- We are halfway through the year and I want to pause and help you understand that no matter how your year has gone, whether great or terrible, you can make the rest of your year the best of your year. God works all things together for your good and no weapon formed against you will prosper. All things are made new in Him.
Don’t fall into a thinking pattern that whatever has happened to you or whatever will happen to is God's will. Your decisions shape your circumstances. For example: If you run out of gas on the freeway, this is not God’s will. It was your decision to not buy gas 10 miles back. If everything that happened was God’s will, there would be no reward for obedience and no penalty for disobedience. “Whatever will be, will be” is not truth and it is not the way God works. You can’t go back and start your year over again, but you can start from now and make a brand new end.
The difference between seasons is wisdom and the difference between miracles is information.
Hosea 4:6 says people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. You can be connected and not informed and you can have access but not possess. You may have access to the King, but not know what He knows. We need to be looking and seeking wisdom. It’s available. Ask for wisdom.
I believe I have some wisdom for you today. How do you impact the rest of your year to finish it well and make it the best?
1. Forget
The ability to forget is a trait of champions who do great things with their life. Gen 41:51 says Joseph forgot all his troubles. Have you read about Joseph? He suffered extreme abuse, rejection, and betrayal at the hands of his brothers. But, when he found himself a slave in Egypt and then was promoted to second in command, just below Pharaoh, he didn’t remember the pain his brothers caused. The blessings God bestowed on him were so great, that they overshadowed and diminished his pain. Forgetting is not the inability to recall. But it is attaching something with that memory that makes it come together for good. The blessing that is connected with the memory actually brings joy.
Silence is essential in forgetting. Pharaoh didn’t even know Joseph had brothers. That means that Joseph was very discrete. The only way to starve the pain of yesterday is silence. What dominates your conversation is what you create. Forget the offenses of others toward you. Starve them by your silence. Isaiah 43:18-19 says to forget the past. It’s nothing compared to what God is going to do. You need energy for tomorrow. Don’t use it up on yesterday. Use it for something new.
We have three kinds of people in our life. Yesterday people, today people and tomorrow people. Don’t drag yesterday's people into your future. Abraham did that with Lot. God told him to leave his family and go to the land He would show him. But Abraham invited Lot to go with him. Read the story to find out how that all turned out. If you take the past into the future, you end up with the same ugly cycle bringing the seed of failure with you. Invest in people who celebrate your future. Forget the hurt, the past, the friends who aren’t focused on the future. Isaiah 65:16-17 says to forget the evil of earlier days. Forget the evil but pull lessons from the past. Don’t complain about the past but attach it to a memory of how God brought you through. As you mentor others in this, remind them that they can do the same. Has someone done you wrong? Praise God! They brought you into a new season.
2. Remember
Deuteronomy 8:2-3 says to remember what God has done. Remember your days of lack and how God brought you through, how He helped in those seasons. He brought you out of a jam where you saw no way out. You were able to pay bills miraculously. He healed you. You learned life skills. You built relationships. Also, remember what God does to rebels and to those who are greedy. Reverential fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. Get wisdom.
Be thankful for what God has done. Ingratitude births sin. It helps get rid of unthankfulness to remember those things God has done for you.
Remembering is not forgetting. There are things we should not forget; Psalm 78:7 Don’t forget His works, Psalm 119:16 don’t forget God's word but delight in His statutes,
and Hebrews 13:2, don’t forget to show hospitality.
3. Appreciation
What are you most thankful for? What you’re most thankful for increases in your life. God gives us provision, finances, health, breath in our lungs… we have nothing He didn’t give us. Take every opportunity to offer back to God what you’ve been given. Your tithe belongs in the storehouse which is the local body where you are spiritually fed. Depart from consumerism and understand that the One you are giving back to is not the pastor, it is not the church but it is the One who loves you and died for you, the One who conquered death for you. It hurts you when you stop giving. Giving is the lifeline to God's blessings. We give because we’re thankful.
4. Teach
Teaching is the best way to remember. Teach someone else how to appreciate what God has done. Teach them to remember and to forget. Deuteronomy 4:9-10 exhorts you not to forget what you yourself have seen. Pass what you have seen on to those you mentor. Look for someone you can teach. Everyone needs a mentor and everyone needs a protege. Ask because you want to grow and find someone who wants what you’ve been given. Be hungry to learn. Connect with those who are ready to learn. Discern foolishness and don’t waste your seed. Teach respect. There is so much grace that comes with being respectful.
I have so much more to give you next week. Listen to my message from today if you haven’t, and listen to it again if you have! Join me next week for more on making the rest of your year the best of your year.
