said, “That’s right, there’s nothing good in me, so I’ll just let Jesus live through me,” and I committed myself to shine God’s light on people, everywhere I go and to everyone I meet.

I was a womanizer which led me to unfaithfulness which cost me my first marriage, and now if I meet a pretty lady, I make a point of witnessing to her and telling her about Jesus. I turn my temptations against the devil.

Yesterday, I was out purchasing something and the customer in front of me was a “gorgeous gal”, and instead of getting tripped off, I went straight up to her while her purchase was getting loaded up, and witnessed to both her and her husband and led them both to the Lord and spent over twenty minutes telling them all about God’s love and how so VERY important it is to seek first the kingdom of God. It was so AWESOME.

In Christ, you can meet total freedom from your past because while it’s true that “you reap what you sow”, once you’re born again, and truly receive that Jesus has paid for ALL your sins, then we reap what HE HAS SOWN. We reap His inheritance and can walk in total victory over the works of the devil in our life.

It’s not God who reminds us of our past, to the contrary, He only wants to put wind in our sails. Like a loving father, He dusts us off after a fall and puts us back on the path to success. “A man who refuses to admit his mistakes can never be successful. But if he confesses and forsakes them, he gets another chance.” (Pro 28:13)

God uses men and women who’ve made terrible mistakes, and now know that they can’t rely on themselves. And they then meet God’s first requirement, to rely solely on Him.

It’s not only the fear of the future that may keep us from being used of God, but the biggest barrier to our success may be our own excuses regarding our past.

I have compiled a few verses for a Bible study to help anyone else who desires to let go of their past.

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Ephesians 2:1-22

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.

Romans 5:8

But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Proverbs 28:13

Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.

Isaiah 55:7

Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.

Daniel 9:9

To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him.

Acts 3:19

Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out.

Romans 3:23

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Matthew 26:28

For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Hebrews 10:17

Then He adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”

Psalm 86:5

For You, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon You.

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

2Chronicles 7:14

If My people who are called by My name humble themselves, and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Acts 10:43

To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name.

Hebrews 8:12

For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.

Micah 7:18-19

Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of His inheritance? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.

Isaiah 43:25

I am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins.

Ephesians 2:8-9

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

1John 2:1

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

Micah 7:18

Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of His inheritance? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in steadfast love.