If we forget the past, we can hurtle toward a glorious future in God!
Leave The Past Behind
The past that Paul refers to is not our past sins, past mistakes, bad relationships, addictions, etc. The Holy Spirit has the power to free us of those pieces of our past. Although those things can wound us, they have no power to stop revival. In fact, they can even feed the desire for revival!
So what is this past that we need to forget? In Philippians 3:13, Paul speaks about “forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.” In the first century, Paul was calling for people to turn from their gods (paganism and idolatry) to the one true living God. Today in our culture, people just don’t care about God. Our paganism is godlessness; we make ourselves god.
Don’t Miss What God Is Doing
We have to forget our “religious” past. Religion is lifeless, holds us hostage, and gets in the way of our relationship with God. We must forget and get beyond the patterns of religion: the way we were raised, how our denomination did or does things, and even the things that make us comfortable. God wants to do something mighty in our lives and in our churches, but we’re stuck with our religious pasts. We cannot let religion make us miss what God is doing today, because that will make us miss all that He will do tomorrow!
If you don’t get what God’s doing now, you’re not going to get what He’s doing tomorrow.
Steve Gray
God will do what He wants to do, and we must be ready for it. God will not mold His next big move to me or you. We must strain forward to meet Him. Deep changes to our hearts and minds must occur. The changes we make cannot be limited to changes in church location, music, lighting, etc. Only when the people of God change will the church truly change and be in a place to vigorously and wholeheartedly pursue revival.
If we can leave behind the past and the religion that binds us, then we can strain forward toward our future in the fullness of God!
13 Brothers and sisters, 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,
14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
49 When they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out,
50 because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
51 Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed,
52 for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.
Questions:
What traces of religion from your past do you still hold onto?
How does your religious past influence you today?
What are some signs that it is holding you back with God?
0:58The alternative to revival is the unthinkable. We need the things of God renewed in our churches so it’s not just empty religion.
3:36Our paganism is no god because we make ourselves god. Our god is humanity—humanism.
8:57I realized how much I needed to be delivered from my religion that was holding me captive and taking away all the energy and all the strength that I should use for God.
11:15If you don’t get what God’s doing now, you’re not going to get what He’s doing tomorrow.
13:00Changing locations is not a revival. Changing locations doesn’t change you.
14:03The change is not what we do in church. The change is the people sitting in church. If they change, then the church will change
15:52Your past is not sacred. Leave it. Let’s get filled with the Holy Spirit. Let’s let God do what he wants to do. Just trust God to give us a future.
