Amy Adams

What Is LOVE?

A man in traditional robes holds a laughing child while sitting in an olive grove. — A heartwarming scene of Jesus laughing with a young child in a peaceful olive grove.

“What Is Love? Baby don’t hurt me, don’t hurt me no more…” That song gives a horribly wrong interpretation of what love is. Love was never meant to hurt. It was meant to heal. It was meant to protect and nurture. It was meant to sacrifice and save. It was meant to defend and defy logic. It was meant to know the One who created the heavens and the earth and us and be known by Him. So many people nowadays have lost the idea and the concept of what love really is. Many people have confused love with desire, want with attraction and rather than building a relationship with someone, they rush right in with sex and create a toxic idea of what love is and how it’s supposed to be expressed.

The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 exactly what love is. It is the character of God. The Passion Translation puts it beautifully:

“Love is large and incredibly patient. Love is gentle and consistently kind to all. It refuses to be jealous when blessing comes to someone else. Love does not brag about one’s achievements nor inflate its own importance. Love does not traffic in shame and disrespect, nor selfishly seek its own honor. Love is not easily irritated or quick to take offense. Love joyfully celebrates honesty and finds no delight in what is wrong. Love is a safe place of shelter, for it never stops believing the best for others. Love never takes failure as defeat, for it never gives up.”

The way the Bible describes it is beautiful and totally encompasses the character or God, because “God is love” as it states in 1 John 4:8. He is gentle and kind without being a pushover. He will never get jealous of someone else’s achievements but will instead celebrate them. God will never condemn you or make you feel ashamed of yourself, even if what He says is correction that cuts to the heart. He is in the conviction business, not the condemnation business. “God is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” (Numbers 14:18) He doesn’t get angry nearly as easily or quickly as the world has made Him out to be. I used to think that anytime I made a mistake, He would be furious with me because of how my earthly father reacted but that’s far from the truth of God’s character. Hollywood movies have also portrayed God to have a short fuse too, and I used to watch a lot of Hollywood movies that brainwashed me. You can’t believe everything you hear, especially if it’s coming from Hollywood.

God loves honesty and people keeping their word and detests it when people do things that are evil, but it doesn’t mean He detests the person or stops loving them. God is a strong tower and a shelter for those who call on Him and take refuge in Him and is always full of hope that everyone will one day come to a knowledge of the truth of who He is and who they are to Him. He never stops fighting for His children, the ones who know Him personally and is always leaving breadcrumbs in the lives of His lost children to find Him. If they really want a relationship with God, they will see the clues and seek Him out for themselves. I used to think that was nonsense and that God wasn’t in every situation, but now having looked back at my past, I see Him in the details.

The world would describe love as an act of sexual intercourse or hooking up with someone because they like you and you like them. Most people say “I love you” without putting any action behind it. The term love is taken way too loosely nowadays, and most people walk around with a skewed and distorted version of what it truly means. But love is sacrificial at times. Love doesn’t seek its own. However, that doesn’t mean that you should just completely disregard your needs above everyone else’s. There must be balance. Self-love is important too. You cannot love your neighbor as yourself if you are neglecting to take care of yourself first. You take care of yourself by making sure your basic needs are met, which includes spending time with Abba in the secret place. It also includes making sure that you have slept enough, ate enough and have enough money to take care of yourself. Sometimes God will ask you to look out for others’ needs above your own comfort, but He doesn’t expect that of you all the time and it really shouldn’t be done like that unless you are being led by the Holy Spirit.

Love is complicated yet simple at the same time. It is easy to understand when you talk about it and most people would agree unanimously that 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 is an accurate description of what love is. The only problem is acting on it. I have found for me that it’s almost impossible for me to walk in love if I’m not abiding in God’s love first. Some people are naturally loving but I am not. My childhood left me shell-shocked and traumatized and my adulthood did too, but when I am abiding in Christ and walking in the Spirit, it’s almost like none of what I went through matters. My old nature takes a back seat, and my new nature takes the wheel and bursts forth.

“Now, if anyone is enfolded into Christ, he has become an entirely new person. All that is related to the old order has vanished. Behold, everything is fresh and new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17

However, there are times when someone triggers me from an old trauma or an event triggers me and it causes me to react like the old me. This is where the Holy Spirit comes in and helps to heal those areas so that I don’t continue to act like the old me would. Sometimes, I am also completely at a loss for what to say and that is an important time to practice silence because it’s better not to say something than say something stupid or hurtful.

With the help of the Holy Spirit, walking in love and being love is more than possible. Knowing that you are loved and accepted by the One who created the heavens and the earth makes loving people like Jesus loved people just a little bit easier. Without Him to lead me onward, I would be lost and would most definitely not respond in a loving way like I’m learning to do now. Abba’s love has helped me live better, act better, and feel better. He can and will do the same for you. All you have to do is surrender to His love.

Walking in Righteousness

Righteousness is not found in checking off the boxes of the fruit of the Spirit. It is found in a state of being where love pours out of you and the fruit of the Spirit grows on its own. It is found in the simplicity of the gospel, knowing that Christ died to give you His righteousness, that once you say “yes” to Jesus, you have the ability to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ” and “have the mind of Christ.” It is a matter of believing. The more you believe that you are righteous through Christ, the more you become the righteousness of Christ. The more you believe that you are holy, the more you become set apart and dedicated for Christ. The more you believe you are His beloved, the more you become love and walk in love and the Spirit.

“But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7 (ESV)

His blood cleanses us from all unrighteousness. It is not our righteous deeds, but His own blood that continually cleanses us from unrighteousness as He daily renews and conforms us to His image and likeness. We are His precious children and the more time we spend with Him, the more we start to imitate Him and become “imitators of God.” We stop believing in our own abilities and our own strength and start trusting in God and His strength.

“But he answered me, ‘My grace is always more than enough for you, and my power finds its full expression through your weakness.’ So, I will celebrate my weaknesses, for when I’m weak, I sense more deeply the mighty power of Christ living in me. So, I’m not defeated by my weakness, but delighted! For when I feel my weakness and endure mistreatment—when I’m surrounded with troubles on every side and face persecution because of my love for Christ—I am made yet stronger. For my weakness becomes a portal to God’s power.” 2 Corinthians 12-9, 10 (TPT)

I have come to find that some of my greatest weaknesses are starting to become some of my greatest strengths. My Abba has taken someone who was anxiety-ridden, fearful of the world and the future, fearful of being sober into someone who is learning to walk in a boldness I could only dream of. Jesus has transformed me from being a pitiful person into a powerful person. I am not where I want to be but I’m also not where I was.

“Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it on my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lied ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13, 14 (ESV)

The devil has been constantly trying to kill my confidence and making me second guess myself and the right standing that I have with God. The other day, I was tempted to go back to my old ways with someone I have known for almost 20 years. They are still stuck in that lifestyle, and they wanted to bring me down with them. I genuinely care for and love them and wanted to show them the light of Jesus, but they didn’t want to hear it. They were trying to get me to do drugs and other things, but I refused and it brought on a confidence that I’ve never felt before. It let me know that the reverential fear of the Lord can help me to abstain from anything that is no longer suiting me.

But Christ established me in righteousness, and I will not go back to that lifestyle, no matter how tempting the high is. There is nothing good about that life. It is full of every kind of evil. I will continue to pray for that individual and Christ told me that He will bring this person to know Christ as his Lord and Savior. I know God will keep His word as long as I walk in His ways.

“They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!—” Ephesians 4:18-20

No one is too far gone. Everyone has the opportunity to experience and know eternal life. If you know anyone who is deep in darkness, deep in drugs, or deep in anything that is not of God, don’t stop praying for them. It is about pursuing righteousness and knowing that people are not the enemy. It’s the demons living inside of them feeding off their trauma that is the enemy. It is the righteous thing to do to pray for the wicked, especially our friends and family, in the hope that one day God will get a hold of them and turn them into His righteous, adopted children.

LOVE

My knight in shining armor isn’t man or even human
He is seated upon the praise of a thousand generations
Abba picked me up out of the miry clay
And set me on a solid rock, that rock being His Son
The sacrifice He gave me was immense
Too immense for most to even consider or believe
Because love nowadays in the world doesn’t sacrifice
It just takes and takes until there’s no more left
But God doesn’t take away in a negative way
He prunes us, so that we can learn to be more fruitful than before
He took away my addictions.
He took away my self-hate.
He took away my shame.
He took away my guilt.
He is currently taking away my fears, one at a time.
My list of fears is immense
But God is so gentle and kind.
He is willing to knock down one at a time
Because that’s just who He is.
He is True Love, My First Love. Your First Love.
He is Yahweh, the name everyone breathes

Hidden

I caught a glimpse of you for a moment
The real you that was able to connect with me
Then I exposed your vulnerabilities
And you hid behind a cloud of demons and insecurities
Your depravity now knows no limits
Consumed completely by your lusts and desires
You’re not in control of yourself anymore
Your demons give you the illusion of dominion
I pray for the day God will bring you to your knees
Before death and destruction brings you to hell

Real Love

The love I desire is one of purity,

The kind that sinks beneath the realm of normalcy.

It is the purest of love,

The kind that God desires for His children.

One where we want to share our love with Him.

We create tangled webs through our actions,

But God is lovingly untangling them

As we walk with Him through the messy maze.

Ignorance kills the love of many,

Causing their hearts to become cold and callused

Towards people and the Almighty.

God heals the wounds of the ones willing to follow Him,

Into the places that seem the most unsafe and unwise

With a reassurance that He will be there

And we are ready for action to help those lost come home.

Worthless

Underneath the layers of worthlessness, God sees your worth.
He was there in the delivery room as your mom was giving birth.
He saw the pain people inflicted on you over the years and the repeated abuse and trauma that drove you to tears.
He saw you struggling with the needle in your arm trying to get high and wonder why you were born just to be tormented and die.
For every tear you shed, He was there collecting them to heal you one day the moment you decided enough was enough and turned to Him and pray.
Turn to God and plead with Him that He would fix your life and give it meaning.
It may not be easy but it is nothing compared to the eternal life you’ll be receiving.
Abba God promises to give you beauty for ashes and joy for mourning. A new life and new joy is what you’ll be adorning.
You are not worthless.
You are priceless.

Thank God for Mistakes

I made a big mistake last week. I took kratom for the first time in 33 days. I didn’t think it was going to be that bad, but it was, like it really was. I have spent the last 4 days recovering from it mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Good news that came from taking it though: I have been completely turned off from wanting to take it again. I don’t think about it with desire anymore, but with pure disdain and disgust. So, despite my mental recovery taking longer than I wanted it to, this mistake got the job done in dispelling my cravings for kratom completely.

I thought that this mistake would just cause more mistakes, but it was the mindset that I was a failure and weak that kept causing me to slip up and make more mistakes. When we don’t think highly enough of ourselves and God’s ability to make us successful, we become unfruitful, miserable, and fall into the trap of self-pity. The desires of our old man create these downfalls that cause us to revert back to our old way of thinking.

“But that is not the way you learned Christ!—assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” Ephesians 4:20-24 (ESV)

It also says in God’s Word to not think of ourselves more highly than we ought to. This means that we don’t think in pride and arrogance that we are better than everyone else, but to think honestly about ourselves and to see ourselves ultimately the way Christ sees us. We are not meant to use our own gifts for selfish gain but for the benefit of others. That doesn’t mean we can’t pray or use our gifts to help ourselves, but it means that we should be more focused on the needs of others rather than our own.

“And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind He will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.” Romans 12:1-3 (NLT)

The only way that we can come to a new level of wholeness and walk in love is to renew our minds. We can only do that by repeating the things God says about us. We come into agreement with whatever we think about ourselves, whether it be the truth of what God says about us or the lies the enemy implanted in us when we were young and/or as we got older. Whatever we believe in our hearts will be brought out to the surface

“Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” Proverbs 4:23 (ESV)

“For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he…” Proverbs 23:7 (NKJV)

“For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” Matthew 12:34 (ESV)

It is possible to have bitterness towards yourself when you make a mistake, especially if you don’t receive forgiveness from God. We tend to be our own worst critics, especially if you struggle with perfectionism and are performance-driven. Sometimes, God will let you make mistakes just to show you these things about yourself. One who is comfortable making mistakes and doesn’t hold onto them for too long is one who is starting to see themselves the way God sees them: human and His child. I used to dwell on my mistakes for weeks and stay stuck in the past. The simple fact that I have allowed myself to receive God’s forgiveness and let things go this quickly is leaps and bounds in my walk with Christ.

I am hopeful that one day I will not take longer than a day to linger on my mistakes, but walk in true repentance and receive His forgiveness the same day I made the mistake to begin with. None of us are perfect and we have all fallen short of God’s standard of righteousness. The best thing we can do is walk in love and put on Christ so that when we make mistakes, we don’t dwell on them, but put them behind us and move forward into the future.

“…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 (NIV)

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before Him He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1, 2 (NIV)

Obedience is God’s Love Language

How can one keep from evil and maintain righteousness with God? Obedience…. This has been something that has been particularly hard for me to do. I have repeatedly been given bad advice by my earthly father and others, so when my heavenly Father gives me advice, I second guess it and think my way is better. My own advice is what has helped me survive, but God’s advice is meant to help me thrive. It’s like He is just trying to beckon me to come, but I am just so apprehensive to believe that what He is telling me to do, I don’t believe it, so I don’t do it, and there are consequences to disobedience and not trusting God.

The devil has been betting on me doing things my way, but I tell you this one thing, that “He who started a good work in me will see it through to completion” (Philippians 1:6)… WHEN I DILLIGENTLY OBEY HIS VOICE. You must do it God’s way if you want everlasting life.

“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore, choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying His voice and holding fast to Him, for He is your life and length of days.” Deuteronomy 30:19, 20

He knows us better than we know ourselves and He knows what builds us up and what breaks us down. For me personally, I have had a lot of vices that have kept me from being the person He created me to be. I must surrender those things so that I can do all God created me to do and help those who He predestined me to help.

I am no stranger to the discipline, correction, and the rebuke of God. Unfortunately for me, I am very stubborn. Fortunately for me, once my submission is complete, there is nothing that can stop me. My stubbornness has actually kept me from turning away from God completely even in my rebellion. So many people turn away from God and I just couldn’t do it. With my disobedience, I had to learn the hard way. I’ve been very gullible and naïve and for most of my life, which is why I have had such a struggle with learning to discern God’s voice from that of the enemy. I had demonic spirits using my mind and infusing my thoughts with ideas that seemed sweet and innocent but in hindsight, were actually meant for my destruction. The voices sounded so sweet and loving but they were actually demons trying to get me to “jump off of a cliff” by holding onto an idol and telling me that God would still welcome me into His kingdom even if I struggled with addiction. That IS NOT what the Bible says.

The Bible says:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” Matthew 22:37

“Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me.’” Matthew 16:24 (NLT)

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” John 14:15 (ESV)

“You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me.” Exodus 20:3-5 (NLT)

When you decide to do things your own way and don’t listen to God, you are rejecting Him. When you decide to “live your truth” and not “HIS TRUTH,” you are rejecting God. Surrender is not easy and God doesn’t demand perfection but progress. He just wants what is best for us to live the life He planned for us before the beginning of time. He is looking for complete surrender of our lives over to Him.

“For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” Matthew 16:25

It doesn’t mean we won’t stumble and fall at times. That’s where God’s grace comes in, but as long as we don’t give up and keep turning to Him, we will walk in victory despite our mistakes. If we don’t lose heart and stick close to Him when we feel faint, He will bring forth our righteousness so we can experience eternal life.

“He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.” Psalm 37:6

“And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” John 17:3

The Children’s Bread

In the past week, I have heard more than once people saying that deliverance is the “children’s bread.” What does that mean you might ask? There is a part of scripture where Jesus is talking to this Serapheonician woman, and she is pleading with Him to deliver her daughter from a demon:

“Jesus told her, ‘First I should feed the children—my own family, the Jews. It isn’t right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs.’

She replied, ‘That’s true, Lord, but even the dogs under the table are allowed to eat the scraps from the children’s plates.’

“Good answer!” he said. ‘Now go home, for the demon has left your daughter.’” Mark 7:27-29 NLT

(Jesus isn’t really trying to be insulting when He refers to her as a dog because He came for the Israelites and His disciples were later charged with bringing in the Gentiles when His own people disowned Him and hung Him on the cross. The Israelites were His priority. They had to reject Him so the Gentiles could be welcomed into the kingdom of God.)

“For since their rejection meant that God offered salvation to the rest of the world, their acceptance will be even more wonderful. It will be life for those who were dead!” Romans 11:15

But what really fascinates me is how the church has conveniently left out the necessity of deliverance when Jesus Himself said it was the children’s bread and those who follow Him are His children. It is possible and extremely likely for someone to be demonized after receiving the Holy Spirit. In fact, until God delivers you either by renewing your mind and causing demons legal rights to be revoked or you or someone else casts out the demons inside of you, it is extremely likely that you have demons. They either entered through trauma, a generational curse, unrepentant sin, etc.

I know from personal experience what it feels like coming out of addiction with the spirit of addiction and without it. It is like night and day. It goes from being a HUGE struggle for weeks to only a challenge the next day because addiction will try to re-enter.

“In that day the Lord will end the bondage of His people. He will break the yoke of slavery and lift it from their shoulders.” Isaiah 10:27 NLT

We can’t be effective in ministry and let the Holy Spirit and our spirit flow to the full potential God created us to flow if we are still bound by dark, unclean spirits. God promises deliverance but He expects His church, not just Himself, to help carry it out.

“Jesus replied, ‘Truly, truly I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.’” John 8:34, 35 ESV

By the time Jesus said this, the disciples were already sent out and casting out devils themselves so they understood that when Jesus said, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed,” they understood that was deliverance. If you go back to that specific sin He freed you from, it gets worse and He even warns about going back to sin He freed you from.

I know firsthand what a lack of faith and testing the waters will get you, worse bondage than before. Addiction came back with a vengeance for me. God told me to stop before it became an issue and I asked if I could keep on taking it and He told me, “Be careful what you ask for.” And before you know it, it went from a fleshly desire to sin and then it felt like hell getting pulled away from it, even worse than the times before.

But then, I was delivered from addiction a couple weeks ago and it just felt effortless to stop smoking and taking kratom. I didn’t crave cigarettes, kratom, nothing. It only came back with a vengeance the next day because it wanted back into its “home,” but I prayed to God, cried out to Him, worshipped Him, etc. and even as I was on my way to get kratom, He was right there giving me a healthy fear of the Lord so that I didn’t give addiction the authority to get back in. After that day, I haven’t felt any craving that strongly since. Praise be to God!

I have known someone who struggled with lust badly, but they never got relief or deliverance. People tried keeping them close so they could monitor them but eventually, they left the church and their family because they were so tormented by the spirit of lust that they couldn’t take it anymore. That is how powerful some demons can get, and the more you feed them, the stronger they get. This is why Jesus tells us to “pluck out our eyes or cut off our hands” to keep sin from ruling over us (Matthew 18:8, 9). Not literally, but figuratively, wring out whatever is causing you to sin and your flesh to keep the devil from getting a hold of you.

Church is supposed to be a hospital for the broken and we are supposed to “proclaim liberty for the captives” and “release the prisoners from darkness” (Isaiah 61) just like Jesus did. As the church, we are supposed to spread the gospel, and it is so hard when we are bound by unclean spirits. For me, I can write all day long and speak comfortably with people I know about Christ but when I get around strangers, I clam up and have a hard time speaking my mind.

That is a spirit of the fear of man. I have been bound by it for most of my life because of the trauma from the violence I witnessed growing up. A healthy fear of the Lord will help get this out once and for all. I will receive my freedom from this spirit by the Holy Spirit and I working on it together. I don’t just want to speak the Word but be a doer of it.

I don’t know who will read this but consider this, Jesus didn’t just preach the gospel, He didn’t just heal, He didn’t just do miracles, He delivered people from tormenting spirits too. It is about time the church partners with the Holy Spirit and starts walking in the authority Christ gave us to help deliver people from devils, sicknesses, and meaningless lives before it’s too late. Time feels like it’s speeding up because Jesus’ return is imminent. He is longsuffering and just wants His children to follow Him out of the darkness into the light.

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” 1 Peter 5:6-8

Rising From The Ashes

I have been through so much turmoil because of my decisions to follow what I wanted rather than following God. I am held accountable for my actions, but God doesn’t want me to dwell on the mistakes of my past. He wants to help me get better and when I do it in my own strength, I only get frustrated because I am not using the help of the Holy Spirit to get away from my sin. Rather than running to Him, I ran from Him and hid because of my sin and shame. But rather than being mad at me, all He has done all day is show me that He’s there and just wants me to turn to Him.

“But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31 (ESV)

I heard Him whisper this specific verse to me on my way to work and then saw it a few minutes later on the back of a semi-truck. He really cares about us sinning because of what it does to our hearts and our relationship with Him. Holy Spirit just wants us to thrive and knows best what things we ought not to do because it wages war on our hearts and souls.

“Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.” 1 Peter 2:11 (ESV)

It is because we are no longer in the world that followers of Christ should abstain and avoid doing things the world does. This doesn’t just include abstaining from things that God freed you from but the way you treat people and look at life. Christ-followers are not of the world, and it makes us feel horrible when we go out and pretend to be like the world. I have made the mistake of going back and doing things God freed me from, and He keeps telling me to stop looking back at what happened weeks or years ago but to stay with Him in this present moment and look to Him to help me out of my current situation.

“Forget the former things;
    do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland.” Isaiah 43:18-19 (NIV)

Holy Spirit knows that dwelling on the past won’t fix anything, but rather, it will add on to the weight of the current sin, making it heavier than before. He wants to help us get away from the things that hurt us and help us get closer to the One that can help us: Himself. At the end of the day, He chose us, not because of what we could do for Him, but simply because He loves us and wants us to be His children and His ambassadors on this earth. He wants us to walk in love and show other people the light, but we can’t do that as long as we are living in the mistakes of yesterday. The devil knows if he can keep us focused on the past and all the mistakes we’ve made, we won’t have a chance to push forward into the promises God has in store for us. We become bound by our own mistakes or freed by the truth of the immeasurable love of God. He gives us the choice of life or death: death on reliving our pasts or life on living the life He created for us to live.

“But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted.” 1 Peter 2:9 (MSG)

“That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.’” 1 Corinthians 2:9 (NLT)

“I call heaven and earth to witness this day against you that I have set before you life and death, the blessings and the curses; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live.” Deuteronomy 30:19 (ESV)