Stealing your future

DON’T LET YOUR PAST ROB YOU OF YOUR FUTURE:

The above statement is very easy to do and sometimes slips in there without you knowing or realizing it:

I have had this problem many times, especially when I am by myself and start feeling sorry for myself:

I have to constantly talk to myself and remind myself that the past is exactly that --- The past!

I find for me that I must keep myself occupied or my mind shifts to the past:

It is also funny but true, that most of the time when you drift off into the past with your mind, it is something that happened that hurt you: It may be a divorce or something said to you by a friend or a family member.

The devil really loves to get you all tangled up and upset about negative things in the past:

If he can keep you in the past, he knows that you will not nor can you move into the future while in the past:

Besides that, remembering the hurt will interrupt your faith walk and you won’t be able to move forward:

I always have to stop and make myself forget about the past. In Phillippians 3: 13 --- It says --- Brothers and sister, I do not consider that I have made it on my own yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, “I press on toward the goal to win the (heavenly) prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Notice what he says --- Forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, “I press on toward the goal to win the (heavenly) prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

“Forgetting what lies behind.” This sometimes can be a hard thing to do for as I said, the enemy tries to get you to think about the past; But the scripture goes on to say --- “ I press on toward the goal to win the heavenly prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Notice the word --- Prize --- This usually brings excitement and joy: Remember as a child you would look forward to getting a prize from your parents or grandparents:

You did not really care what you got, you were excited: You could not wait until you had a chance to open the bag or package: Think about Christmas or your birthday, you could not wait until you could open them to see what you had inside:

Think about this time and as you were opening your package, your brother or sister would grab the bag and open it instead of you, you got mad didn’t you?

When they did this they ruined the joy and excitement that you would have had if you could have opened it yourself:

The enemy will do this as well, he will open the package and destroy your hope and excitement:

We must learn to stay ahead of his tactics and how we do this is by praying in the spirit:

Praying in the spirit can and will bring joy and when joy comes the devil runs in terror, for he knows that you found out what you got:

He is always trying to keep people from getting saved, filled with the spirit and tries any way he can to steal your joy:

He is a thief and we must keep the door shut on him and that is done with prayer and praise:

These two items puts a barrier between you and him and he cannot touch the gifts that God has promised you:

A couple other things the enemy uses is strife and envy: Either one of these things if left in, will rob you of the blessing that God has planned for you:

You cannot afford to let this happen, for when you are robbed of joy and happiness, faith will not work: No matter how much you quote the word of God you cannot have joy and happiness in that kind of atmosphere:

Again, when you were little and your sibling stole your thunder, as to speak, you lost your joy and happiness until you got back what belong to you, then joy (natural joy) came back:

Well, the same thing happens in the spirit realm, you must get that joy back!

Again, to get the joy of the Lord back you must move over into praying in the spirit which will replace anger with joy:

You must take back your territory that the enemy robs you of, he is not going to get it back by a sweet smile that says, okay, I will give it back to you: This may happen with your siblings or a friend, but not with the enemy:

He will keep what he stole and try to keep you in depression because he knows, that as long as you are depressed, he keeps your joy:

Yes, there is another element to getting your joy back and that is PRAISE! Praise unleashes the glory of God and when the Glory of God comes on the scene, the enemy will run in terror:

A lot of times, I walk around inside my house just praising God for his goodness and mercy: I bring to remembrance what the Lord has done and just give him praise: Do you know --- The devil hates it when you praise the almighty! He will run as in terror!

Let us remember these things the next time the devil tries to steal your joy or happiness that came as a gift from God the Father through his Son Jesus:

REMEMBER: JESUS IS LORD!

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