Forgetting the Past

11/1987

Practical—what to do next. I guess we didn’t really even talk about that. I guess like anything else, how do you forget the past? Like anything else you go back and you ask yourself, “What did God say?” Because feelings and situations and circumstances will always push us around. With making a mistake with our children, or Church, or job or any of those kinds of things. Circumstances will always push us around unless we do one thing: Do not conform any longer to the patterns of this world, but be transfigured.

That’s what we all want, right? We want to be transfigured, like Jesus was transfigured on the mount of transfiguration. We want that and God promised us that could be the case. Our response to that is “What did God say? Do I forget the past and press on? Yes or no? God said I do, so I will. I choose to walk with God. I choose to be in agreement with God.”

And the imaginations always seem so real. They always seem so tangible. They seem like substance. But what David said in the Psalm is, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are my Shepherd.”

That’s an important aspect is that the shadows of death don’t have any real ability to kill us. When you realize that who you are is determined by the Blood of Christ and your future and your destiny is in the hand of a God who created the heavens and the earth, and promised that He would perfect that which He authored, and He’ll complete that which He began, and that He will equip His sheep—the great Shepherd of the sheep will equip you for every good work (Hebrews 13)—if you really believe that God said that, then the circumstances won’t intimidate you.

It doesn’t look like that, but God said He would, so I trust Him. And it’s the process of trust that allows Him to do that. If we don’t trust what He said then it’ll never happen. If you don’t believe Moses and the prophets, then a man raised from the dead won’t help you any either.

So it’s our job to say that the word of God is living and active. Though everything else spoils and fades and perishes and withers like grass, the word of God is Eternal and endures. The word was with God. The word was God. The things we’re reading here in the Bible are not a way of life—they are GOD, Himself. The Word was God.

So as we penetrate into what God said, we’re really penetrating into the power of God. If we don’t grab a hold of it by faith and say, “It is so because God not only said so, but God IS that.” The word WAS God. God IS that. And if that is God—what I’m reading here—then why and how could I ever doubt that?

Circumstances don’t dictate. Flesh and blood do not dictate. The imaginations that satan throws at us do not dictate. It’s the valley of the shadow of death. Shadows have no ability to kill us. A mac truck shadow cannot harm me. It looks intimidating but it has no power over me.

The Word of God stands forever IF I put my faith in it. FAITH is the victory that overcomes the world. Being undaunted, fully persuaded, giving thanks to God without wavering (Romans 4). I will believe the promises of God. Period. No circumstance—the Egyptian army bearing down and the Red Sea on the other side. I will fear no evil because the LORD is my Shepherd, and I shall not want.

Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil. I will fear not the past. I will not fear the future. I will not fear the present. My past is redeemed. And my future is secure. I’m going on with God. And my job is to day by day by day live as a simple servant of His and trust Him. To Rest in Him.

“Come to me, you who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest. Come and learn from me. My yoke is easy, my burden is light. I am meek and lowly in heart. I’m not a hard master. I’m not a task-master. I’m not driving you with a whip. I’m meek and lowly of heart. I’m your Brother. I’m your friend. I’ll even die for you to prove it to you—that I don’t consider myself better than you. I empty myself of my rights and my equality with God and make myself your slave and wash your feet.”

THAT’S the God that we serve. He’s not a hard task-master. He loves us. And when we realize that then we can walk through the valley of the shadow of death and fear no evil because “the Lord is my Shepherd.” He leads me along the still waters and through the green pastures. He prepares a table for me in the presence of my enemies. “Ha, ha ha!”

He loves to flaunt it! He loves for satan to be humiliated. He made a public spectacle, an open-show, humiliating satan on the cross. He loves to humiliate satan.

When you know you’ve got a God like that, who created satan—so He’s not intimidated by satan—and if we hide ourselves in Christ and stand on the word of God, which was with God and which was God, we stand on the “was-God” word, then we fear no evil.

Because if you see it through God’s eyes, these aren’t just principles to live by. This is Deity. This is the eternal, immortal God, and as far as we put our faith on that Word, then we need not fear evil. There’s nothing satan can do to us. Satan throws imaginations at us. He’s a prince of lies. He accuses the brethren day and night. But they’re accusations. There’s no reality behind it, and so there’s no reason to fear. They’re just shadows.

It looks a whole lot like death, but it’s only a shadow of death so we fear no evil. So, we can forget the past because God said the Blood of Christ has cleansed our past, and though our sins were as scarlet they are now white as snow.

How do I know? Cause I feel like it? Maybe not. But because God said so, I know it’s true. So I rest in that. And by putting my faith in resting on what God said, I experience the reality of it. You see? Now my conscience is cleansed from the acts that lead to death, but it’s only as I believe the Word of God that I can experience the reality of the Word of God.

If I wait until God parts the Red Sea before I say, “Oh, ok. NOW I believe God,” then the Red Sea won’t part. But it’s when I say, “Stand still and see the deliverance the Lord will bring!” My staff is trembling, but I know God meant what He said. And, who are these guys?! I mean, who do they think they are?! They’re flesh and blood. God created them. They’re made out of dust. Why am I supposed to be afraid of them? If GOD be with me, who can be against me? No fear. No fear. When you see it the way God sees it, no fear.

We can forget the past because God said it’s been erased. It’s been buried under an ocean of grace. It’s gone. Never to be found again. I’ll remember your sins and iniquities no more. He forgets them, and there’s no reason for us to remember them.

If we stub our toe, if we confess our sins, if we call it what He calls it. If we defend it, we’re in trouble. But if we call it what He calls it, we confess it. We say, “This is sin. There is no excuse. This is sin. It’s not what you did or I did or ‘it’ did. This is sin.” And if we “homologeo”—if we call it what God calls it, if we speak the same word as God, then it says He’s faithful and just to forgive us our sins. And the Blood of Christ continually purifies us from all sin.

So, our job, again, is to love the truth. To call it what He calls it, and He’ll take care of the rest. He’ll let the Spirit testify with our spirit, “Abba, Father!” And He’ll make the love of God be shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. IF we walk by faith and not by sight. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. The utterance of God—the “rhema” of God. That word is “rhema,” not “logos” or “graphe.” It’s not “scripture.” It’s the utterance of God.

If we know there is a living and active word that applies to our situation and we put our full weight on that, and if we do that, then Faith and growth and change and refreshing come into our lives. It’s a supernatural thing. The word of God is a seed. It’s not a moral system, or just a code of ethics. It’s a seed. There’s life in it, and as we bury the seed in our hearts and believe it—the faith and the tears are what water it—and God gives the increase. We know not how, as it says in Mark 4.

So, it’s kind of a neat thing. It rests on this one thing: Faith is the victory that overcomes the world. Believing what God said, and renewing our mind with the thoughts of God. Always casting down imaginations and fears and replacing them with, “Yeah but GOD said…”, “Yeah but God said…”, “Yeah but God said…” every time something flaps us in the face.

“Well, you’re no good.” “God said I am a child of His. I’ve been adopted into Sonship. And the whole inheritance is mine. And I’ve been redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb, and that’s what God said!”

If you resist the devil on that foundation he’ll flee from you. It’s not brute force will-power to resist the devil. It’s the word of God that we believe that we resist the devil by. “Hey, I feel guilty. Too bad. I’m not guilty. God said I’m made perfect and being made holy (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus exchanged our sin for His righteousness. I have the righteousness of Jesus. I am the righteousness of Jesus, it says. I am the righteousness of Jesus. Well, I feel guilty. Well, too bad about that. I am the righteousness of Jesus!” See?

The accuser of the brethren can’t stand up against the word of God and that’s the basis that we face the past with. That’s the trust we face the future with. We believe He’s our Father and He loves us. He’s not teasing us. He’s not tormenting us. He’s not trying to put out some maze of complex confusion that we’re supposed to try to follow. He loves us. He’s our Father and we can trust Him to take us by the hand and give us this day our daily bread.

If you ask Him for next week’s bread, He isn’t going to oblige, but if you ask Him for today’s bread, then as a good Father He’ll feed you. If you ask Him for tomorrow’s bread, like the prodigal son did, you’ll go off and blow it anyway, and you’ll end up having to come back with your tail between your legs.

So, like for instance, this whole situation you’re in right now—whether it’s personal situations, Church situations—if you’re trying to project “out there.”—“Well, where we going from here?”—You’re going to end up coming back with your tail between your legs. You’re asking for next week’s bread like the prodigal son did. “Give me my inheritance!” And the Father knows you’re going to squander it. If you try to live out there in the future someplace you’re going to squander it.

“Give me today my daily bread. I’m going to live one minute at a time.” Jesus said, “Don’t worry about tomorrow. Don’t run after the things of tomorrow like the pagans do, but trust me. Seek me first, and my righteousness. I’ll add all these other things to you. Each day has enough trouble of it’s own. Don’t worry about tomorrow!”

Those are the words of the One who created us. He knows what makes us tick. And He said pray for today’s bread and let tomorrow and the next day take care of itself. And we’ve got to do that, whether it’s our relationships or our situation in the Church—which is really the same thing—or whatever it happens to be.

We live in honesty, simplicity, obedience, self-sacrifice as a child…today. And Jesus promised us as a Brother, and our Father promised us as a good Father to not give a scorpion to us who have asked for bread or fish. He’s going to give good gifts to us and we just trust Him for that because He said so. He said so. He said so. And that’s all I need to know.

He’s the God who created the universe. He measures the universe in the span of His hand, Isaiah said. If He gave His only Son for us, how much more all things. He’s proven to us that we’re in safe-keeping. If we’d just trust Him we’d find that out. We’ll find that out if we just trust Him.