Yesteryear or Antiquity - Cleaning Up The Past

Week Three of The Glass Desk Book Study 

Read Chapter Three: 

Monday – pages 37-39

Tuesday – pages 40-43

Wednesday – pages 44-47

Thursday – pages 48-51

Friday – pages 52-56

Saturday & Sunday – spend time with the Lord and journal answers to chapter three questions.

The past.

Those two words conjure up a broad and expansive realm of thoughts.

We have the leaning towards ideas akin to “back in the good’ol days…”  that give the impression of a longing to return to the past. Yet, we can also express feelings of, “I wish I could forget about that.” We can, at times, have an attitude of, “Yeah, it’s called the past for a reason. Let’s keep it there.”

However, ignoring our past does us no good. Our past is an ever-growing reality that wields much impact not only on our present but also on our future. It’s the impact upon our present and future that necessitates giving our past a good cleaning from time to time.

We are so quickly moving forward in time, and in our callings, that our past grows and grows oftentimes left unchecked. Leaving our past unchecked can allow parts of it to grow unruly. Those unruly arms of our past are quick to try and grab joy and peace from us in our present while delaying calls we have on our future.

Each trial we face always happens in the present. Correct? I mean, I have never had an old version of myself come and say, “Hey, while you were in the present, this bad memory happened, and I just wanted to come to give you an update.”

Nope. That is not how it works.

I apologize to all the sci-fi fans out there.

What happens is when we come against a trial in our present and are not well equipped to know how to handle those challenges and circumstances in real-time, then we can make the mistake of trying to push our way through the event, all while incurring undue stress.

Likewise, we can alternatively become so overwhelmed in our situation that we freeze and begin to feel trapped. That feeling of entrapment in our past begins to erode at our present and delay our callings.

I know this week’s topic is a bit deep, but I pray the Lord will allow you to visit your past objectively. Allow Him to heal various parts of your history and delicately move specific memories into antiquity. As those memories make their way to where they belong, you will be overcome with refreshing waters from the Holy Spirit.

Consider forgiveness, and get ready for an explosion of fresh anointing as you let Him clean up your past.

Let me know what you think of the questions below.

1. Are your feelings keeping you from forgiveness?

2. Are there areas in your life you feel have become stagnant?

Happy reading, friends!