Philippians 1:12 - 14 And I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News. For everyone here, including the whole palace guard, knows that I am in chains because of Christ. And because of my imprisonment, most of the believers here have gained confidence and boldly speak God's message without fear.
Trust me this message is as much for me as it is for you. Excuse the boldness of this message but it's time to move on. Time to let go of the past. Time to go forward. Time to stop looking back. Time to stop talking about the wound, the hurt and the pain. It's time to start talking about the healing.
Yes, I was bullied and teased as a kid. It's time for me to stop the tears, stop the fears and stop the pity party. When I look at who I am today I am glad I went through that time. Yes, it was hard and painful, but because of what I went though I can help others going through the same thing.
Maybe you have been sexually abused, physically abused or verbally abused or all of the above, but you don't have to keep dwelling on the past. Maybe you have been imprisoned falsely or have been cheated on by a spouse. Whatever you are going through, whatever you have gone through, it's time to stop thinking about and talking about and living your life in the past.
You, my friend, and I are much stronger and more powerful than we know. You see we have the strength of God living inside of us. We have the power of God available at our fingertips. Our thoughts and our words direct our future and if we constantly live in the past then we can never grow. If we think about all the wrong done to us we will never recover. If we constantly talk about all the wrong that was done to us, we will never claim the promises of God.
Trust me I speak from experience here. There are things that happened to me that no one but God and Jerry know. I could dwell on these things and talk about them and whine about them and complain about them, but what good does that do? It doesn't undo what happened, it will never make up for what happened and it will never make me feel better about what happened.
What does help? Talking about the healing grace of Jesus Christ. Oh trust me I could live in a prison of distress and despair, and for a while I did,(it wasn't pretty). I have decided to chose a prison of hope! I chose to see the healing, I chose to see the way those things changed me and made me stronger in my faith. It's a choice I make and so can you. Stop living in the past, it's time to move on.
Look at this verse. Paul was in prison. Chains wrapped around his ankles and wrists did not stop him from sharing the good news about Jesus Christ. Prison guards were changed by his testimony. Even though he was in prion, he never through himself a pity party. All the while he rejoiced in the love of Jesus Christ. Because of his attitude, because of his words, because of his example, lives in that prison were changed for eternity.
He didn't complain or murmur or whine, he didn't go over all the times he was mistreated or abused or beaten, he didn't curse God for being in a prison cell. He lifted his eyes and hands to heaven and thanked God for being with him. He had confidence and faith that no matter what he was going through, it would all turn out for the good and be used to changed lives.
Listen I fully understand that sometimes what we are going through may be the toughest thing we've ever gone through, but as a believer we need to have confidence and trust in the Lord. We need to tell people about how God healed us, restored us and guided us through the trials in our lives. We need to let them know that despite our past, we have been saved by grace,
Lord help our test become our testimony, our mess into our message, our scars into stars. May we learn to share the healing more than the struggle in Jesus name I pray, amen.
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