"...but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."
-Isaiah 40: 31

Don't Look Back

We all too often let our 'past' or our mistakes that we make affect us. There isn't a single person who is reading this e-mail that doesn't have something in their life that they regret. A mistake they are ashamed of. If you are like me sometimes those things are a daily struggle...oh how easily 'sin entangles' us. Satan wants to remind us all the time of our failures, our shortcomings. He uses those things to push us down, to hold us back from being all that we can be for God. But we must remember that with Jesus there is freedom and that we are in fact new creations. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (2nd Corinthians 5: 17)

The past is just that, the past. It's over! In Luke 9: 62 Jesus says this 'No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God." Wow! What a statement and I am sure it can be looked at in many ways but this is what I believe about it...Once you have given your life to the Lord and trust in Him for your salvation then there is no need to look back! Don't hold onto the past because with Christ the path is before you and with His strength and grace there is no place that you cannot go. Do not allow Satan to use your past, your mistakes to convince you that God's future for you cannot be achieved. The great evangelist, Paul, puts it this way..."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, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3: 13-14) Forget the mistakes of the past and press on toward the goal of a new life in Christ.

With God, the future is before you and with His loving guidance and sufficient grace you will be 'fit for service' in His kingdom. You will become like all of those that put their hope and faith in Him "...but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." (Isaiah 40: 31) Don't look back!

Take a moment and encourage someone this week!

I pray that all is well with you. Please let me know if you have any prayer concerns or praises. Have a great week and remember to smile :), the Lord loves you!

In Christ,

Shan D. Hartsough

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" -2nd Corinthians 5: 17

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