Your History Is Not Your Destiny

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All of us have things in our past that we regret. Maybe you did something wrong, or had something wrong happen to you.  Or maybe you let a key opportunity pass you by. 

Things in our past can dominate our present and cripple our future

But God doesn’t want us to get stuck in a moment in our past, no matter how horrible it was. He wants us to keep going so we can fulfill His purpose and truly enjoy our lives.


The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows). (John 10:10, AMP)  

God has a phenomenal life planned for us, but too often we allow the enemy to steal our joy by focusing on our past. But in order for us to live the incredible lives that God planned for us, we need to leave our past behind and press forward. 

We need to get unstuck

The trap of the past has a voice: “I’ve made too many mistakes,” “There’s no way to overcome the mess I have in my life,” “I’m too old,” or “It’s just too late.” 

But truth has a voice too that says: “Whoever you are, wherever you are, whatever you’ve been through, it’s never too late to begin again!”

The bible is filled with stories of people who were freed from their past  

A woman known as “Rahab the harlot” was rescued and included in the bloodline of Jesus Christ. 

Ashamed because he gave into fear and denied that he even knew Jesus, Peter was forgiven and inspired to preach the first recorded sermon in the New Testament.  3000 people came to Christ. 

Persecuting the early Christians, Paul was caught in a trap religious zeal and self-righteousness. However God transformed him and gave him the most important insights to grace and justification by faith recorded in scripture.

God loves new beginnings

Life in Christ is a fresh start. The truth is, the greatest new beginning any of us can have is becoming a new creature in Christ. 


This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! (2 Corinthians 5:17, NLT) 

God chooses to not only forgive all of our sins, but also to forget them.

I will forgive their sins and will no longer remember their wrongs. (Hebrews 8:12, GNB)

We need to stop remembering what God has forgotten. There’s nothing you’ve done that’s a surprise to Him.

Your history is not your destiny!

Even Cooler

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A couple of weeks ago a person came and spoke to me after church…

“I’ve heard you say that our church has a lot of people in it who have been hurt in ministry.  I am one of those people.  I came to this church pretty broken and not wanting to do anything but just sit.  But I heard you say, ‘Someone here has a broken heart that God is healing it right now.”  It was me!  I could feel something change inside me.  For the first time in years I feel like letting God use me again.”

One of the greatest strategies of the enemy is to capitalize on our past pain and failures by using them to keep us from getting involved in anything or anyone that might make us vulnerable again.  He doesn’t need to kill us, just sideline us.

It may be that we’ve forgiven those who have hurt us, or let go of the stuff that didn’t work out right. We’re not angry or bitter anymore. We even go to church every so often.  But we have succumb to something much worse, isolation.  

You can be in a room full of people and still be all by yourself

The Bible speaks of isolation this way:

“A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; He rages against all wise judgment. ” (Proverbs 18:1)

Living without others in our life may feel safe, but it is actually dangerous.  God has designed every one of us with an inherent need for relationships and it’s through these relationships that God works.  When we isolate ourselves, God’s work is limited and therefore we’re in danger of missing something He wants to do to us or through us.

Off the bench, or pew

It’s cool to hear about people like the woman mentioned above being released from past junk, but it’s even cooler that like this woman, God releases us so that we can be used again.

By the way, someone is waiting for you.

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Lift Someone

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Discouragement causes you to lose heart and want to quit

Every one of us have experienced it at one time or another in our lives.  Life is difficult and can be painful at times, and the hard things we face have a way of wearing us down.  We can become disheartened and lose our ability to “fight the good fight” and to “keep on keeping on”.  

After the death of Moses, his successor Joshua was told repeatedly,

“Be strong and very courageous”

In other words, “Don’t get discouraged Joshua, even though the task ahead of you is a huge one!”  

While none of us is being required to lead a nation of people to settle in a foreign land filled with enemies, it takes fortitude of mind and heart to keep our families together, to trust God for breakthroughs in our finances, to stand strong in the face of Satan’s attacks, and to face many other challenges common to modern life.  

No wonder the Bible puts such high value on people who have the ability to encourage, to lift others up through their words and their actions 

Pastors are charged in 2 Timothy 4:2 with encouraging the flock. Romans 12:8 tells us that there are certain people who have been given the gift of encouragement.  But it’s not just pastors or the people who have the gift who should encourage others.  

The Bible also says:  “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25). The truth is that each of us has this special calling on our lives: to tell someone, “You’re going to make it!”  “Don’t give up!”  “God hasn’t forgotten you!”  “The Lord is going to meet your needs!” “God’s going to prove Himself mighty on your behalf”.

God could send an angel to deliver a message of encouragement, but he’s chosen you and me

This week, let’s ask God to use us to encourage someone. You may come across someone is feeling low or doubtful, or maybe someone who has been so beaten down that they are ready to give up.  As we depend on him, the Holy Spirit will guide us and help us to minister words of life and actions that will lift the person up.  

Hasn’t God done that for us by sending someone just at the right time at key times in our lives?  By his grace, we can in turn be his voice and his hands extended to someone in need of encouragement today.

Vision and Hope

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A very important term when it comes to planning is the word “vision.”  Among Christians, vision is used most often in connection with something the Lord has shown a person and how they see the fulfillment of that.

When we are in the first stages of doing something for God there are hopes, dreams, desires, and visions birthed in our hearts.  They seem to be so tangible that there is no doubt that they WILL happen.  But, time has a way of diminishing our vision and causing us to doubt.

This past October, my wife and I have been serving for 16 years as Pastors of ECC.  I remember distinctly the things that the Holy Spirit put within our hearts in the days leading up to our appointment at ECC.  We were convinced that God has brought us here, and that there were things He was going to do.  It was our vision.

With energy and zeal we launched out.  Doing this.  Saying that.  Trusting.  Praying.  Hoping.  What’s strange is that things didn’t quite go according to plans.  Not everyone was as enthusiastic about our ideas. Doubt, enhanced by the lies of Satan, begin to enter our minds…

“Maybe we don’t have what it takes.  Maybe this isn’t the right place.  Maybe God’s given up on us.”

But it turns out these kind of thoughts are common to people who are attempting to do something great for God.  Study people who have seen the vision that God gave them come to pass they will tell you:

“There are many plans in a man’s heart, nevertheless the Lord’s counsel—that will stand.” (Proverbs 19:21)

That fact is that none of us wants to be around a negative person, but all of us are attracted to a person who gives hope. There are some people who exude such great hope that it builds our faith.  Peter tells us:

“Be ready at all times to answer anyone who asks you to explain
the hope you have in you,” (1 Peter 3:15, GNB)

Being ready with this kind of hope is not based on being doctrinally correct, or on what church you go to or how often, nor is it wishful thinking or cheery optimism.  Real hope that is produced through the Holy Spirit in you is the type that people can see and sense.  It is an unshakable trust in God’s faithfulness and an expectation that He will never leave us or forsake us. 

It doesn’t matter how things look, or what people say, are even how we feel.  If God has given you a vision, even if it doesn’t happen exactly the way you think, God will bring it to pass.

There are people who God has put in your life because they are looking for hope, and God has chosen you to give it to them.  Don’t let negativity, yours or theirs, affect your influence.  Push beyond circumstances and what may have been said and/or done.  Ask God to give you a new vision of what he can do in the life of that person, and put your trust in Him. Then watch and see how God begins to produce hope in their lives!  

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The Dark Side of Rejection

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He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; He was despised, and we esteemed him not. (Isaiah 53:3)

Were you ever the last one chosen for a team at school?  Or, have you ever heard about the great time everyone had at a party you weren’t invited to? Maybe you’ve wanted to be included in something happening at church, but no one has included you.

Nothing hurts worse

Rejection is the act of throwing away or discarding someone or something. Perhaps most significantly, rejection is the act of denying love. Essentially it implies a lack of value, which brings a sense of worthlessness, of being swept aside. Unwanted and unwelcome

Rejection is something we feel deep in the pit of our stomachs. Medical research has discovered that the effects of rejection can actually have a severe impact on physical health. All of us have faced that terrible, gnawing feeling of being unwanted, unloved, and unappreciated, but many people can become debilitated by it.

Two Views of You

God’s view of you is one of love, unconditional acceptance, and forgiveness. He offers mercy and grace without limit. 

Satan’s view of you is one where there is no love, joy, peace, acceptance, or forgiveness. There is only condemnation, rejection, disillusionment, destruction, division and despair.

Satan wants you to reject the love of God. Without love, faith will not work (“faith works through love” Galatians 5:6). Those full of rejection become so consumed by what others think of them that they cannot function in faith. 

Like a python suffocating its prey, over time Satan uses rejection to slowly steal the love of God and love of others from our hearts. We no longer experience the joy of serving Him and the peace of His presence. 

Rejection causes churches to become anemic and ineffective. It gives rise to splits and divisions, and creates a faith-less people. Loved is drained out and fear abounds. 

Whose opinion shapes you?

It’s easy to become caught up in what others think about us. Whether it’s our rejection or approval, we always seem to take to heart what others say. But rejection by people will be much easier to bear when we know we will always be accepted by Christ.

Jesus experienced rejection from the very people he came to save.  And many continue today to reject Him by refusing to believe in Him. Jesus definitely understands what it feels like when we are rejected and lonely. When we feel unwanted, unloved, and unappreciated, we can take comfort in knowing that Jesus also knows that type of pain.

The REAL You

Remember that rejection by man can never define who you really are—as long as you don’t let it. God says you are a custom-made masterpiece, and that you will always be accepted by Him. Focus on the fact that the God of the universe, who created everything from the Junebug to Jupiter, says that you are wanted, loved, and appreciated. 

Anyone who says different is working for the Devil.

He Stooped Down

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Going to my grandparent’s house at Christmas was the ultimate experience for a kid!  Being with all my cousins, and eating all of grandma’s goodies, are really special memories to me.  

My favorite memory was hanging out with grandpa  

He had an amazing way of including me in whatever he was doing.  I would help him paint, mow the lawn, play guitar, take naps, etc.  

As I think back about my grandpa, what stands out to me the most isn’t so much the things I did with him, although it was always fun and I learned a lot. What’s indelible in my mind is the way he would come, stoop down on his knees in front of me, then pull me in with his arms and say, “Joely, I could really use your help.”  

Grandpa didn’t really need my help 

It wasn’t about what he was doing, or the passing on of the finer points of home improvement and maintenance to the next generation. It was about a grandpa loving his grandson so much that he made a way to be with him.

And that’s is exactly what God did through Jesus Christ.  Theologians call it the Condescension of God.  Paul tells us:

He made Himself of no reputation…coming in the likeness of men.(Philippians 2:6, 8)

God stooped down to our level

My grandpa died in 1979.  I miss doing stuff with him.  He’s with the Lord though.  In fact, he probably nudges God occasionally around this time of the year and says, “Don’t forget Joely.” And God hasn’t.  He now lives in me by the Holy Spirit.  And one day He will stoop down in person to where I am and take me to be with Him forever.  

Grandpa will be there too. And I imagine he’s got a bunch of stuff he needs my help with.

The Danger of Sadness

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There are people who contend that one of the true marks of holiness is being dour and sullen.  The more miserable and brooding you are, the more you show spiritual maturity.

I remember when I was growing up there was a woman in our church who wore all black, no makeup, and would often get agitated with my friends and myself for things like running or laughing inside the church.  

One time she demanded that an usher take us to our parents.  My friend asked the usher, “Why is sister Sue so grumpy?”  The usher got very serious. “Boys, she’s not grumpy, she’s very holy.”  What’s silly, is that when we heard this we actually got scared.

Silly, but not funny

Pope Francis has affected a lot of people with his profound kindness and joyfulness.  While he was in the US this past September he visited people and places often overlooked; leaving them encouraged and filled with the hope that God loves them.  

While there are many people who are profoundly impressed by Pope Francis, there are many who do not share his views, even some who are hostile towards him.  An example of this occurred after the Pope tweeted…

A Christian is never bored or sad. Rather, the one who loves Christ is full of joy and radiates joy. (June 30, 2013)

Judging from the responses to this statement you would’ve thought the Pope had said that Jesus was the antichrist and Lucifer was his brother.  Thousands of people tweeted things like…

“What gives him the right to talk like this?!!!”
“This is not a proper attitude for the Holy Father”

However some of the sharpest criticisms of the Pope’s tweet came from the evangelical community. Not only tweets that fired back at him, but also blogs and online magazines lit up in disapproval.  Here’s one example,

The assumption that we can necessarily “flourish and thrive” and “become more and more everything” on this side of heaven seems a disappointing setup for any believer. (Jennifer Boardman, The Debbie Downers of Christianity, Christianity Today, Aug. 2013)

While I would certainly agree that anything on “this side of heaven” pales in comparison with what is coming, the idea that Christians should be less-than happy until heaven is what I take umbrage with.

Real Christians should be joyful

Life is full of challenges and difficulties, and Christians are not immune from them.  But what makes life with Christ different is that we now have God’s power available to us no matter what we face.  It’s His power that gives us the hope of victory and the certainty of life. It’s also God’s power that creates joyfulness in us independent of, and even in spite of, circumstances.

The joy that God gives is an important part of our faith in Him. His joy is a spiritual fruit confirming our faith (Gal. 5:22). His joy even becomes strength for us (Neh. 8:10).  In fact, being joyful is God’s will for our lives (1 Thess. 5:16-18).

Joyfulness may not stop kids from running or talking in church, and there will always be people who like looking, talking, acting, even writing drab; but a smile that radiates from a joyful heart will have an impact unlike anything else!

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Maybe Even When You See a Seagull

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At the top of my legal pad I wrote: 

The most important factor in our testimony is thankfulness

Those words brought to my mind a story I read a few years ago. It was about the thankfulness of an old man that caused him to visit a pier every Friday night with a large bucket of shrimp. Seagulls would flock around him and he would feed them from his hands.

Many years before…

In October 1942, the legendary Captain Eddie Rickenbacker was on a mission in a B-17 to deliver an important message to General Douglas MacArthur in New Guinea.  But somewhere over the South Pacific the Flying Fortress became lost beyond the reach of radio. Fuel began to run dangerously low eventually forcing them to ditch the plane in the ocean.  Stranded on the ocean for nearly a month, Captain Eddie and his crew fought the elements to survive.

They spent many sleepless nights recoiling as giant sharks rammed their raft, but of all their enemies at sea one proved most formidable: starvation. Eight days out, their rations were long gone or destroyed by the salt water. It would take a miracle to sustain them, and a miracle occurred. 

Captain Rickenbacker’s own words record the moment

One of our crew, Captain William Cherry, read from the Bible and then prayed, and then we sang a hymn. There was some talk, but it tapered off in the oppressive heat. With my hat pulled down over my eyes to keep out some of the glare, I dozed off.  Then something landed on my head. I knew that it was a seagull.  No one said a word, but peering out from under my hat brim without moving my head, I could see the expression on their faces. They were staring at that gull. The gull meant food if I could catch it.

And the rest, as they say, is history. Captain Eddie caught the gull. Its flesh was eaten. Its intestines were used for bait to catch fish. The survivors were sustained and their hopes renewed because a lone seagull.

Captain Rickenbacker never forgot

Every Friday evening at sunset until his death in 1973, you could find Captain Eddie Rickenbacker out on a pier on a lonely stretch of coast in eastern Florida with a bucket filled with shrimp.  He fed the seagulls as an expression of thanks for the one who gave his life to save his.

Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 5:20)

How much has God done for you?  How many times has He proven faithful and showered your life with His blessings?  Then give Him thanks!  Tell about what He’s done and what He means to you.  Do it at sunset, and at sunrise.  Do it on a pier, and in your house.  Wherever you go, maybe even when you see a seagull, be thankful to God!

The Giving God

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I’ve heard it said a thousand times, “We need to pray more.” (I’ve probably said it myself a thousand times). While I would agree, we do need to pray more, I’m increasingly convinced that the reason we don’t pray more isn’t because we are sinful, rebellious, or even lazy.

The reason we don’t pray more is because we misunderstand God

Even for people who understand faith, asking God for something often gives rise to different kinds of doubt. One may say, “I am so insignificant”; another, “I am so sinful”; another, “I am so hard-hearted”; and another, “I am so undeserving.” 

What’s scary is that every one of these doubts are true. And if God’s response to our prayer was based on whether or not we deserve or qualify for it, we might as well forget it.  Which really explains our prayerlessness. 

But it’s not about us…it’s about God!

Jesus’ half brother James gives us a dramatic insight to our prayers and how God responds to them. He tells us…


If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. (1:5)

Then James makes an even stronger statement about God… 


Every good thing, and every gift is from God, who gives relentlessly, without
reproaching us, both to the good and evil, the grateful and the ungrateful. There is no variation in the Father of lights who gives without reproach. Whatever things you have you have received; and you’ve received them from one ultimate source, the Father of lights. (1:7, expanded)

In other words God is not just a God who happens to give. He is defined by his giving as the God who gives. 

What an encouraging title, “The Giving God" 

He is the God who is accustomed to give, who is known amongst men and ages as "The Giver”! And that there may be the utmost encouragement he gives to all.  He gives limitlessly.  He never tires of giving.

Through this insight to God’s character, we discover that God actually longs to have great things asked of Him.

Go to little men for little things. Go to a great man to do a great thing.  But God, Creator of all things, may be asked for the largest gifts, since no giving can possibly render Him unable. 

God is so delighted to have us ask, that he would have us be more ashamed of not coming to him with our needs than for any other fault or sin.

I think we need to pray more.

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They Saw Something

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If you and I compared the people who have had the most impact on our lives, there’s one thing they would have in common: they saw something in us that we didn’t see. It’s this type of influence that can change a person’s life.

To see beyond “what is” to “what could be”

People who claim to be prophets often scare me. Not so much because of what they are saying, but how they say it.  There is usually King James English words thrown into a really intoned sounding voice that loses me at the start.

Vision into a person’s future should not be some spooky clairvoyant thing, but a simple product of faith.  It’s the kind of faith that causes one to trust what God has said about, and what He has promised to, His people. It’s looking at a person through the lens of God’s Word with confidence.  

And this kind of confidence does not have to be brash, aggressive, or loud.  But it does need to be empowered by the Holy Spirit.  God’s Spirit will give you the right thing to say, at the right time, for the right person, but it should never make you self-assured.  

God is going to use you now

The persons who impacted your life were examples of what God wants to do through you.  They were your tutors of spiritual things that cannot be learned in the natural.  And by their obedience to speak what they saw into your life, you now can effect change in other people’s lives.

You may not think you’re capable, but you are.  You’ve been selected for this duty.  And you’re not alone.


Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us. (Ephesians 3:20)

The same Holy Spirit that led that person to speak into your life those words that redirected your steps, encouraged your heart, strengthened your resolve, and brought about life-saving change is the same Spirit who dwells in you. Trust Him to show you the good things that are in store for that person. Then speak what He’s showing you.  

Skip the King James.