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"You won’t find God in the past."

A thought by Mark Batterson, (2013-09-24) from his book, All In: You Are One Decision Away From a Totally Different Life (Kindle Locations 623-624). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

Such a good thought.  Mark says, “His name is not I WAS.  His name is I AM.  He is an ever-present help.  And when we cling too tightly to what God did last, we often miss what God wants to do next.  God is at work right here, right now.”

That is so good.  And we do that.  We so many times live off of the experiences of our past but there is something new that God wants to do in and through us today.  There are lessons to be learned from our past but they must be lived out today.  Your past is past.  God is the God of the present.

What is it that He wants to do in you today?  Oh you may have had a great weekend but that is over. "This is the day that the Lord has made.  Let us rejoice and be glad in it." 

I was talking with a friend today about an experience he had back at Christmas and an injustice that had happened to him.  And it still made him mad.  He had carried it over to today.  We dealt with the fact that God wanted to free him from the pain of that situation.  The way we free ourselves is in an action that must be done today.  It is through forgiveness.  God is here today to help you forgive those people but it is to be done today.

Some live in the future and what they believe God wants to do in their future but the reality is it starts today.  What is it you must do today?  A goal is great and it starts with an action today.

That sermon that you heard yesterday was really challenging so what are you going to change today?  That situation that is weighing heavy on your mind has something in it that God wants you to do today.  Maybe it is just to be confident in the fact that He is faithfully at work today.  That He is doing something so you need to quit worrying.  What action can you do today that shows you believe that?

He is the God who wants to work in your today.  Just rely on that fact.

Mark also said, “At some point in our lives, most of us stop living out of imagination and start living out of memory.  That’s the day we stop living and start dying.  To be fully alive is to be fully present.  It mandates leaving the past in the past.”

So where are you living today?
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