IT'S NOT WORTH IT: STOP LOOKING BACK

Hello my beloved saints, I welcome you to the month of December in the name of Jesus. May the Lord who has brought you this far take you farther and cause you to see and experience His glory in this new month in Jesus name. I will be sharing with you on what I titled “Stop Looking Back.”

The Bible made us to understand that as Christians we are in a race, 1st Corinthians 9:24, "Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain". We are in a race and we must end up well, one thing we must do and consistently do is to stop looking back at our past, at our old lifestyle. No Christian can ever come to his or her place of victory in the Kingdom who consistently stays in his or her past. His or her past pleasures, failures, defeat, pain, lust, unforgiveness etc. It is one trap of Satan to keep a believer from making tangible progress.

There is a profound statement made by our Lord Jesus which we must take to heart because it is so important, In Luke 9:62, the bible says, “And Jesus said unto him, no man having put his hand to the plough and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” If you a child of God will carefully look at the scripture, you will see and discover that putting your hand on the plough and looking back at the world and all life has being doesn’t go together. But as it seems, some Christians are that way today. Comparing their unfruitful life in the world and their present life which Christ died to give to them.

Understand something beloved, you have an enemy, whose desire is to see you back in his domain of oppression and pain. He is the devil. He doesn’t want to see your progress but your destruction hence he uses ideas, thoughts and suggestions, causing you to look back so as to distract and cause harm and damage. Remember John 10:10 says, “The thief cometh not, but to steal
, and to kill, and to destroy…” These are his assignment, but we must not be ignorant of his devices. One of his strategies is to set you up with your past because if he can take you back, he can bring you down. Apostle Paul was very smart and wise, telling us what to do in Philippians 3:13-14, “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Child of God, your Father’s intention for you is not looking backward but pressing and looking forward because there are greater things in store for you. (1st Corinthians 2:9). His greatest will for you is for you to conform to the Image of His Son, Jesus, (Romans 8:29) and that is not possible when you keep looking back at your past life.

So many have looked back and turned their eyes away from the author and the finisher of their faith and they were nowhere to be found. The Bible spoke about a wonderful labourer in the faith with Paul by name Demas. But 2nd Timothy 4:10 the bible says, “For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica…” He turned back and he was never found or fulfilled what God has called him for.

Beloved, God’s calling for you to become his child cannot be compared with your past life; instead your light shines brighter and brighter as He fulfills His purpose through you. It’s time to burn our bridge, do away and look away from our old lifestyle and focus on Jesus.

As Christians we cannot go towards the kingdom with our attention diverted elsewhere. We must be prepared to put God first in all things. 1st kings 19:19-21 the bible tells us of Elisha plowing the field with his oxen and Elijah walks by him, and as scripture tells us, that Elijah cast his mantle upon Elisha. We see in verse 20 that Elisha quickly understands that he was being called unto service to God. But he replied to Elijah that if he could go and kiss his father and mother goodbye; to which,
Elijah replied that he should just go back then. But we can see in verse 21 that Elijah takes the very tools he was used to working with and burned them, leaving him nothing to return to. Elisha when called by God burned his bridge to his old life and started looking forward to the new life God had for him. Stop looking back brothers and sisters, never think your old life was better, it is not better and will never be better than this glorious life you've chosen. Don’t allow the devil deceive to go back to that low life of defeat. The devil is a liar. He can never tell you the truth. The Bible says in John 8:44 that the devil, "Ye are of your father the devil, "... abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar and the father of it".

Never give up because of your present trials and challenges; they are all stepping stones to your greater height in Christ Jesus. There is a glory that shall be revealed in you only if you keep pressing forward. You will never regret it.

Merry Christmas and happy New Year in advance. God bless you.