NEITHER CONFINES OR DEFINES

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

“Your past neither confines your or defines you.  Your worst day clearly wasn’t your last day, so grab hold of this day.”

Wise counsel.

It was shared at a little gathering of men on the east side of Dayton last night.  The ministry is called GOOD SHEPHERD and they are doing some good things. 

They provide sober living for many of the graduates from Woodhaven as well as other shorter term treatment facilities. They serve their neighbors with volunteer efforts.  The men seek to be a light to a very challenged and dark neighborhood. Pray for their efforts and their leaders.

And it was while a dear friend, Joyce, was sharing with these folks that those little quotes were uttered.  For Joyce was there last night to encourage the men to see the women they encounter on the street in a different light, a more compassionate and caring light.  She encouraged them to not reduce them to objects of their consumption but to see them as they wish to be seen, as valuable, relevant and purposed; to pray for them rather than seek to use them.

I will say, Joyce has a very real and very effective way to communicate that message and these men were moved and inspired to do things differently.

Yet it was after Joyce had finished sharing that the topic of “the past” was raised and it was then Joyce shared those nuggets of wisdom.  They are good for all of today I believe.

First, our past neither confines or defines.  Joyce is a living and breathing testimony to that.  250 convictions and now sharing the gospel?  Thousands of tricks and mistakes and now she is the one mentoring women just like her? No Joyce’s past neither defines her or confines her.  It doesn’t have that power over any of us.

Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth... - Isaiah 43:18 (ESV)

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

2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV)

Familiar passages but oh, so true.

Second, your worst day wasn’t your last day…

Remembering…

one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead – Philippians 3:13 (ESV)

While this truly resonated for the men there, for me too, these are good and familiar reminders for all of us.  Many of us have “stuff” in our past that seeks to define and confine.  Many of us have “bad days” that turn into bad weeks and if not checked, can turn into bad years.

So, the message is clear today. 

Remember not those former things.  Remember your newness.  Embrace today as a refining, forward moving day.  And finally remember while “We are products of our past, we don't have to be prisoners of it.” ― Rick Warren

Have a great day!

I love you all

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