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“He used me not in spite of my past but because of my past!”

A thought by Christine Caine from her book, Unstoppable: Running the Race You Were Born To Win (p. 94). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

We think that because of our past God can’t or won’t use us.  That isn’t true.

Christine says, “The reality is that nothing I say or do will change those things. The past is set and can’t be changed. What happened, happened. But I can make choices today that will determine my future. And so can you. By putting God at the center of our lives, by dealing with the issues that hold us back, and by recognizing that the plans of God for our future are bigger than the pain and regret of our past, we are able to get up from wherever we are at this moment and move forward.”

She goes on, “Cleaning out and renovating our internal world requires an ongoing, focused commitment on our part. If I’ve made it sound as if throwing off these things was a one-time shot that, once accomplished, was never required again, let me correct that. We must learn and continually relearn to focus on Christ in us at work. It has taken me years of hard work and persistent prayer to throw off the pain and wounds of my past and grow through them. I’ve needed to repeatedly return to the throne of grace and seek God’s strength to forgive and grow. The work of throwing off often takes time and diligent effort.

“If we want to be unstoppable in our race, we need to constantly challenge ourselves to clean out the internal world of our heart and mind so that we have more room to contain more of the power of God within us. Remember, as Christ in us grows larger, our old selves grow smaller. Unloading all the baggage of old sins makes a lot of room for Christ in us to grow.”

She then says, “I don’t know what your past is. I don’t know what pains or sorrows or sins you carry. But I do know that God can turn all of it around and use your past to give someone else a future. That’s what Jesus does. The divine relay is all about passing the baton from one life to another, from one generation to the next. This is what happens when we answer his call, when we hear him say, ‘Follow me,’ and respond in obedience.”

Listen, your past is past.  Maybe your pain is still there but it doesn’t need to control your now and your future.  Would you start the process of God working in and through you?  Would you ask Christ to come in you, would you ask him to begin to work in and through your life?  Would you?

Yes, yes! 
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