Tell Yourself, All My Past Issues I’m Taking To The Tomb TODAY And I’m Burying It! Yes It Hurts, It’s Caused Me Pain, But TODAY I’m Burying It! It's Not Enough That It's Dead—You Have To Bury It!

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a NEW creature; OLD things have passed away; behold, all things have become NEW." (2 Corinthians 5:17) Warning: Paying Attention to Your Past, Will Cost Your Present a Pretty Penny and Your Future a Fortune! Don’t Bankrupt The Blessing Before You! Tell Yourself, All My Past Issues I’m Taking To The Tomb TODAY And I’m Burying It! Yes It Hurts, It’s Disappointing, It’s Caused Me Severe Suffering And Pain, But TODAY I’m Burying It! The actions were painful, the words were hurtful, the thoughts were discouraging, but I’m burying it TODAY! I refuse to let it hang around in the funeral home. TODAY, I’m packing it up and finding an available plot, and if not, I’m fed up enough to dig one myself! One way or another this thing is being buried TODAY! IT’S NOT ENOUGH THAT IT’S DEAD—YOU HAVE TO BURY IT! Whatever You Do, Know That You Don’t Have To Stay This Way! You Don’t Have to Settle For This! You Don’t Have To Accept This! NO! Change Begins With You, And Your Change Begins Today! The Old You Will Not Enter The New Month or the New Day! Enough Is Enough! You can’t afford to let your past infect your present or sabotage your future! That’s why certain things that refuse to be healed must be forsaken and forgotten! There are people praising God in Church every Sunday who lie awake in the privacy of their homes, digging up bones, picking at scars and reliving old memories. You need to accept that some issues will never be resolved, and if you let them, they’ll take up residence in your head and in your heart! [The what if's? The should have's? The maybe's?] These will all drive you nuts…if you let them! Think about it: If you keep looking in the rear view mirror, you’re going to eventually crash into something ahead of you! And I would hate for that to be your blessing, your miracle, your breakthrough, your season or your way out! You don’t want to damage what’s before you, by daydreaming about what’s behind you! Sure, you have to utilize all the mirrors on your vehicle to some degree. But keep in mind, the main one is looking straight ahead out the windshield! Looking, anticipating, ready, expecting, and seeking for what yet lies ahead! SO…“Forget about what’s happened; don’t keep going over old history. Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new. It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?” (Isaiah 43:18-19 MSG). Adjust Your Focus On Your Future! The Vision For Your Future Will Always Look Distorted When You View It Through Eyes That Can Only See The Past! Listen to what Tony Evans writes: "Every day you get out of the same OLD bed and go to the same OLD bathroom to look at the same OLD face in the same OLD mirror. You go to the same OLD closet to choose from the same OLD clothes, and then sit down at the same OLD breakfast table to eat the same OLD breakfast. Then you go to that same OLD garage and get into that same OLD car to head down that same OLD road to that same OLD job. There you work all day for that same OLD paycheck, next to those same OLD people, supervised by that same OLD manager.  Then you get back into that same OLD car and head back down that same OLD road to that same OLD house. Once you are home you sit down in that same OLD chair to watch that same OLD television. At the end of the day you go to that same OLD bed and sleep that same OLD way, so you can get up the next morning and start that same OLD routine all over again."      AS OVERCOMERS, YOU ARE TO WALK IN NEW VICTORIES EVERYDAY! DAILY WAVING A FLAG OF VICTORY IN THE DEVIL’S FACE! With that said you have to ask, if "NEWNESS" is supposed to be so EVIDENT in the life of a believer, WHY ARE WE SO CRAZY-GLUED TO THE “OLD?" Far too many of us, are stuck in the same old routines.  In case you didn’t know, THAT IS NOT THE MENTALITY OF AN OVERCOMER! OVERCOMERS ARE DAILY IN HIGH PURSUIT OF SOME NEW CHALLENGES TO OVERCOME! LISTEN, GOD DID NOT CREATE US, AND HE MOST CERTAINLY DIDN’T REDEEM US, TO LIVE A PURPOSELESS EXISTENCE! OVERCOMERS DON’T EXIST—THEY LIVE AND THEY LIVE NOT JUST ABUNDANTLY—BUT MORE ABUNDANTLY! For the Bible declares, "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, AND THAT THEY MAY HAVE IT MORE ABUNDANTLY" (John 10:10) What Is Currently Around Us Is Not All There Is For Us! God Has An Awesome Customized Plan For Each Of Us! We Simply Need To Seek It, Find It, And Live It To The Fullest!                  The Scripture says, "No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. Nor do they put NEW wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins are ruined. But they put NEW wine into NEW wineskins, and both are preserved." When something is PRESERVED it means it's,"KEPT, MAINTAINED, AND PROTECTED". And what’s being "KEPT, MAINTAINED, AND PROTECTED?" YOUR NEWNESS! UNDERSTAND THAT THE OLD CAUSES DAMAGE, IT TEARS, IT DESTROYS, IT PULLS AWAY, IT SEVERS, BUT THE NEW IS PRESERVED!   IN A NUTSHELL: IT’S TIME TO BREAK-OUT OF THE OLD, AND BREAK-IN TO THE NEW!                  Overcomers, Crush That Devil Under Your Foot On This Current Level, Then Lift It And Put It On The Next Level And The Next Devil And Attain Your Next New Victory!                  Revelation 21:7, “He Who Overcomes Will Inherit These Things, and I Will Be His God and He Will Be My Son.” (NASB).                   We were buried therefore with Him by the baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious [power] of the Father, so we too might [habitually] live and behave in NEWNESS of life.” (Romans 6:4 AMP) Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said, “A man can’t ride your back unless it’s bent.” So straighten yourself up and straighten yourself out! You Will Not Stay This Way! I do thank God for the Apostle Paul though. Because he was honest enough to admit that he still struggled in certain areas. Unlike those with a Pharisee spirit who condemn others for doing the very things they do themselves, Paul confessed, “But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can’t keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don’t have what it takes. I can will it, but I can’t do it. I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do badly, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.” (Romans 7:17-20 MSG). Thanks Paul, from the rest of us who mistakenly thought that once we became Christians, there would be no more struggles! Thanks for helping some of us who thought that once we became Pastor, Elder, Teacher, Prophet, Evangelist, and Deacons, that the struggles would be over. That once we reached our 20 years saved, 15 years in ministry, 10 years healed and 5 years delivered, that the struggles would be over. Well, I’m here to serve notice on you: The Struggles Are Not Over! They continue! That’s why we were told to“Fight the good Fight of faith…” (1 Timothy 6:12). Not that we fought (past tense) the good fight. But this is a Current and Continual battle! YET, it’s one that doesn’t have to defeat us. Albert Einstein said it best: “Nothing Happens Until Something Moves” And That Something Is YOU! Get To Moving Out of the Old and Into the New…TODAY! Blessings J.P. Olson www.thewordwithjpolson.com