listen I want to remind us to spend our time investing in our future don't
invest in the past investing in the past is when you relive your hurts your pains
your disappointments see it's easy to focus on who hurts you what didn't work
out what mistake you made but you know what that is it's a big waste of time
and energy we can't do anything about what happened in our past it's done it's
over with it's finished but we can do something about today and when you begin
to focus on what you can change and not what you can't change that is a good
investment in the future you know we weren't designed to carry around a lot
of unnecessary negative baggage and sometimes we fill our bags with
bitterness resentment heartache but can I tell you that you've got to get up
every day and let that stuff go forgive the people who attended you release them
forgive yourself you see when you are weighed down with all of this junk it's
hard to see where you're going it's hard to even be ready to get there one time
Joel and I we had scheduled back-to-back work trips we really don't ever do this
but this just happened to be an instance that we did this we had come home from a
week out and we came back in and we only had like two hours to be at home and
then we'd have to turn around head back to the airport well on the way home all
I could think about was those dirty clothes in my suitcase
there was a week's worth of dirty clothes in my suitcase when I got home I
dumped all those dirty clothes and I began to refresh my suitcase something
amazing happened where I was tired and anxious on my way home just thinking
about all that in my suitcase I became
refreshed and you know what I was prepared to go on my next trip because I
had exchanged that dirty clothes with fresh new clothes and do you know a lot
of times we get so weighed down with this emotional baggage of clutter that's
full of pain and heartache that we lose our passion and excitement for living in
fact we're not even prepared where God wants us to go we're just too way down
and anxious can I tell you that you need to refresh your emotional baggage every
single day you need to learn to travel light because I can tell you this where
you're going is far more important than where you've been but you can't be
weighed down from the past you know too often people don't even enjoy what
they're doing today they can't enjoy the opportunities that they're living in
today because they're too focused on yesterday there was a woman who had been
divorced for a couple of years and one day she met this man and he was a very
nice man he seemed to be very happy he was successful he went to church she was
excited about the possibilities but she made a mistake when she went into that
relationship she began to constantly talk about her hurts and pains of the
past she would describe why she acted certain ways or why she said certain
things it was because she was so hurt by her first husband you know after a while
that man told one of her friends he said you know she's so focused on what
happened to her she can't move forward we're not making any kind of connection
here and I really don't feel like the relationship is right so he decided that
he was just gonna quit seeing her because she made the mistake of living
in the past she failed at an opportunity that she
had for her future see when you carry negative baggage into your relationships
you can ruin me relationships see we've got to decide
that it's time to let it go it's time to put it in the past to shut the door to
it one time Joel and I were going to this like highly secure government
building and so there was two sets of double doors so we stood in front of the
first set of doors and it opened up and we begin to walk past those doors to go
through the second set but we noticed the second set would not open until the
first set closed and do you know in life you're not going to be able to walk
through open doors until you close the doors that are behind you
when you're holding on to bitterness regret the mistakes you've made it to
get you stuck it's like a trap you can't get out of years ago that the way
hunters used to trap monkeys was they would take a big barrel and they would
fill it full of bananas and at the end of that barrel they would cut a very
small hole just big enough for the monkey to get its hand and arm through
now the monkey unaware that this was a trap would stick his hand in there and
grab a fistful of bananas but the problem was as long as he was holding on
to those bananas he couldn't get his hand out of the barrel you see he could
have just simply let the bananas go taking his hand out of the barrel and
gone on his way but see because he was holding on to the barrel he was trapped
and he couldn't get away see we can't let yesterday trap us we cannot be
trapped in the past when God has a bright future
unfair things happen to all of us we experience loss we all make mistakes
people hurt us we become offended but we have to make a decision that we're not
going to invest in those things you see we'll have negative seasons the Bible
says that trouble will come we will have seasons of disappointment
seasons that we don't always care for but we can't allow that season to define
our life we can't wear the labels of that season you see we've got to put our
foot down and say no more God wants to give you beauty for Ashes the scripture
says but you cannot receive the beauty if you don't give God your ashes the
best way is to give God your hurts your pain and then open up wide so that you
can receive the beauty that he has in store for you the scripture says this
think on these things things that are good things that are pure things that
are trustworthy of a good report these are the things we are supposed to set
our mind on when we set our mind on the good things that God has for us when we
begin to set our mind on what God says about us when we begin to count our
blessings that is investing in our future that is the best investment that
we can make I want to say it one more time let it go just let it go if there's
anything holding you back today it's too high of a price to pay let it go because
God's got bigger and greater things in your future and where you're going it's
way more important than where you've been amen
I just want to take an opportunity right now for every one of us to let go of the
ashes to release them to God you know we can hear a sermon and we can say we're
going to do it but I just want to take this time right now because how
important it is for us to just give God these hurts and pains to release them so
we can receive our bright future so right now just through your eyes of
faith let's just pray father I thank you right now we've heard this message we
know it to be true God we've experienced this phenomenon of living in our past
and how it holds us back and father we don't want that anymore we want to close
the door to our past so father you can open the door to fresh new opportunity
God you said that your mercies are fresh and new every single day so father we
want to pick up those fresh new mercies we want to unload that emotional baggage
those things that didn't work out and God we want to refresh our mental aspect
in our mental life father we want to know that you are for us and not against
us so we declare right now father as we let go of the ashes we are receiving
your beauty thank you Father for good opportunity thank you for great families
wonderful relationships thank you Father that everything we put our hand to a
cross for and succeed because god we've got a fresh new mental attitude thank
you Father that your blessing far out seeds anything we've ever done in the
past thank you for everything that you're doing and everything that you're
going to do in Jesus name and everyone says hey thanks for watching this
message I hope you enjoyed it we upload new videos every week to keep you
inspired and encouraged so don't forget to hit the like button and make sure you
subscribe to our channel let us know in the comments below how this message has
encouraged you we would love to hear from you we're praying for you and your
family we'll see you next time