Luke 12:6-7
Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.

Don’t ever doubt God’s love for you! Satan has used lies about how much God cares for you since Eve, don’t buy it! God loves you, no matter where you have been, what you have done or why you have done it, He loves you and cares for you and He wants you back! Satan really seems to love to tell Christians that they can’t just make a decision to change their walk and follow God and do His will and be used by God because somehow it takes time to get back into God’s graces. That is simply not true and it is a lie from Hell!

It is your choice today Whom you will serve! Satan would love to hold you back because of your past or maybe you are just not quite walking the walk you know you should. Whatever the case may be, it is a choice how you will walk today. It is a choice to ask God to forgive you for where you have been or where you are and it is a choice to begin to live right today! You don’t have to take the next six months trying to get it right for God to cover you with the blood of Jesus and forgive you, maybe you just want to punish yourself a little longer. Hmmmmmm…… is that it? Are you holding yourself accountable for something that God has forgiven? Jesus didn’t quite do enough to satisfy you when it comes to your sin? Wow…. oooooo…. ouch! It is a sad day when we allow Satan to convince us that we can determine our own forgiveness and the price we need to pay for our sins when Jesus paid it all! Did you catch that? If Jesus truly paid the price for your sin then what can you possibly do to make forgiveness better in God’s eyes? Satan just wants to spit in Jesus face by getting you to hold onto guilt to the degree that you hold back from serving Him because in your own eyes you are somehow unworthy. We are all “unworthy”, it is the blood of Jesus that makes us worthy before God, so let that sin and guilt go and thank God, praise Him for His forgiveness and ask Him for the strength to move forward in His goodness and power to serve Him with all your heart, mind and soul. Don’t allow Satan the opportunity to have victory one more day in your life, give Jesus glory and accept His grace so you can be used by God, nothing is more important than that!

I have watched as great people, with amazing potential for God sit on the sidelines because they can’t seem to let go of their past and Satan laughs. Not only did Satan have victory in the past, he has it today because they won’t let it go. I have also watched as some people in the church have labeled people in the church as ‘unable to be used in the church’ because of something that happened in the past. Apparently somehow they feel the call to make that decision for God, be careful if you do that because one day you will answer to God if you are holding hands with Satan holding someone else back from the will of God. It is our job to help restore those people to God, not sit on the throne judging.

It amazes me the people that have told me that they don’t feel they can be used by God right now because of their past or their current walk with God. It also has amazed me the people that have told me recently that they don’t feel they should pray and ask God for anything because they don’t deserve anything from God. It breaks my heart to see how Satan’s lies hold them back from all that God has for them! Please, if this is you today or someone you know, let it go! Allow God to move in your life and those around you! Encourage each other to be all that God has created you to be! If God cares about the sparrows, He certainly cares more about you so don’t allow Satan to tell you any different. If you know someones today who is sitting on the sidelines because they don’t feel as though they can be used again, go to them and encourage them to begin today to be all they can be for Him! Live for God today, believe for His goodness, forgiveness, answers to prayer and believe that from this day forward He can use you as though you had no past and also because of your past! Spit in Satan’s face by allowing your past mistakes make you a better servant of God! God loves you, be all you can be for Him today and everyday from here on out and you will truly see that the best is yet to come! God’s focus is on your future ~ what’s yours?

Quote:
“God doesn’t consult your past to determine your future!”  Mike Murdock

(And by the way….. they really do say Hakuna Matata in Africa! I was quite surprised when someone said it to me there and then I couldn’t get that crazy Lion King song out of my head for the rest of the trip!)